TY  - CHAP
U1  - Buchbeitrag
A1  - Weiß, Helmut
A1  - Volodina, Anna
ED  - Cognola, Federica
ED  - Casalicchio, Jan
T1  - Referential null subjects in German. Dialects and diachronic continuity
T2  - Null Subjects in Generative Grammar: A Synchronic and Diachronic Perspective
N2  - Null subjects (NSs) have been a central research topic in generative syntax ever since the 1980s. This chapter considers the situation of German NSs both from a dialectological and from a diachronic perspective and attempts to reconstruct a direct line concerning the licensing conditions of pro-drop from Old High German (OHG) through Middle High German (MHG) and Early New High German (ENHG) to current dialects of New High German (NHG). Particularly, we will argue that German changed from a consistent, yet asymmetric pro-drop language to a partial, but symmetric one. In order to demonstrate that this development took place and the steps involved, we survey the existing empirical evidence and introduce new data.
KW  - null subject
KW  - topic drop
KW  - pro-drop
KW  - Old High German (OHG)
KW  - Middle High German (MHG)
KW  - Early New High German (ENHG)
KW  - German dialects
KW  - inflected complementizer
KW  - pronominal agreement
KW  - Pro-Drop-Parameter
KW  - Deutsch
KW  - Mundart
KW  - Generative Syntax
KW  - Dialektologie
KW  - Althochdeutsch
KW  - Mittelhochdeutsch
KW  - Frühneuhochdeutsch
Y1  - 2018
UN  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:bsz:mh39-110575
SN  - 978-0-19-881585-3
SB  - 978-0-19-881585-3
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198815853.003.0011
DO  - https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198815853.003.0011
SP  - 261
EP  - 284
PB  - Oxford University Press
CY  - Oxford
ER  -