On the Syntax of Impersonal Constructions in French and Portuguese – the Use of Expletive Pronouns in Null and Non Null Subject Languages

Abstract

This dissertation investigates null and non null subject languages and the use of expletive subject pronouns in these languages. In particular, it examines the bidirectional correlation between null subject languages and the absence of expletive subject pronouns on the one hand and non null subject languages and the obligatory use of expletive subject pronouns on the other. Specifically, this thesis deals with two apparent exceptions to this correlation: the first is the omission of the impersonal subject pronoun il in Spoken French, a non null subject language, and the second is the use of the expletive ele in European Portuguese (henceforth EP), a consistent null subject language. The first aim of this dissertation is to extensively describe the distribution of expletive il and ele, determining syntactic as well as sociolinguistic factors that affect the variation in the use of the two elements. Based on the results, the second goal is a uniform categorisation of French and EP within the null subject parameter, taking into account the use of expletive il and ele. To achieve these objectives, I combine theoretical syntax with experimental research, conducting different empirical studies including a corpus analysis and two acceptability judgement tasks. For French, the corpus analysis reveals, among other things, a total il-omission rate of 43 % with the verb form faut as well as a significant increase in omissions from the 1960s to the year 2008. Furthermore, the corpus and the acceptability study both confirm an asymmetry between main and embedded clauses and indicate that il-drop is not limited to occurring sentence-initially. In addition, a diaphasic and diastratic variation can be observed as well as a significant influence of the factor age. For EP, an acceptability judgement task shows that sentences are rated as equally natural irrespective of whether ele is located in a position preverbal and adjacent to the finite verb or preverbal but separated from the finite verb by a peripheral adverb. In addition, the use of ele is only considered acceptable when used in an emphatic context. From these findings, the classification of ele as a discourse-related element located in the high left-peripheral specifier position of ForceP can be conducted. Overall, my results reveal that both French and the omission of il as well as EP and the use of ele do not constitute exceptions to the null subject parameter. For Spoken French, an original categorisation of the language within a fine-grained hierarchical null subject parameter in combination with the deletion approach accounts for the observed variation in the use of impersonal il. For EP, the classification of ele as a discourse-related element solves the problem with respect to the analysis as a consistent null subject language without overt expletive subject pronouns.