本論文旨在探討台灣地區以中文為母語的成人英語學習者是否受中文零代詞（null pronouns）或普遍語法（Universal Grammar）的影響，以及是否重設中文的代名詞省略參數（pro-drop parameter）。本研究採取兩種實驗收集語料：1）問卷調查—包含文法測驗題和段落翻譯兩種題型；2）口語錄音測驗—說故事。第一組實驗主要包含132位大專學生（其中，56位為較低程度英語學習者，76位為較高程度英語學習者），以及15位以英語為母語之美國籍人士；第二組實驗則重新分析Lin & Wu (2005)的說故事語料，受試者包含40位大專學生（其中20位為低程度英語學習者，20位為高程度英語學習者）。主要結果如下：
1. 台灣受試者，尤其是較低程度者在學習英語時易受中文句子的主題（topic）結構影響，意味著受試者可能以母語的結構作為學習英文的基礎。
2. 比起主詞省略，台灣受試者較容易出現受詞省略的情形，顯示出受試者在處理英文的主詞和受詞上不同，且英語顯性受詞學習較顯性主詞困難。本研究支持Kong (2005)的論點，台灣英語學習者在學習英語的過程中雖然套用中文主題結構，但仍接受顯性主詞的英文結構，乃因他們將此主題結構調整為英文句首的主題須為顯性。
3. 台灣受試者在主詞與虛主詞的題型中，主句（matrix clause）的表現優於子句（embedded clause），顯示受試者在本質上並無習得英文主詞的句法，主詞的接受度因不同的句型而有差別，由此推斷受試者無法重設代名詞省略參數。
4. 在說故事的語料中，發現在某些句型結構中代名詞特別容易省略，例如當英文結構有對等關係或有清楚的指涉關係（reference）時。顯示出台灣英語學習者仍易受到中文論述傾向（discourse-oriented）的特色所影響。
根據以上的結果，本研究推論普遍語法部份影響理論（Partial Access to UG）最能說明此研究語料中的現象，也就是普遍語法只能經由母語為基礎的參數來習得，而無法將母語的代名詞參數值重設為英語的代名詞參數值。

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the null subject phenomenon in the acquisition of English by Taiwan EFL learners to see whether the participants are influenced by their L1 knowledge or UG and whether they can reset their L1 value of null subject parameter. Two experimental tasks in questionnaire, grammaticality judgment task (GJ) and paragraph translation task (PT), and one oral task, storytelling task (ST), were adopted in this study. As for the participants, in the questionnaire part the GJ and PT tasks were given to 132 EFL learners, which were divided into the lower proficiency group (n=56) and the higher proficiency group (n=76), and 15 native speakers of English as a control group. Besides, we reanalyze the data of the ST task in Lin & Wu (2005), which consisted of 20 high English proficiency participants and 20 low English proficiency participants. Overall, the main findings are summarized as follows:
1. Chinese topic constructions seem to influence profoundly on the L2A of English by EFL learners. This may imply that L2 learners acquire the L2 through L1-based knowledge.
2. The asymmetry of null subjects and null objects was found in our data across the three tasks, which suggests EFL learners treated both features differently and have difficulty in unlearning null objects. We support Kong’s (2005) claim that Chinese learners are influenced by L1 topic structure but they adjust this rule to: every sentence must have an overt topic in the sentence-initial position.
3. The different judgments between matrix and embedded clauses with null subjects and null expletives may infer EFL learners do not intrinsically reset the parameter of null subjects.
4. According to our results in ST task, there seems to be several patterns which make null subjects and null objects easier to occur, such as structures with coordinate relationship or clear reference relationship. These sentence patterns prove that the EFL learners are still easier to be influenced by the discourse-oriented feature in Chinese.
According to the result, we may infer that the position of Partial Access to UG probably the best answer to our research questions since it is assumed that through Partial Access to UG, L2 learners will not be able to acquire the L2 values of parameters when these differ from the L1; that is, UG is accessible but only via the setting of the L1.

Table of Contents vi
List of Tables viii
List of Figures ix
List of Abbreviations x
CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Background and Motivation 1
1.2 Significance of the Thesis 4
1.3 Organization of the Thesis 5
CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW 6
2.1 Different Syntactic Properties between Chinese and English 6
2.2 Theoretical Framework on Null Pronouns 10
2.2.1 The Null Subject Parameter 10
2.2.2 Morphological Uniformity Principle (MUP) 14
2.2.3 The Null Argument Parameters 16
2.2.4 UG and Second Language Acquisition 18
2.3 Empirical Studies in L2 Acquisition on Null Subject Parameter 20
2.3.1 Child L1 Acquisition 21
2.3.2 Child L2 Acquisition 23
2.3.3 Adult L2 Acquisition 25
CHAPTER THREE METHODOLOGY 33
3.1 Motivation of the Study 33
3.2 Method 35
3.2.1 Experimental I: The Questionnaire 35
3.2.1.1 Participants 35
3.2.1.2 Tasks 36
3.2.1.3 Tested Sentence Structures 38
3.2.1.4 Procedures 41
3.2.1.5 Data Analysis 42
3.2.2 Experiment II: Oral Production 43
3.2.2.1 Participants 43
3.2.2.2 Task 44
3.2.2.3 Procedure 44
3.2.2.4 Data Analysis 44
CHAPTER FOUR RESULTS 46
4.1 Questionnaire 46
4.1.1 Grammaticality Judgment Task 46
4.1.1.1 Overall View 46
4.1.1.2 Null Subjects and Null Objects 50
4.1.1.3 Null Subjects and Null Expletives 51
4.1.1.4 Null Subjects in Matrix and Embedded Clauses 51
4.1.1.5 Null Expletives in Matrix and Embedded Clauses 54
4.1.1.6 Non-Subject Topics and Null Subjects/Expletives in Clause Initial Position 58
4.1.1.7 Null Objects with or without Preposition Phrase following 59
4.1.1.8 Other Syntactic Clustered Properties 60
4.1.1.9 Summary of the Results in the GJ Task 61
4.1.2 Paragraph Translation Task 62
4.1.3 Summary of the Results in the GJ Task and the PT Task 66
4.2 Storytelling Task 67
CHAPTER FIVE DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION 73
5.1 Main Findings among the Three Tasks 73
5.2 The Effects of L1 73
5.3 Parameter Resetting? 77
5.4 Conclusion and Limitations 80
REFERENCES 82
APPENDIX A 90
APPENDIX B 91
APPENDIX C 95

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