Naslov
Subject pronoun interpretation in Croatian monolingual children

Autori
Kraš, Tihana ; Stipeć, Tanja

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Radovi u zbornicima skupova, cjeloviti rad (in extenso), znanstveni

Izvornik
Language and Mind: Proceedings from the 32nd International Conference of the Croatian Applied Linguistics Society / Matešić, Mihaela ; Memišević, Anita - Frankfurt : Peter Lang, 2020, 112-122

ISBN
978-3-631-82471-9

Skup
32nd International Conference of CALS: Language and mind

Mjesto i datum
Rijeka, Hrvatska, 03.05.2018. - 05.05.2018

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
null subject languages ; null subject pronouns ; overt subject pronouns, Position of Antecedent Strategy ; inter-sentential context ; monolinguals ; Croatian

Sažetak
This paper reports the results of an experimental study into the interpretation of subject pronouns in ambiguous intra-sentential contexts in Croatian. Being a null-subject language, Croatian allows subject pronouns to be either expressed (overt) or omitted (null). Six groups of Croatian monolingual children, aged 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12, and a control group of Croatian monolingual adults completed a picture selection task. The sentences consisted of a main and a subordinate clause. The main clause contained the subject and the object. The subordinate clause, which followed the main clause, featured a null or an overt pronoun which matched the main clause subject and object in gender and number. Participants had to choose between two pictures, showing either the main clause subject or object performing the action described in the subordinate clause. All groups of children differed from adults in the overt pronoun condition, choosing the subject as the antecedent of the pronoun more often than adults. However, the preferred antecedent of all participant groups was the object. In the null pronoun condition, only 8- and 10-year-olds chose the subject as the antecedent of the pronoun significantly less often than adults. This suggests that adult-like antecedent preferences of Croatian subject pronouns develop earlier with null than with overt pronouns. At what age these antecedent preferences become fully adult-like in Croatian remains to be established.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Filologija

POVEZANOST RADA