The syntax of pro-drop in Thai
Thai is a discourse pro-drop language (also called ~radical pro-drop~ language), since it exhibits highly frequent use of null pronouns without the involvement of agreement morphology. The descriptive goal of this thesis is to describe the different syntactic contexts in Thai where null pronouns occur and where they do not occur. The theoretical goal is to explain why pronouns sometimes have to be pronounced, sometimes may, but need not be, and sometimes cannot be pronounced, in Thai, and how this relates to pro-drop as found in other languages. The thesis will thereby hopefully contribute to the theory of pronouns, pronominal reference, and pro-drop. After an introduction (Chapter 1), the distribution of null/overt pronouns and the restrictions on their occurrences are discussed (Chapter 2). It is demonstrated that even though a null pronoun can appear in any argument position, it cannot take the position of a prepositional complement or occur in a conjoined NPs construction. It is also demonstrated that a null pronoun/argument in Thai always looks for an antecedent for a referential reading (Chapter 5). If there is no controlling linguistic antecedent for a null pronoun in a higher clause, then a discourse
Phimsawat, On-Usa
The syntax of pro-drop in Thai. Thai is a discourse pro-drop language (also called ~radical pro-drop~ language), since it exhibits highly frequent use of null pronouns without the involvement of agreement morphology. The descriptive goal of this thesis is to describe the different syntactic contexts in Thai where null pronouns occur and where they do not occur. The theoretical goal is to explain why pronouns sometimes have to be pronounced, sometimes may, but need not be, and sometimes cannot be pronounced, in Thai, and how this relates to pro-drop as found in other languages. The thesis will thereby hopefully contribute to the theory of pronouns, pronominal reference, and pro-drop. After an introduction (Chapter 1), the distribution of null/overt pronouns and the restrictions on their occurrences are discussed (Chapter 2). It is demonstrated that even though a null pronoun can appear in any argument position, it cannot take the position of a prepositional complement or occur in a conjoined NPs construction. It is also demonstrated that a null pronoun/argument in Thai always looks for an antecedent for a referential reading (Chapter 5). If there is no controlling linguistic antecedent for a null pronoun in a higher clause, then a discourse
syntax pro_drop thai thai discourse pro_drop language also call radical pro_drop language since exhibit highly frequent use null pronoun without involvement agreement morphology descriptive goal describe different syntactic context thai null pronoun occur occur theoretical goal explain pronoun sometimes pronounce sometimes may need sometimes pronounce thai relate pro_drop find language thereby contribute theory pronoun pronominal reference pro_drop introduction distribution null overt pronoun restriction occurrence discuss demonstrate even_though null pronoun appear argument position_take position prepositional complement occur conjoin nps construction also_demonstrate null pronoun argument thai always look antecedent referential reading control linguistic antecedent null pronoun high clause discourse