Thematic role and grammatical function affect pronoun production
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36505/ExLing-2020/11/0028/000443Keywords:
Thematic role, grammatical function, pronoun interpretation, RomanianAbstract
According to different approaches to pronoun processing, in pro-drop languages, null pronouns are interpreted as referring back to the grammatical subject and topical referent, while overt pronouns are usually interpreted as coreferring with a non-subject and non-topical antecedent. The present study investigates whether thematic role and grammatical function impact (overt and null) pronoun production in Romania. Results show that we do not encounter a clear division of labour between the two pronoun forms triggered by syntactic structure alone and that thematic roles matter as well. The findings support a multi-dimensional approach, suggesting that different referential forms are constrained by different factors.
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