Roots and Rogues in German Child Language

Abstract

This article is concerned with the proper characterization of subject omission at a particular stage in German child language. It focuses on post-verbal null subjects in finite clauses, here termed Rogues. It is argued that the statistically significant presence of Rogues, in conjunction with their distinct developmental profile, speaks against a Strong Continuity approach to the acquisition of null subject knowledge in German, and urges a reconsideration of the notion of Optionality in early grammars. The significance of the Rogues stage is considered in the context of specific theoretical proposals about argument omission: those of Rizzi (1992; 1994; 2000), and of Wexler (1994; 1998), are contrasted with the Weak Continuity approach proposed by Clahsen and his associates (e.g., Clahsen (1990/1991), Clahsen and Penke (1992), Clahsen, Eisenbeiß, and Penke (1996)). The data presented here, which complement related work by Hamann (1996), provide additional empirical support for these latter hypotheses.