Referring Expressions in Early Italian : A study on the use of lexical objects, pronouns and null objects in Italian pre-school children

Abstract

"This paper discusses the results of an experimental study investigating the use of lexical objects, object clitics and object omissions in monolingual Italianspeaking children of different ages and adult controls. Recent studies have tested the hypothesis that the integration of syntax and discourse-pragmatic knowledge affects production in early stages of development (see Serratrice, Sorace and Paoli 2004; Rizzi 2002; Schaeffer 2000; Roeper 1999; among others). This paper focuses in particular on pre-school children’s sensitivity to discourse cues and on the influence of discourse-pragmatics on the realization/omission of syntactically obligatory material (specifically the omission of syntactic objects). I discuss different hypotheses about the way syntax and discourse are integrated in early stages of language development"