The Influence of Discourse Continuity on Referential Form Choice

Much research in the functional linguistics literature suggests that the use of zero pronouns is driven by the degree of interclausal connection. Kim (1990, 1992) claims that in clause chain languages such as Korean and Japanese, zero pronouns are primarily used following an interclausal connective with a tight interclausal connection that maintains subject continuity (whether the subject referent is maintained or changed in the following clause) and action continuity (temporal sequence or action sequence is continued or interrupted in the following clause). Consistent with the claim, the results of Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrated that Korean speakers used more zero pronouns following a connective with higher subject continuity (Experiment 1) and action continuity (Experiments 1 and 2). The effect of connectives was observed when grammatical role, referential predictability, and coherence relation were controlled for (Experiment 2). These results are best explained by assuming the role of discourse continuity on referential form choice.