Is Chinese a null subject language?

The null subject phenomenon is sometimes called subject drop. In the article "Universal Grammar and the Learning and Teaching of Second Languages," Vivian Cook points out that some languages (such as Russian, Spanish, and Chinese) "permit sentences without subjects, and are called 'pro-drop' languages.

Is Chinese null subject?

4.1 Null subjects with overt topic phrases

In fact, with evidence from the lack of strong crossover effects in Chinese, Huang (1984) has shown that the Chinese null subject should be considered as a “zero pronoun”, i.e., pro. (20) a.

What is null subject example?

Some sentences do not allow a subject in any form while, in other cases an explicit subject without particular emphasis, would sound awkward or unnatural. Most Bantu languages are null-subject. For example, in Ganda, 'I'm going home' could be translated as Ŋŋenze ewange or as Nze ŋŋenze ewange, where nze means 'I'.

Is Chinese a pro-drop language?

Cross-linguistic variation

It has been observed that pro-drop languages are those with either rich inflection for person and number (Persian, Polish, Portuguese, etc.) or no such inflection at all (Japanese, Chinese, Korean, etc.), but languages that are intermediate (English, French, etc.) are non-pro-drop.

Is Korean a null subject language?

In DO languages, like Korean, the domain is discourse, in which null arguments can be bound to any discourse antecedent. In non-DO languages, the recovery domain is a sentence, in which the recovery must take place via rich inflections within a sentence boundary, as in languages like Spanish.

Involvement of Discourse Factors in Distribution of Null Subjects in Mandarin Chinese

Is Russian a null subject language?

The null subject phenomenon is sometimes called subject drop. In the article "Universal Grammar and the Learning and Teaching of Second Languages," Vivian Cook points out that some languages (such as Russian, Spanish, and Chinese) "permit sentences without subjects, and are called 'pro-drop' languages.

Is Russian a pro drop language?

Russian is partly pro-drop. Not nearly as much as other Slavic languages or Romance languages. This actually varies among Slavic languages. In some like Czech and Polish it is very acceptable and in fact, unmarked to omit subject (and sometimes object pronouns).

Is Arabic pro-drop?

Being a null-subject language, Arabic exhibits a phenomenon known as pro-drop, where subject pronouns are omitted yet semantic information remains, so that the meaning of a sentence can be determined from the grammatical context.

Is Italian a Prodrop?

Thanks to their rich morphology, Italian and Spanish allow pro-drop pronouns, i.e., non lexically-realized subject pronouns.

Is Dutch a null-subject language?

It is well known that early non-pro-drop languages such as English, Dutch or French allow null subjects (cf. Hyams, 1986).

Is Urdu is a null subject language?

The analysis of the data revealed that Urdu is a null subject language.

Is Turkish a pro drop language?

A similar language is Turkish, which is also a pro- drop language that obligatorily marks the verb for subject agreement (Zimmer 1976). It also allows both null subjects and pronominal subjects (Enç 1986). There have been some studies on the acquisition of Turkish subject pronouns.

What is null element in linguistics?

In linguistics, a zero or null is a segment which is not pronounced or written. It is a useful concept in analysis, indicating lack of an element where one might be expected.

What is a null constituent?

Null or 'covert' items are constituents that lack a phonological shape and yet are syntactically real. (constituents which have grammatical and semantic features but lack phonetic features, and so are silent or inaudible)

Can subject be omitted in English?

OMITTING THE SUBJECT IN ENGLISH

This technique of omitting the subject is called ellipsis. In informal spoken language, text messages and informal emails, people will often omit the subject. You should not do this in formal written English, especially in formal essays for IELTS for example.

What is language subject?

Language as subject (2009)

It emphasises the importance of viewing language as subject not in isolation but in relation to the wider language(s) of schooling and language(s) of education perspectives.

Is Finnish a pro-drop language?

As in other partial pro-drop languages, in BP and Finnish, 3rd definite subject pronouns can be null in embedded clauses, but not in root clauses. In impersonal sentences, however, 3rd generic subject can be null (cf.

Is Persian pro-drop?

Persian is a null-subject or pro-drop language, so personal pronouns (e.g. 'I', 'he', 'she') are optional.

Why does Spanish drop the subject?

This is due to the complex nature of Spanish verbs. In short, verbs in Spanish change their conjugation (end syllable) depending on their subject. This also occurs in English but to a much lesser extent. Let us consider the verb 'hacer', meaning 'to do'.

Why do people leave out pronouns?

Linguists, who call the axing of pronouns from the start of a statement “conversational deletion,” classify it as an expedient form of ellipsis, or the scraping away of words that are nevertheless understood in context. For them, it's a matter of convenience, but also destiny.

Is Icelandic pro-drop?

Rich verb agreement, no pro drop.

Icelandic has a very rich verbal paradigm. Some verbs take six distinct forms in the present tense, although many verbs have at least one syncretic pair. And generally you get 1st and 3rd person syncretism in the past tense and in the subjunctive.

What is radical pro-drop?

Abstract. We propose a new generalization governing the crosslinguistic distribution of radical pro drop (the type of pro drop found in Chinese). It occurs only in languages whose pronouns are agglutinating for case, number, or some other nominal feature.

Can you omit subject pronouns in Russian?

In the Russian language, you have essentially two "paths"; one is a formal and the other is informal. In an informal setting it would be acceptable to omit the pronoun. You can do this because once you conjugate the verb, the person or "subject" is already known by how the verb sounds.