This paper analyzes changes in the null subject parameter in Caribbean Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese varieties. Assuming a Minimalist framework that ascribes parametric variation to differences in lexical settings, it is argued that increased frequency of overt pronominals and an anti-locality principle against Spec, head grammatical interactions trigger a shift from interpretable to unintep...

The grammaticalization of nouns meaning ‘man’ or ‘person’ into impersonal pronouns (so-called man-impersonals) has been related to languages with obligatory subject expression, like Germanic and French. Albeit regarded as a null-subject language, European Portuguese (EP) presents similar development: the noun phrases uma pessoa ‘a person’ a ‘the are used in ways that resem...

We consider the binary paint shop problem (PPW(2,1)). We describe an approach to solve PPW(2,1). This approach is based on constructing a logical model for PPW(2,1). Mathematics Subject Classification: 68T20

In (1a), the verb shows subject agreement with 'Alemu (3sm)' and object agreement with 'the dead cat (3sm)'. Probably due to the strong verbal agreement, a null pronominal (‘pro’) can be used as the subject (or the object), as in (1b). Besides agreement-marking, Chaha verbs host prefixes to yield transitivity alternations, passivization, and causativization. Hetzron’s (1977) summary of the thre...

Y chromosome short tandem repeats (Y-STRs) are valuable genetic markers in certain areas of forensic case-work. However, when the Y-STR DNA profile is weak, the observed Y-STR profile may not be complete--i.e. locus drop-out may have occurred. Another explanation could be that the stain DNA did not have a Y-STR allele that was detectable with the method used (the allele is a 'null allele'). If ...

The Turkish reflexive kendisi (self-3SG.POSS) deviates from Principle A of the Binding Theory and Minimalist movement approaches to referential dependencies. This paper concurs with Kornfilt (2001) provides further support that kendi-si is preceded by a null possessor (pro) which influences its binding but argues not reflexive. Kendisi’s distribution changes when pronominal or an overt (o, ‘she...