Which term describes a language in which pronouns may be omitted when pragmatically inferable?

• A. Pro-drop language
• B. Overt pronoun language
• C. Isolating language
• D. Agglutinative language

Answer: (A)

Pronoun omission when the subject or object can be inferred from verb inflection or immediate context is a hallmark of pro-drop languages. In these languages, speakers can drop pronouns because the verb form itself encodes the subject, so the pronoun isn’t needed for clarity. For example, in languages like Spanish or Italian, a verb ending can signal who is performing the action, so you can say just the verb and still know who is speaking. The other terms describe different ideas: an overt pronoun language would require pronouns to be stated; an isolating language relies on separate words with little to no affixation; an agglutinative language uses multiple affixes to build words. None of those definitions specifically capture the allowance of dropping pronouns when they’re pragmatically inferable, which is why the correct term is pro-drop language.