Syntactic annotation – empty categories

Empty subjects

All finite clauses (IP-MAT, IP-SUB) are required to have a subject, and this is what drives the policy for including empty subjects. Infinitival clauses (IP-INF) are not required to have a subject.

All empty subjects appear as early as possible in the clause.

There are four types of empty subject:

• \*con\*: subject elision under conjunction
• \*pro\*: referential null subject
• \*arb\*: TODO: do we actually use this?
• \*exp\*: null expletive subject

 

\*con\*: subject elision under conjunction

(IP-MAT (NP-OB1 (DPDS Dat))     ← first conjunct
        (VVFIN beleueden) 
        (NP-SBJ (PPER se)
                (DIN alle))
        (PP (APPR myt)
            (NP (NA willen)))
)

(IP-MAT (KON und) 
        (NP-SBJ *con*)     ← second conjunct, with elision of subject
        (VVFIN scheiden)
        (PP (APPR van)
            (NP (PPER em)))
)

Note:

• \*con\* can only be used when the elided subject is coreferential and identical in number with the subject of the preceding IP-MAT

• If not, then use \*pro\*:

(IP-MAT (ADVP-TMP (AVD Do))
        (VVFIN brochte)
        (NP-SBJ (DPIS me))
        (PTKVZ wedder)
        (NP-OB1 (DDARTA de)
                (ADJA kostlike)
                (NA kleder))
)

(IP-MAT (KON vnde)
        (NP-SBJ *pro*)       ← *pro* subject
        (VAFIN wart)
        (ADVP (AVD vroliken))
        (VVPP entfangen)
        (PP (APPR van)
            (NP (DIA allen)
                (NA volke)))
)

\*pro\*: referential null subject

An example:

(IP-MAT (KON vnde)
        (NP-SBJ *pro*)       ← *pro* subject
        (VAFIN wart)
        (ADVP (AVD vroliken))
        (VVPP entfangen)
        (PP (APPR van)
            (NP (DIA allen)
                (NA volke)))
)

Note: \*pro\* can also be used as a default empty subject where other types of empty subject are not appropriate, e.g. in cases of conjunction reduction where there is number mismatch and thus \*con\*cannot be used.

\*exp\*: null expletive subject

A null expletive subject (*exp\*) is inserted in contexts where an overt expletive could be expected, but is not attested (see also here for more detail on expletive constructions).

(IP-MAT (KON Vnde)
        (NP-SBJ *exp*)             ← null expletive
        (PP (ADVP (PAVD hijr))
            (PAVAP vp))
        (VVFIN staet)
        (PP (APPR in)
            (NP (DDARTA der)
                (NA glosen)))
        (VVPP gheschreuen)
)

 

Other empty categories

There are five other empty non-subject categories:

• \*t\*: traces of wh-movement
• \*ICH\*: traces of other types of movement
• Empty complementisers (C 0)
• Empty conjunctions (KON 0)
• Empty resumptives (*-RSP 0)

 

\*t\*: traces of wh-movement

Traces of this type are always co-indexed:

(CONJP (KON vnde)
       (CP-QUE (WNP-1 (DPWS wat))         ← wh-phrase
               (IP-SUB (NP-PRD *T*-1)     ← trace
                       (NP-SBJ (PPER se)
                       (VVFIN is))))
)    

\*ICH\*: traces of other types of movement (e.g. extraposition)

Traces of this type are also always co-indexed:

(IP-SUB (NP-SBJ  (PPER se))
        (ADJ-PRD (ADJD ledich)
                 (PP *ICH*-1))         ← trace
        (VVFIN was)
        (PP-1 (APPR van)               ← moved constituent
              (NP (ADJA guden)
                  (NA daden)))
)

Note:

• The \*ICH\* is inserted as early as possible in the source constituent if the movement is upward, and as late as possible in the source constituent if the movement is downward.

• Movements of these kinds are only represented if the movement in question takes the moved constituent out of its source constituent.

Empty complementisers (C 0)

Empty complementisers (C 0) are used in a more restricted way than in the general Penn scheme – see elsewhere.

Empty conjunctions (KON 0)

Departing from the standard Penn policy on null elements, we insert a null conjunction (KON 0) in contexts where it is motivated, e.g.

• in lists, where the last two elements are overtly conjoined:

(NP-PRN (NE (NE Abram)
            (KON 0)      ← null conjunction
            (NE Machor)
            (KON vnde)
            (NE Aram))
)

Empty resumptives (*-RSP 0)

This is another departure from the standard Penn policy on null elements (see here on their use).