This paper investigates whether there is a correlation between the development of agreement and the unlearning of null subjects and also how the null subjects of Korean EFL learners’ interlanguage are represented in topic-bound positions. The results of this study show that the unlearning of null subjects does not necessarily help the development of the third person singular morpheme like previously put forth by pro-drop analysis, which disconfirms the long-lived belief, MUH (Morphological Uniformity Hypothesis). On the contrary, the results also show that the positions of null arguments actually conform to the positions of topic-bound positions, which leads to the suggestion of the topic-drop analysis of null subjects.

The paper also offers a supplementary analysis of the two subtypes of the vague action verb, using the hybrid model of lexical conceptual structure and syntactic argument structure. This paper investigates the etiology of the contrast between Korean/Japanese (K/J) and Chinese in the availability of a quantificational/sloppy reading to the null subject. We attribute this contrast to the asymmetry between K/J and Chinese in the Case/topic marking system. K/J employs both overt subject/ object Case marker and topic marker, but Chinse does not have either of them. The latter language rather uses structural positions to code grammatical and topic relations. Though an object element in Chinese uses different positions (i.e., post-verbal and clause-intial positions) to indicate its grammatical relation and topichood, a subject element uses the same clause-initial position to do so. Thus, the element in clauseinitial position apparently regarded as a subject element is grammaticalized into taking up the marked role of a topic in this language. Mutatis mutandis, its null counterpart or null subject is only construed as a definite topic, which bars it from being interpreted with a quantificational/sloppy reading.

The goal of this paper is to suggest a feature-based analysis for the licensing of null subjects found in languages. After reviewing the uniformity principle suggested in 1980s, we investigate the possibility of more insightful description on the distribution of null subjects based on Holmberg and Roberts (2013)'s research. Then we show that the typological classification of the null subject constructions among languages helps to provide a universal rule that applies to explain the full, partial and radical pro-drop phenomena among languages. Finally we suggest a feature copying or feature sharing analysis for null topic and null subject constructions in Korean.

Kim Dongseok. 1998. Distribution and Licensing of Null Subjects. Studies in Modern Grammar 14, 85-105. The primary aim of this paper is to examine the distribution and the status of null subjects, and to reduce the pro-drop parameter to the feature checking mechanism of the minimalist program presented in Chomsky(1993, 1995). We have demonstrated that if there is a topic, it becomes the first candidate to be the antecedent of the null argument; otherwise the null argument is controlled by a c-commanding argument. The difference between Italian and Korean in the possibility of null arguments getting their reference from the discourse context is explained by the availability of the D-morpheme proposed in Moon(1989). And the pro-drop parameter is analysed in terms of feature checking under the hypothesis that the EPP-feature is weak in pro-drop languages, whereas it is strong in non-pro-drop languages.