Null Subjects in Generative Grammar ― A Synchronic and Diachronic Perspective

This book considers the null-subject phenomenon, whereby some languages lack an overtly realized referential subject in specific contexts. In generative syntax-the approach adopted in this volume-the phenomenon has traditionally been explained in terms of a 'pro-drop' parameter with associated cluster properties; more recently, however, it has become clear that pro-drop phenomena do not always correlate with all the initially predicted cluster properties.

This volume returns to the centre of the debate surrounding the empirical phenomena associated with null subjects. Experts in the field explore the cluster properties associated with pro-drop; the types of null category involved in null-subject phenomena and their identification; and the typology of null-subject languages, with a special focus on partial null-subject languages. Chapters include both novel empirical data and new theoretical analyses covering the major approaches to null subjects in generative grammar. A wide range of languages are examined, ranging from the most commonly studied in research into null subjects, such as Finnish and Italian, to lesser-studied languages such as Vietnamese and Polish, minority languages such as Cimbrian and Kashubian, and historical varieties such as Old French and Old High German. The research presented also contributes to the understanding of other key syntactic phenomena, such as the nature of control, the role of information structure and semantics in syntax, the mechanisms of language change, and the formalization of language variation.

The breadth and depth of the volume will make it a valuable resource not only for generative syntacticians, but also for all those working in the fields of historical linguistics, typology, comparative grammar, semantics, and theoretical and descriptive linguistics more generally.

Federica Cognola is a Lecturer in German Linguistics at La Sapienza University in Rome. After receiving her PhD in Linguistics from the University of Padua in 2010, she worked as a Research Fellow at the Universities of Trento (2010-2015) and Venice Ca' Foscari (2015-2016), and as a contract lecturer in German linguistics at the Universities of Trento and Verona. She has also been a visiting scholar at the University of Tromso, Cambridge, and Potsdam. Her research interests include verb second, OV/VO word orders, overt and null referential and expletive subjects, scrambling, contact linguistics, monolingual and bilingual language acquisition, language variation and change, and diachronic syntax.

Jan Casalicchio received his PhD in Linguistics at the University of Padua in 2013, and is currently a Post-Doctoral Researcher at Utrecht University, within the ERC-funded project 'Microcontact' (https://microcontact.sites.uu.nl). Previously, he worked as a Post-Doctoral researcher at the University of Trento (on the ERC-synergy grant project 'Advancing the European Multilingual Experience'), and as Contract Lecturer at the Universities of Verona and of Bolzano/Bozen. He has also been a visiting scholar at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona and at the Georg-August Universitat Gottingen. His research interests include Romance formal syntax (focusing on verbal small clauses, verb second, and subject clitics in Romance), Northern Italian dialectology, contact linguistics, language variation and change, and diachronic syntax.