Post-syntactic mechanisms of pronominal case variation in Germanic

Abstract

Pronoun-case-only (pro-case) languages in Germanic have been under-investigated, despite exhibiting theoretically significant patterns of inter- and intra-individual case variation. The goals of this paper are thus twofold. First, it establishes a pro-case typological distinction between Oblique-Form Default (OFD) as observed in Danish and English, and Subject-Form Default (SFD), as observed in Swedish. In OFD varieties, SFs (Subject Forms) occur as subjects of finite clauses, while OFs (Oblique Forms) occur elsewhere, including as predicatives and in heterogenous other syntactic environments. OFs also appear inside coordinate and other complex DPs, where sociolinguistic variation is attested. In SFD varieties, variation inside complex DPs is unattested; SFs occur as predicatives, but variable OFs express non-deictic semantics. My second aim is to demonstrate that these patterns of variation result from distinct post-syntactic mechanisms for OFD and SFD pro-case. Following Emonds, I argue that OFD pronouns are not the phonological realization of case features; instead, pro-case forms are morphosyntactic-contextual allomorphs. SFD pro-case, in contrast, is the phonological realization of dependent Oblique and Nominative features assigned by post-syntactic rules. © 2021 The Linguistic Circle of Copenhagen.