Empty Subject Phenomenon and Parametrization Problem

Abstract

Many researchers working within the framework of Generative Grammar have investigated the null-subject phenomenon. Therefore, there are many approaches, which differ in the identification of the little pronoun (pro), and its licensing across human languages. This paper discusses these approaches and highlights the multifaceted nature of null subjects. More specifically, it shows that the original formulation of pro-drop parameter, which is based on rich agreement, does not adequately capture the behavior of pro across languages especially in a theory where Agreement features are uninterpretable. Within this theoretical framework, an attempt will be made to demonstrate that Arabic is a pro-drop type and that the verbal suffixes are agreement markers in contrast to what is common in some generative literature. The nominative case will also be considered as the basic licenser of the little pronoun, while the features identification process is specified through binding relation. Additionally, it is assumed that pro in Arabic is inserted into the derivation with non-specified ɸ-features. Therefore, it involves the presence of a topic in the structure or an antecedent in the discourse to identify its features. This specification of pro features facilitates the valuation of T features in the same way as the valuation process of T features in DP.