Minimal versus not so minimal pronouns

Feature transmission, feature deletion, and the role of economy in the language system

Eric J. Reuland | Utrecht University

In this article I start out from Kratzer’s (2006) observation that a bound variable interpretation of German 1st and 2nd person (possessive) pronouns shows locality effects. I show how the approach based on syntactic chain formation developed in Reuland (2001, 2005a) resolves a general empirical problem in Kratzer’s theory, while retaining the essence of her insight. I further show that the special interface condition on pronominal feature specification proposed by Kratzer is unnecessary. A general economy approach governing the division of labour between components of the language system is presented, which also subsumes Rule I as modified in Reinhart (2000, 2006).

Published online: 13 January 2010
https://doi.org/10.1075/la.150.11reu

Cited by

Cited by 11 other publications

Dimitriadis, Alexis, Martin Everaert & Eric Reuland

2017. The World of Reflexives: An Introduction. Studia Linguistica 71:1-2 ► pp. 1 ff.

Déchaine, Rose-Marie & Martina Wiltschko

2017. In The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Syntax, Second Edition, ► pp. 1 ff.

Grano, Thomas

2017. What Partial Control Might Not Tell Us about Agreement: A Reply to Landau. Syntax 20:4 ► pp. 400 ff.

Grano, Thomas & Howard Lasnik

2018. How to Neutralize a Finite Clause Boundary: Phase Theory and the Grammar of Bound Pronouns. Linguistic Inquiry 49:3 ► pp. 465 ff.

Landau, Idan

2016. Agreement at PF: An Argument from Partial Control. Syntax 19:1 ► pp. 79 ff.

Landau, Idan

2018. In Pronouns in Embedded Contexts at the Syntax-Semantics Interface [Studies in Linguistics and Philosophy, 99], ► pp. 1 ff.

Reuland, Eric

2017. Why is Reflexivity so Special? Understanding the World of Reflexives. Studia Linguistica 71:1-2 ► pp. 12 ff.

Reuland, Eric J.

2016. In Finiteness Matters [Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today, 231], ► pp. 93 ff.

Rudnev, Pavel

2017. Minimal pronouns, logophoricity and long-distance reflexivisation in Avar. Studia Linguistica 71:1-2 ► pp. 154 ff.

Shushurin, Philip

2018. In Pronouns in Embedded Contexts at the Syntax-Semantics Interface [Studies in Linguistics and Philosophy, 99], ► pp. 145 ff.

Sperlich, Darcy

2020. In Reflexive Pronouns: A Theoretical and Experimental Synthesis [Language, Cognition, and Mind, 8], ► pp. 21 ff.

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