If agreement is pronominal there is no pro-drop

Luis López

doi:10.7557/1.14.2.8293

Authors

Luis López University of Illinois Chicago

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7557/1.14.2.8293

Keywords:

null subject, Ellipsis

Abstract

Using Irish, Spanish and English data, I argue that the null subject phenomenon is modulated by the presence/absence of unvalued φ-features in the clausal structure. This analysis is contrasted with the two most influential analyses so far: (i) The ellipsis analysis, according to which a null subject is a deleted pronoun and (ii) the rich inflection analysis, according to which an inflection with overt exponents for person and number can license and identify a silent pronoun. I discuss both analyses and present some empirical and conceptual criticisms vis-à-vis my own approach. One additional advantage of my approach is that we conclude that there are no silent subjects in Irish or Spanish-type languages.

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