Subject inversion in L2 Italian

Abstract

The article investigates the ability to appropriately utilize “subject inversion” structures displaying the order VS, S= Focus of new information, in the L2 Italian of a group of adults with different L1s. The production of the relevant structures has been elicited through an experimental technique creating the relevant contextual conditions. The results indicate that VS is not adequately acquired by the investigated subjects. The article also discusses the ability in producing null-subjects in presence of finite verbal morphology, in particular by those L2 subjects whose L1 is a non-null subject language. The comparison of the results in the elicitation of VS and in the production of null-subjects shows a dissociation, with null-subjects available to a larger extent. We discuss the theoretical relevance of these results in the light of the following general issues: the structural mapping of discourse related information, according to the “cartographic” guidelines; the notion of “possible interlanguage”; the dissociation of the properties currently related through the null-subject parameter and the conditions at the interface possibly behind that in L2.