The Effects of Semantic Role Predictability on the Production of Overt Pronouns in Spanish

In order to refer in any language, speakers must choose between explicit forms of expression, such as names or descriptions, or more ambiguous forms like pronouns. Current models suggest that reference form is driven by subjecthood, where speakers in English choose pronouns for the subject, and speakers of null pronoun languages like Spanish or Italian use null pronouns. We test this generalization by examining the effect of a different factor, thematic role predictability, on reference production in Spanish. In stories about transfer events (e.g., Ana gave a ball to Liz) , speakers prefer to use pronouns more for reference to goals (Liz) than sources (Rosa and Arnold, Journal of Memory and Language 94:43–60, 2017). However, this has not been examined for null pronoun languages. In two experiments, we demonstrate that Spanish speakers are also sensitive to thematic role, but it primarily affects the rate of overt pronouns (ella, el) rather than null pronouns. These results highlight the need to include semantic constraints in models of reference production for null-pronoun languages.