There is more: Variation in expletive constructions in Dutch

Abstract

This thesis is concerned with expletive clauses in Dutch. An example of such a construction follows in (1). (1) Er loopt iemand op straat. There walks someone on street ‘Someone is walking in the street.’ In this sentence the expletive pronoun er ‘there’ is supposedly in subject position, while the lexical subject iemand ‘someone’ remains lower in the clause (see Wesseling 2018 for a more detailed view of subjecthood and the subject position in Dutch). This begs the question what the syntactic function of er is. We also find expletive er in wh-subject questions, as in (2). (2) Wie komt er? who comes there ‘Who is coming?’ The wh-subject wie ‘who’ is in subject position, again the question is why er needs to be present. In this thesis I investigate the syntactic function of er. I argue that the pronoun er has an articulated internal structure. Cardinaletti and Starke (1999) argue that pronouns can be divided into three types: strong pronouns, weak pronouns and clitic pronouns. Depending on their morphosyntactic behavior, pronouns can be categorized as one of these types. Furthermore, these different types of pronouns have a different internal structure. In Chapter 2, it is shown that er (and its variants) should be analyzed as a weak pronoun. Furthermore, daar ‘there’ and hier ‘here’, which can also be used as expletive pronouns, are categorized as strong pronouns. This thesis argues that the internal structure of er and daar ‘there’ is similar, to the extent that they each contain a locative feature. The expletive pronoun er is also used in impersonal passive constructions in Dutch, as we can see in (3). (3) Werd er gelachen? was there laughed ‘Was there laughing?’ An extensive survey under 671 informants showed that instead of er the pronoun daar ‘there’ can also be used in such constructions. In these impersonal passive sentences, there is no lexical subject available to satisfy the EPP (Extended Projection Principle, Chomsky 1981). Apparently, er and daar ‘there’ adhere to the EPP here. In Chapter 3, it is argued that these pronouns are specifically suited to satisfy the EPP since they can satisfy the features on Io. In fact, Io is analyzed as having not only Tense and Phi features, but also a locative feature. This feature is satisfied by er/daar in impersonal passive constructions. In Chapter 4, the need for er in wh-subject clauses is investigated. A questionnaire filled in by 419 native Dutch speakers, demonstrated that there is much variety amongst speakers concerning the use of er. For many speakers er is not obligatory in such constructions, while for others er cannot be omitted. The analysis developed in this chapter regards this variation as a parametric difference with respect to moving wh-subject pronouns. For speakers who need er, the wh-pronoun moves from the vP to spec,CP in one go, whereby er spells out the locative feature on Io. In the grammar of speakers who can omit er, however, the wh-subject moves from the vP to spec,IP, and then to spec,CP. In those derivations spec,IP is occupied, hence er cannot be spelled out. In Chapter 5, this analysis of er is extended to the expletive pronouns in English and German. Furthermore, the diachronic development of er is discussed.