Pronouns, Clitics And Empty Nouns: ‘pronominality’ And Licensing In Syntax (linguistik Aktuell/linguistics Today)

Annotation Two issues little discussed in the generative literature are the internal structure of pronouns and what it is in Syntax that triggers pronominal reference. This monograph treats these two topics in detail and investigates whether pronominal (strong, weak and clitic pronouns) and related elliptical expressions can be given a unified syntactic representation. The answer, derived from a wealth of cross-linguistic evidence, is largely affirmative: pronominals include a semantically empty noun as part of their internal structure. The case of null subjects in pro-drop languages is also examined and it is argued that they are not empty pronominal categories but, rather, the reflex of a verbal determiner . Finally, using the internal structure of pronouns as a sort of litmus paper, the book explores the relationship between functional and lexical heads as well as the notions of selection and licensing in syntax, and offers new insights into the categorial status of functional categories Introduction: Pronouns In Syntax -- Ch. 1. On The Complex Structure Of Pronouns -- 1. Idiosyncrasies Of Pronouns -- 2. Intransitive Determiners As Functional Heads -- 3. Pronouns And [phi]-features -- 4. Nouns As Pronouns -- 5. A Noun Inside Every Pronoun -- 6. App.: Delineating The Data -- Ch. 2. Pronominal Nouns Beyond Pronouns -- 1. Preamble -- 2. Adjectives And Pronominal Nouns -- 3. Pronominal Clitics And Null Nouns -- 4. Radical Ellipsis: Empty Arguments -- 5. A Grand Unification? -- 6. App.: Nominalisation Versus Noun Ellipsis -- Ch. 3. On The Nature Of Empty Nouns -- 1. Open Issues -- 2. Empty Nouns Are Not Phrases -- 3. Empty Nouns And Pro -- 4. A Theory Of Empty Nouns -- Ch. 4. Pro And Empty Pronouns -- 1. The Situation So Far -- 2. Why Pro Is Not Composed Out Of (at Least) A Null Noun -- 3. Epp And Head Movement -- 4. On Verbal D (d[subscript V]) And Verbal Num -- 5. Summary -- Ch. 5. Licensing And The Categorial Features Of Functional Categories -- 1. A Propos Of E[subscript N] -- 2. Semantic Licensing Of E[subscript N] -- 3. The Functional-lexical Distinction -- 4. Selection And Licensing -- 5. Notational Variants And Conclusion -- 1. The Bigger Picture -- 2. Open Questions And Loose Ends. Phoevos Panagiotidis. Revision Of The Author's Thesis (doctoral)--university Of Essex, 2000. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [197]-207) And Index. This study is an enquiry into the internal structure of pronouns. It aims to show that, despite considerable diversity in their surface representation, pronominals can be given a unified representation in syntax.