“Pluringulars”, pronouns and quirky agreement

Datos Bibliográficos

ID20344396
AutoresMarcel Den Dikken (0000-0003-2602-2331, autor de correspondencia)
Año2001
Volumen18
Número1
Fecha de publicación2001-01-14
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaThe Linguistic Review (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0167-6318 • E-ISSN: 1613-3676
EditorialWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1515/tlir.18.1.19
OpenAlexW2127022519
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas51
Referencias citadas16

Unlike full noun phrases, weak and null pronouns typically cannot procrastinate: they cannot move at LF. Taking this as its starting point, this paper addresses the behaviour of English weak and null pronouns in three agreement domains: agreement attraction, agreement with committee -type noun phrases (here dubbed “pluringulars” when they trigger plural finite verb agreement), and agreement in there sentences. Agreement attraction is analysed in terms of LF-movement, which, in the light of the fact that they cannot LF-move, immediately accounts for the fact that weak pronouns cannot trigger attraction. “Pluringulars” are argued to be complex noun phrases headed by a null plural pronoun, which explains their failure to trigger attraction and a number of other properties of “pluringulars” which otherwise stand out as quirks, including the fact that they cannot be the associate of there in plural-agreeing there sentences. Agreement attraction also fails in there sentences, which is shown to supply an argument against expletive replacement

Agreement · Attraction · Linguistics · Noun · Noun phrase · Personal pronoun · Plural · Pronoun · Verb · Chemistry · Computer Science · Discourse Analysis in Language Studies · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Mathematics · Philosophy · Psychology · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation