The role of language dominance in cross-linguistic syntactic influence: A Korean child's use of null subjects in attriting English

Abstract

While Hulk and Muller (2000) predict that the direction of cross-linguistic syntactic influence is unidirectional when the construction involves syntax-pragmatics interface and surface overlap between two languages, they explicitly rule out language dominance as a factor involved. This study questions their latter claim and argues that the syntax of the dominant language can influence that of the weaker, based on a Korean-English bilingual boy's attriting English data; Korean null subjects triggered English subject drop when his Korean became more dominant. Thus, I propose a revised model of cross-linguistic influence that accounts for both Hulk and Muller's proposal and my data.