Topic chains and the interpretation of null subjects. The acquisition of discourse-related strategies in Italian children

Abstract

Abstract Based on the theory proposed in Frascarelli (2007), according to which the interpretation of null subjects depends on an Agree relation between pro and a specific type of Topic (i.e. the A-Topic, cf. Frascarelli & Hinterhölzl 2007), the first objective of this paper is to evaluate this theory from an acquisitional perspective on children from 3 to 9 years old. Furthermore, since the A-Topic is argued to be systematically associated to specific discourse, prosodic and syntactic properties, a second objective of this paper is to check whether the relevant acquisition correlates with information-structural and interface-related competences. Based on an original experiment designed to examine Topic chains in children’s narrative, evidence is provided that this productive ability is not fully acquired at the age of 9 and that its progress proceeds in three steps, involving different levels of grammar. Specifically, in a first phase children tend to assume their personal experience and discourse intentions as familiar to their interlocutors. Hence, they start their narration linking null subjects to silent A-Topics, without overt links for their interpretation (‘Emperor Strategy’). Then, at the age of 6 the creation of Topic chains seems to be part of children’s competence at a discourse-syntactic level and overt copies are progressively produced in the chains. Nevertheless, since children still assume their ‘hero’ to be a familiar entity, G[iven]-Topics are frequently realised as first link for null subjects. Finally, at around 7–7.11 the adult-like association between discourse-syntactic and prosodic properties is attested.