On resumptive pronouns in Slavic: Towards a generalized theory of pronominal structure and interpretation

"On Resumptive Pronouns in Slavic" is a first step toward a generalized theory of pronouns that accounts for the behavior of both ordinary and resumptive pronouns. I adopt the definition of resumption proposed by Boeckx (2003) who analyzes resumptive pronouns as pronouns stranded by the movement of an NP sister. In contrast to Boeckx's theory, I argue that every definite pronoun enters the syntax as a D0 sister to its NP or DP referent.* The central argument of the dissertation rests on this proposed universal pronominal structure, called the stacked DP. I suggest that the single parametric difference resulting in resumptive vs. non-resumptive type languages is the ability of the internal DP to raise independently of the pronoun. In other words, any language in which the internal DP of a stacked DP is independently mobile (i.e. it can move without pied-piping the pronoun) will contain resumptive pronouns.;This analysis of the syntactic structure of pronouns extends to all instances of pronouns, including those that do not occur in a resumptive context. A natural question to follow from this is what becomes of the NP/DP sister of the pronoun in contexts not involving any resumption, as in the following sentence: (i) I met her yesterday. I propose that the NP/DP referent is frequently deleted by a PF operation, Pronominal Associate Deletion (PAD): If D0 is a personal pronoun and XP is a sister to D0, then XP is deleted. If the XP referent raises during narrow syntax, the conditions for PAD will not be met at PF. As a result, both the XP and the pronoun will be pronounced.;In addition to this PF rule, I propose an LF condition to account for the interpretation of pronouns, the Pronominal Reference Condition (PRC): In DPMAX whose D0 is a pronoun, interpret D 0 as co-referential with the NP also dominated by DPMAX. These two operations, in combination with the stacked DP internal structure of pronouns, provide the means to explain a wide array of phenomena relating to the occurrence of resumptive pronouns, including Macedonian clitic doubling, Hebrew interrogative wh-resumption, optional resumption in B/C/S and Slovak, and resumption in Slovene superlative clauses.;*Please refer to dissertation for diagrams.