The Syntactic Recoverability of Null Arguments

Alain Thomas is an associate professor of French studies at the
University of Guelph.

This monograph examines the syntactic properties of subject and object
clitic pronouns in various Romance languages and dialects, within the
theoretical framework of Chomsky’s generative grammar. A revised
version of a doctoral thesis, the volume is highly specialized and
technical. A sound knowledge of Chomsky’s work is indispensable for
proper appreciation of the ideas discussed.

In accordance with one of the stated aims of current linguistic
theory—to avoid very language-particular syntactic rules in favor of
more general principles—Roberge demonstrates that certain languages,
notably French, should be analyzed as null argument language, that is,
languages distinguished, like Italian, by missing subjects or objects
(“Ho telefonato”). He proposes a formal characterization of how
pronouns appear in various constructions. Subject and object clitics are
shown to be simply two different realizations of the same syntactic
element and to have the same intrinsic features as agreement markers.
Likewise, subject and object doubling (as in French: e.g., “Lui, il
vient”) are shown to be governed by the same mechanisms.

For those with the proper background, Roberge’s book provides a
worthwhile exploration in linguistic theory, with convincing arguments
and abundant examples drawn from a wide variety of languages and
dialects.