The origins of empty categories in Singapore English

Abstract

The system of empty categories in Singapore English, a contact language with an endogenous ecology, arises through the interaction of three parameters: [topic-prominence], [pro-drop], and [wh-movement]. These parameters are reset under the pressure of the languages in the contact ecology, mainly the substrate Chinese dialects, and the lexifier English. The paper adopts a holistic approach to creole genesis, in which substrate and superstrate influence is expressed in terms of parametric re-structuring constrained by principles of Universal Grammar. Surface-true substrate, superstrate, or novel features are exponents of this parametric re-structuring.