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

and sentential subjects:
(37) BT-status of I-subjects (standard assumptions):
English Italian
- anaphors null + +
overt - -
- pronominals null - -
overt - +
- R-expressions null - +
overt - +
Let us assume the contrast English/Italian is representative of the contrast NSLs vs. non-
NSLs. The distribution of values in 0 is derived from the standard theory on expletives: Italian
would be like English if null expletives did not allow a wider range of I-subjects. Suppose we try
to redefine the distribution in 0 by tentatively assuming the following generalization:
(38) I-subjects are [-anaphoric] in NSLs and [+anaphoric] in non-NSLs.
What are the consequences of this assumption? The new picture that emerges is
expressed in the following table:
1