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1 results

  • 8 - Missing Subjects in Creole Acquisition: Insights from Jamaican and Morisyen

  • from Part II - The Acquisition of Syntax
  • Edited by Dany Adone, Universität zu Köln, Astrid Gabel, Universität zu Köln
  • Book:
    The Evolution, Acquisition and Development of Syntax
    Published online:
    19 February 2025
    Print publication:
    06 February 2025, pp 137-153

  • Summary

    De Lisser and Durrleman’s second chapter explores the syntax of missing subjects in the acquisition of creole languages by children. They focus on two Creoles – Jamaican, a non-null subject language, and Morisyen, a language which allows null subjects in certain contexts. The results of both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses reveal striking similarities in the L1 acquisition of subjects in both Jamaican and Morisyen. Both languages start out with a grammar displaying predominantly target-inconsistent missing subjects, which later shifts to a grammar involving an overwhelming number of overt subjects. This development of subjects in the grammar of Creole-speaking children can be accounted for by the modified version of the Truncation approach in terms of the Spell-out mechanism (De Lisser et al., 2016). The initial structure reflects Universal Grammar, a system providing the option of truncation, and which gives rise to subject drop.