Overt Pronoun Constraint in L2: The case for Persian Native Speakers

This study seeks to investigate whether Overt Pronoun Constraint (OPC), a principle of UG for pro-drop languages, is operative in Persian or not. To achieve this goal, a total of 61 male/female university students, aged 19-22were selected and were randomly assigned to three groups. In the first two groups data were collected through the off-line procedure. In the third group data were gathered through the on-line procedure. All the participants were exposed to 10 quantifier items (5 overt quantifier items and 5 null quantifier items), 8 referential items (4 overt referential items and 4 null referential items) as well as 2 filler items, to detract the participants attention and to obscure the regularities in test items, which were not to be analyzed. Each sentence was followed by a question asking the person to select the antecedent of overt pronoun or pro. The total performance of the participants in the first two groups indicated that 57% of the participants transgressed OPC and referred the overt pronoun to the quantifier subject while only 41% of the participants followed OPC principle. The results suggested that OPC may not be operative in Persian. Moreover, there was no difference in the performance of the participants in the two procedures on-line or off-line.