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

(39) BT-status of I-subjects (according to 0):
English Italian
- anaphors null + -
overt + -
- pronominals null - +
overt - +
- R-expressions null - +
overt - +
0 differs only in three respects from the table of values in 0:
(40) a. overt anaphors are possible I-subjects in non-NSLs.
b. (null) anaphors are not possible I-subjects in NSLs.
c. null pronominals are possible I-subjects in NSLs.
Is there any evidence for these predictions? We start with prediction 0.a). Consider a
sentence like 0:
(41) John has done it himself
We could take what is traditionally called emphatic anaphors as an instance of I-subject
overt anaphor. Emphatic anaphors have been traditionally considered non-Arguments. 25 But in
fact, constructions such as 0 share some properties with inverted subjects in Italian. 0 has an
25 As in Burzio (1986:102). In the next chapter (section
2.4.) we will in fact consider the possibility these emphatic
elements are not really in an A-position. But this does not
affect the argumentation that follows, even if the idea that
these elements are in the same position as inverted subjects is
only an approximation.
1