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Article published In:
Language and Linguistics
Vol. 25:1 (2024) ► pp.1–27

Topic drop and pro drop

| Harvard University
| National United University

One major difference between Chinese-type and German-type languages is that the former allows extensive types of argument drop, while the latter is quite limited beyond the existence of a null topic. This study argues (a) that it is necessary to distinguish among phenomena that have sometimes been referred to with the undifferentiating term “radical pro drop”; (b) that the null topic is restricted to root clauses (CP edge) based on its locality properties; (c) that the Chinese-type null topic requires licensing at the CP edge by Internal Merge; and (d) that the CP edge requirement may be lifted only under conditions of last resort. Evidence comes from our new observation of locality effects showing a contrast between overt and null topics. Specifically, while the pro option is available with an overt topic, null topics must be brought to the CP edge via Internal Merge.

Keywords: topic drop, null topic, pro drop, null subject, MCP
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Topic extraction and locality constraints
  • 3.Restrictions on topic drop
  • 4.Main clause phenomenon
  • 5.Connecting to the CP edge
  • 6.Conclusion and further remarks
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at [email protected].

Published online: 2 January 2024
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lali.00147.yan
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