Title:
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Null prepositions in A-and A'-constructions by French and Japanese second language learners of English
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This thesis investigates the nature of optional preposition omission in L2
English extraction constructions known as null prepositions, e.g. *Who did you
speak? (Klein, 1993b). Although null prepositions are found among learners with
different LIs, their properties have not yet been fully understood, because many
properties and possible sources have been left unexplored. To advance our
understanding of null prepositions (and ultimately of L2 optionality), this study
examined (a) null prepositions in different constructions (wh-questions, relative
clauses, and passives), (b) the relation between null prepositions and the structure
of L2 extraction constructions., ( c) the role of learners' LIs, and (d) task effects,
by administering four experiments (an acceptability judgment task, an elicited
imitation task, and two self-paced reading tasks) to French-speaking and
Japanese-speaking learners of English as well as to native English controls. While
the results of the four experiments corroborate the claim in existing studies that
null prepositions are universal properties of the L2 grammars of learners from
different LIs, it is also demonstrated that whether null prepositions are observed
depends upon several factors such as the distinction between A- and
A'-extractions, learners' Ll, and task differences. Specifically, the results of the
four experiments consistently indicate that null prepositions in passives are
particularly persistent for both L2 groups. By contrast, it is shown that null
prepositions in wh-questions and relative clauses are subject to differences in
learners' Ll and task. To explain these results, three sources for null prepositions
are proposed: the difficulty in suppressing the Case feature from prepositions;
covert pied-piping (Klein, 2001); influence from the syntax of Ll extraction
constructions. It is also argued that these sources are not random but may be
constrained by more general properties of L2 (null) prepositions: L2prepositions
seem to be represented as Case markers without interpretative/semantic properties
(Perpifian, 2010).
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