L2 Acquisition at Interfaces: Pronouns and Referentiality in Finnish.

When acquiring an L2, learners face a demanding task which consists in the correct mapping of universal (pragmatic) principles and language specific structures. In addition to the morpho-syntactic constructions and properties available in the L2, L2ers have to learn how to use them in pragmatically appropriate ways. The present work aims at providing further data on the syntax-discourse interface in L2 Finnish, a partial null subject language (Holmberg et al. 2009). Three different studies concerning Finnish L2 acquisition in the generative framework with particular reference to the syntax of pronominal subjects and to the resolution of ambiguous anaphoric dependencies will be presented. The first one concerns the use of pronominal and DP subjects in contexts in which the subject is focalized as new information in L1 Finnish and L2 Finnish. The results show that a partial null subject language such as Finnish instantiates different types of answers, typical of null and non-null subject languages (SV, XPVS, clefts) even though a VS order typical for null subject languages is not available. The second study aims at investigating the production of subjects through an oral elicitation task (Picture Description) and a written production task, based on the results of Study 1, that suggest that in the L2 interlanguage Finnish may be classified as a non-null subject language. Finally, Study 3 presents novel data on anaphora resolution in L2 Finnish. An off-line Picture Verification Task designed for testing antecedent assignment (Sorace & Filiaci 2006) with forward anaphora is used to compare interpretation of the personal pronoun hän ‘s/he’ and the demonstrative pronoun tämä ‘this’ in L2 Finnish. The results are discussed in the light of the observations made in Kaiser & Trueswell (2008) on the comprehension of these pronominal forms in L1 Finnish.