de Rocafiguera Montanyà, Núria2017-02-072017-02-072016http://hdl.handle.net/10230/28072Treball de fi de grau en Llengües AplicadesAnaphora resolution in null subject languages has been one of the most widely studied linguistic phenomena involving the interface between syntax and pragmatics, since it is the source of persistent difficulties for second language learners. It is well known that whereas syntactic properties of referring expressions are completely acquirable in a second language from early stages of acquisition, their syntax-discourse interface properties may not be fully acquirable, even at advanced proficiency levels (Alonso-Ovalle et al., 2002; Sorace & Filiaci, 2006; Lozano, 2009). This paper studies whether Spanish native and non-native speakers show different discourse function specializations of third person subject referring expressions (null and overt pronouns and noun phrases) and whether they prefer to select antecedents with a specific syntactic function. Moreover, it attempts to determine to what extent language transfer and proficiency level can influence L2 Spanish learners’ discourse. We work with written texts produced semi-spontaneously by a native control group and three experimental groups: L1 English speakers (lower and upper intermediate learners of Spanish) and L1 Italian speakers (upper intermediate learners). The mother tongues of non-native participants differ precisely in terms of the null subject parameter. Results confirm that L2 Spanish learners do not show a complete acquisition of pragmatic properties of the analysed referring expressions, although they seem to use similar patterns in the selection of antecedents. Furthermore, both linguistic transference and proficiency level play a role on the differences observed.application/pdfcatAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Spaininfo:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesisinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess