Jaume Solà i Pujols - Departament de Filologia Catalana ...

(84) a. El cotxe d'en Joani, ell (mateix)i, no el condueix
The car of-the J. he (SELF) not it-drives
'Joan's car, he himself never drives'
b. ?*El cotxe d'en Joani, no el condueix (-> proi)
The car of-the J. not it-drives
'Joan's car, he does not drive'
c. El cotxe d'en Joani, no el condueix elli
The car of-the J. not it-drives he
'Joan's car is not driven by him himself'
In 0 pro contrasts with overt subjects, which behave alike. I think the explanation for that
paradigm could be based on the idea that (in some languages) a null subject always involves a
topic, whether overt or not. If it is overt it can appear in several places (it can adjoin in a higher
or lower position, even in superordinate clauses). A topic cannot bind an R-expression. In a strict
sense, the dislocated element ell mateix in 0.a) does not c-command the other dislocated element
el cotxe d'en Joan containing the co-referential R-expression (en Joan), because ell mateix
appears to the right of the other left adjoined element: the first branching node including the
inner adjunct will not contain the outer adjunct.
Now suppose null topics always have maximal scope. Then 0.b) would be excluded for
the same reason as:
(85) *Ell mateixi, el cotxe d'en Joani no el condueix
He SELF the car of-the J. not it-drives
'*He does not drive Joan's car'
where ell mateix illicitly binds en Joan. I leave the issue here.
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