Does the Referential Hierarchy influence subject and object omission in L2 English?

This study examines the role of the Referential Hierarchy, as proposed by Cyrino, Duarte, & Kato (2000) based on diachronic data from Brazilian Portuguese (BP), in the restructuring of pronominal systems in L2 English. Participants were 71 Portuguese learners of L2 English (17 B1, 18 B2, 18 C1, 18 C2) and 12 adult native speakers of English. They were administered two speeded acceptability judgement tasks. The task on subjects crossed the variables overtness (null vs. overt) and referentiality (2p + human vs. 3p + human vs. 3p - human vs. expletive). The task on objects similarly manipulated overtness and referentiality, contrasting third-person objects with [+ human] and [-human] antecedents. Results reveal striking parallels between L2 acquisition (in L1 EP – L2 English) and diachronic change (as observed in BP), demonstrating that, in both cases, changes involving null categories unfold gradually rather than abruptly, and are guided by a common underlying principle: referentiality.