On the Resetting of the Subject Parameter by Japanese Learners of English: A Survey of Junior High School Students

Abstract

The present paper aims to investigate the process of the resetting of the subject parameter by Japanese learners of English (JLEs) within the theoretical framework of the Minimalist Program, particularly the mechanism of feature inheritance developed by Chomsky (2007, 2008) and Miyagawa (2005). We will claim that the resetting process is twofold: JLEs must learn that the agreement feature percolates down from C to T and that unlike Japanese, the focus feature remains on C. The result of our survey of 399 junior high school students revealed that it is relatively easy for JLEs to acquire percolation of the agreement feature to T, and some of them find it difficult to remove the focus feature from T. This results in a “hybrid” parametric value by which JLEs correctly accept the English expletive construction but incorrectly accept ill-formed null subject constructions as well by misinterpreting sentence-initial elements as Japanese-type topical subjects.