Pro-drop and theories of pro in the minimalist program part 2 : pronoun deletion analyses of null subjects and partial, discourse and semi pro-drop

Abstract

This article reviews the recent theories of pro-drop that explore the hypothesis that pro is a pronoun that is deleted in Phonetic Form (PF) (Holmberg 2005; Roberts 2010). Since most of the empirical arguments given in favor of this hypothesis come from the partial null subject languages, we discuss the distinctive properties of this set of languages as opposed to the (rich agreement) consistent null subject languages. The pattern of pro-drop found in the partial null subject languages has features in common with discourse pro-drop, which is found in languages that lack agreement (Huang l984). Among the analyses that have been proposed in the literature on discourse pro-drop is the hypothesis that it reduces to null-NP anaphora (Tomioka 2003). This hypothesis relates discourse pro-drop with the availability of bare NPs in argument positions. Here the possibility of extending the null-NP anaphora analysis to the partial null subject languages is considered. The article ends with a discussion of yet a fourth type of pro-drop language, the semi pro-drop null subject languages, in the light of recent developments concerning the EPP (Wurmbrandt 2003, Biberauer 2010)