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Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 2017: Selected papers from 'Going Romance' 31, Bucharest
Edited by Alexandru Nicolae and Adina Dragomirescu
[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 355] 2021
► pp. 111–134

The interpretation of null subjects in Romanian

An information-structure approach for comparative analysis

| Università degli Studi Roma Tre

This chapter explores the ‘acceptability’ and ‘interpretation’ of referential null subjects in Romanian in different syntactic conditions and distinct clause types (matrix clauses, embedded under bridge verbs, embedded under factive verbs and adverbial clauses). Based on the results of an original online survey (carried out by almost 80 respondents), it is shown that Romanian is a consistent pro-drop language, in which no partial pro-drop properties can be found. Furthermore, the results emerged from the analysis provide significant support to the validity of an information-structure approach to the interpretation of null subjects, in which the Topic Criterion (Frascarelli 2007), the formation of Topic chains and the existence of silent Topics play a crucial role.

Keywords: null subjects, consistent/partial pro-drop, Topic Criterion, Topic Chain, A-Topic, G-Topic, silent Topic, locality
Article outline
  • 1.The Null Subject Parameter and the interpretation of null subjects from an IS-perspective
    • 1.1A short overview
    • 1.2The Topic Criterion and the formation of Topic chains
  • 2.The experiment: Structure and methodology
    • 2.1Objective and working hypothesis
    • 2.2Structure and informants
  • 3.Data analysis: Results and discussion
    • 3.1NS in the complement of a bridge verb
    • 3.2NS in the complement of a factive verb
    • 3.3NS in adverbial clauses
      • 3.3.1Conditional clauses
      • 3.3.2Temporal clauses
    • 3.4Embedded DP as an intended antecedent
    • 3.5NS embedded in clauses without an overt Topic in the matrix C-domain
  • 4.The Topic Criterion as a macro-parameter for NS languages: Conclusions and paths for future research
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 1 December 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.355.06fra
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