Null -Subject Parameters in Pro-drop LanguagesA Microlinguistic Comparative Analysis between Standard English & Standard Arabic

الملخص

Subject omission, null subject, as a pro-dropping phenomenon in pro-drop languages is a linguistic process whereby the syntactic subject of a structure is left implicit to be implicated contextually. This paper enacts a comprehensive comparative analysis of the null structures in two typo-logically distinct languages, namely, English, as a non-pro-drop language, and Arabic, being a canonical pro-drop language.  The morphological, syntactic, pragmatic, psycholinguistic, diachronic, and corpus-based dimensions governing subject omission, besides some patterns of 2^nd language acquisition and translation are investigated throughout.

To prob the phenomena in full, a mode of multidisciplinary approach based on some theoretical linguistic frameworks, and corpus - data analysis from a spectrum of dialects and registers was called.  Specific psycholinguistic experiments- child language acquisition and pronoun resolution studies were also consulted. The overall conclusions confirm that the Arabic language is rich in its verbal inflectional morphology and syntactic structures which systematically enable pro subject dropping known as subject omission, whereas English restricts the phenomenon to pragmatically communicative contexts- imperatives and informal speech. Psycholinguistic assumptions initiate differential cognitive processing facades in interpreting silent subjects’ structures across the languages concerned.  Diachronically, some meticulous historical data indicate developed evidence that have shaped the process of pro-dropping capabilities.

By discussing theoretical implications for parameter-setting models in TGG, implicating practicum for bilingual language acquisition, and language teaching, this study highlights the importance of integrating the five levels of linguistic analysis, viz. semantic, discoursal, morphological, syntactic, and pragmatic to comprehend the phenomena of subject omission and  binary classifications of pro-dropping processes in the subjected languages.