Naomi Nagy

Imposition and identity in null subject usage:

Contact effects among speakers of

Chinese, Italian and Anglo background in Toronto

Isobel Marr

Department of Linguistics, University of Toronto

MA (Linguistics)

Supervisor: Naomi Nagy

Second reader: Jack Chambers

Completed: August 2011

Abstract

Past studies have determined that various constraints are predictive of the occurrence of null subject in English. However, there has been little exploration of the effect of L1 influence on null subject production in L2 English. In particular, it is not known whether L1 influence may affect the ambient English available to Heritage Language speakers, including those in the second and later generations. To determine whether such influence exists, the present study uses data from a conversational corpus of first and second generation speakers of Chinese and Italian background in Toronto, as well as a control group of Anglo speakers. Each null subject token and the subjects preceding and following it were extracted and coded for linguistic context. A rate of usage estimation based on individual speech rate was also calculated. The results show that rate of null subject usage is consistent across generations within ethnic groups, and thus associated with ethnic identity. In contrast, effects on other linguistic constraints do not persist in the second generation, and can be attributed to L1 imposition.