Null Subjects

This book provides an accessible and original account of null subject phenomena, and encompasses the most recent findings and developments.

José A. Camacho (Author)

9781107034105, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 25 April 2013

268 pages, 53 b/w illus. 10 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.6 cm, 0.41 kg

'… the book is useful for anyone interested in further investigating the topic of NSs and NSLs. It provides a wealth of typological data for 'prototypical' NSLs and, especially, partial NSLs (less so for discourse NSLs) and provides a valuable summary of the current generative understanding of NSLs and the problems with many earlier (or widespread and influential) theories.' John Foreman, Linguist List

The null subject has always been central to linguistic theory, because it tells us a great deal about the underlying structure of language in the human brain, and about the interface between syntax and semantics. Null subjects exist in languages such as Italian, Chinese, Russian and Greek where the subject of a sentence can be tacitly implied, and is understood from the context. In this systematic overview of null subjects, José A. Camacho reviews the key notions of null subject analyses over the past thirty years and encompasses the most recent findings and developments. He examines a balance of data on a range of languages with null subjects and also explores how adults and children acquire the properties of null subjects. This book provides an accessible and original account of null subject phenomena, ideal for graduate students and academic researchers interested in syntax, semantics and language typology.

1. Introduction
Part I. What is the Null Subject Parameter? A Little History: 2. The null subject parameter: introduction
3. The core content of the NSP
4. The nature of the EPP and the null subject parameter
Part II. On Identification: 5. Identification and morphology
6. Discourse identification
7. Null/overt subject contrasts
8. The status of preverbal subjects in NSLs
9. Parametrization, learnability and acquisition.

Subject Areas: Grammar, syntax & morphology [CFK], Semantics, discourse analysis, etc [CFG], Linguistics [CF]