Licensing conditions on null generic subjects in Spanish
Matthew L. Maddox | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | Southeast Community College-Nebraska
Holmberg’s (2005, 2010) Null Generic Subject Generalization (NGSG) states that only partial null subject languages allow null generic third-singular subjects while consistent null subject languages (cNSLs) like Spanish only have referential pro due to a D-feature in T. Novel data from Spanish contradicts this. Following Frascarelli (2007), I analyze the licensing of null generic subjects as topic-identification with generic uno. The Special Morphology Condition on the NGSG, which stipulates that generic pro is allowed in cNSLs when licensed by special morphology, cannot account for uno. Thus, we may dispense with the postulation of a D-feature in T in cNSLs. I propose a revised set of licensing conditions on pro in null-subject languages.
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