Binding into pronouns

Plural pronouns display a surprising binding asymmetry. While a 1P.SG subject pronoun can bind the 1P.SG element within a 1P.PL pronoun ( Je nous ai acheté des billets ‘I i bought us i+j tickets’), a 2P.SG pronoun cannot bind the 2P.SG element in a 2P.PL pronoun ( *Tu vous as acheté des billets ‘You...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Lingua 2006-10, Vol.116 (10), p.1561-1579
Main Author: Rooryck, Johan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Binding
Comitative agreement
Disjoint reference
Inclusive/exclusive
Person
PRO
Pronouns (internal structure of)
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Summary:Plural pronouns display a surprising binding asymmetry. While a 1P.SG subject pronoun can bind the 1P.SG element within a 1P.PL pronoun ( Je nous ai acheté des billets ‘I i bought us i+j tickets’), a 2P.SG pronoun cannot bind the 2P.SG element in a 2P.PL pronoun ( *Tu vous as acheté des billets ‘You i bought you i+j tickets’). This contrast is most striking with clitic pronouns, as contrastive focus on one of the pronouns improves the relevant sentences in other languages. The reverse situation, with SG pronouns bound by PL subject pronouns, always yields ungrammaticality: (* Nous m’avons acheté des billets ‘We i+j bought me i tickets’; * Vous t’avez acheté des billets ‘You i+j bought you i tickets’). Such asymmetries of disjoint reference can be accounted for if the internal structure of plural pronouns is syntactically accessible. 1P.PL pronouns will be shown to be internally more complex than 2P.PL pronouns, a difference that is also typologically justified. The interaction between binding theory and the different internal structure of 1P.PL and 2P.PL plural pronouns then derives the observed generalizations.
ISSN:0024-3841
1872-6135
DOI:10.1016/j.lingua.2005.08.005