2004): Null Subjects and Uninterpretable Features: Evidence from Finnish

Abstract

The traditional view of the null subject as pro identified by Agr (the φ−features of I) cannot be maintained in a theory where Agr is uninterpretable. Two hypotheses will be compared with regard to the predictions they make for the Finnish null subject construction: (A) Agr is interpretable in null-subject languages, and pro is therefore redundant; (B) Null subjects are fully specified pronouns which assign values to the uninterpretable features of Agr before getting deleted in PF. Since Finnish has an EPP condition and an expletive pronoun, Hypothesis A predicts that null subjects should co-occur with expletives. The prediction is false, favouring B over A. Some consequences of this will be discussed. 1. Introduction: Little

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