Phi-features and the Modular Architecture of - UMR 7023 - CNRS

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*[Marie and I] found.3PL themselves (se) near the church.
c. Près de l'église se trouvaient [Marie et moi].
lit. Near the church found.3PL themselvesi (se) [Marie and I].
d. *Près de l'église nous trouvions [Marie et moi].
*lit. Near the church found.1PL ourselvesi (nous) [Marie and I].
(French, cf. Bonami, Godard and Marandin
1999, Bonami and Godard 2001; % )
To take stock, 1PL on has interpretive 1PL phi-features for nearly all linked
pronouns, from phrasal reflexives doubling se, through c-commanded pronouns at
any distance, to cross-clausal anaphora. However, for agreement, for the object reflexive
clitic, and for obligatory control, 1PL on is 3SG.
3 rd person expression may refers to 1 st /2 nd person, as pointed out at the beginning
of this section, but theirs is not behaviour of on. This may be brought out by
comparing our group in (382). It is a 3SG collective that corefers with 1PL we. Its
3SG phi-features are accessible to agreement, local reflexives, and remote anaphoric
pronouns. It has no 1PL phi-features, and so local reflexives cannot be 1PL,
local disjoint 1PL pronouns are fine, and remote 1PL pronouns may corefer.
(382) a. [Ouri group]k presented itselfk/*ourselvesi/usi to itsk/ouri hosts.
b. [Ouri group]k decided PRO to present itselfk/?*ourselvesi/usi to
itsk/ouri hosts.
With on, agreement, the reflexive clitic, and control must be 3SG, as with our
group. All other pronouns must be 1PL, so for them on is interpretively wholly
1PL. Moreover, local object clitics cannot be 1PL, so for them as well on is 1PL,
to rule them out by Condition B. 190 Our group is syntactically and interpretively
3SG but corefers with 1PL. On is interpretively 1PL in all ways save syntactic
3(SG) Agree. This is the interpretation-syntax mismatch.
On is not alone in this behaviour. Other pronouns have trodden the diachronic
route from 3SG kind nouns to 1PL (Egerland 2003, D'Alessandro and Alexiadou
2006). Taylor (2009) perspicuously discusses a gente in two varieties of Brazilian
Portuguese, BPP and BPP'. A gente originates from the collective 3SG 'the people',
and save when combining with a, gente remains as 'people'. A gente has become
an indefinite or generic pronoun. It has also become a 1PL pronoun, beside
the older 1PL nós type cognate with French 1PL nous, as shown in (383). In both
the dialects BPP and BPP', pronouns anaphoric to a gente may be either a gente or
of the nós type, as (383) also illustrates. The reflexive object clitic and verb
agreement are again exceptional, and a gente varies across the dialects. In the variety
(384)a that is otherwise like BPP, a gente is like French on, 3SG for agreement
and the reflexive object clitic. In BPP (384)b, it is 3SG for agreement but
3SG or 1PL for the reflexive. In BPP' (384)c, it has become 1PL throughout.
190 The same is true of overlapping reference, ruling out 1SG local object clitics in *On m'a tous
choisi pour nous réprenter 'We (on) all chose me to represent us'; see IV:4.