| Abstrakt: |
This paper deals with the relationship between subject agreement and extracted subjects. In some languages (local) extraction of the subject triggers the Anti-Agreement Effect (AAE), whereby the verb cannot agree with the extracted subject; instead, the verb has an invariable (third person singular) form. It is argued that the AAE is a strategy used by some Null Subject languages, in particular those which locally move their wh-subjects in the syntax, to avoid the licensing of a resumptive pro in the closest subject position. This strategy is necessary because a resumptive pro in this position would be accessible to (A′-) binding by the moved wh-subject, in violation of an A′-disjointness requirement on the distribution of pronomonal elements. It is argued, following Aoun and Li (1989), that the latter incorporates a Minimality effect, necessary to account for the fact that the presence of negation helps undo the AAE, obligatorily in some languages and optionally in others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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