Expletive 'pro' in Impersonal Passives in Irish, Polish and Old English

Artykuł naukowy w czasopiśmie recenzowany

Czasopismo: Linguistische Berichte (ISSN: 0024-3930)
Współautorzy: Anna Bondaruk
Rok wydania: 2003
Numer czasopisma: 195
Strony od-do: 325-362
Streszczenie: The paper examines the properties of the so-called impersonal passives in Irish, Polish and Old English with the purpose of determining whether it is justified to claim that they contain the expletive pro subject. Since the constructions scrutinised lack the properties characteristic of AgrP, i.e. NOM Case and subject-verb agreement, it is proposed that the relevant structures in those languages do not project AgrP altogether. The Irish and Polish impersonals are shown to contain a covert theta-marked subject, whose presence is supported by the tests relating to anaphors and subject-oriented adverbials. The covert subject in Irish is an empty category with the features [+number, -person], while in Polish impersonals the subject is realised as PROarb. In contrast, Old English impersonal passives are shown are shown to be genuinely subjectless. This difference between Irish and Polish on the one hand, and Old English on the other derives from the fact that impersonal structures in the former languages so not exhibit external theta-role absorption and hence should not be classified as passive, while in Old English the external theta-role is regularly absorbed by the passive morphology. The general conclusion reached is that it is inadequate, at least for the languages examined, to posit expletive pro as the subject of impersonal constructions.
Słowa kluczowe: pro, ekspletywy, nieosobowa strona bierna, polski, irlandzki, staro-angielski, Teoria Rządu i Wiązania

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Cytowanie w formacie Bibtex:
@article{1,
author = "Magdalena Charzyńska-Wójcik and Anna Bondaruk",
title = "Expletive 'pro' in Impersonal Passives in Irish, Polish and Old English",
journal = "Linguistische Berichte",
year = "2003",
number = "195",
pages = "325-362"
}

Cytowanie w formacie APA:
Charzyńska-Wójcik, M. and Anna Bondaruk(2003). Expletive 'pro' in Impersonal Passives in Irish, Polish and Old English. Linguistische Berichte, 195, 325-362.