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Distribution of PRO in Serbian Subjunctives
(2020-11-19) Nikolić, Dušan
The paper investigates distribution of PRO in Serbian subjunctives by following the tenets of Landau’s (2000, 2004) theory of control. The goal of the paper is to present theoretically-based and empirical evidence for two types of Serbian subjunctives: Type I and Type II, and to argue that PRO is generated and motivated independently of Case or Binding Theory. I make three main claims in this study. First, PRO in Serbian subjunctives depends on the interaction of Tense [T], Agree [Agr], and Reference [R]. Second, Type I subjunctives allow only PRO, which is anaphoric, or [-R], while Type II subjunctives allow a lexical DP or pro, which is [+R], or an independent reference. In addition, I argue that Type I subjunctives are untensed, whereas Type II subjunctives are tensed. Third, Landau (2004) assumes that [-R] prohibits PRO from being dispatched to the spell-out immediately, and that PRO enters Agreement with the matrix functional head. I argue that his theory has fallen short of providing conceptually strong arguments for such a stipulation. Instead, I propose Harwood’s (2015) variable phase approach that heeds to more dynamic phase structure. By ‘shifting’ the phase to a higher level domain, that is to the matrix clause vP, PRO becomes accessible to the probe, and the derivation of subjunctives converges.