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Lookup NU author(s): Emeritus Professor Anders Holmberg
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Constructions with a generic impersonal subject corresponding to English ‘one’ in Finnish are scrutinized. In Finnish these constructions never have a visible subject or any impersonal morphology. It is argued that the subject is a null pronoun which is assigned case and values the -features of T, just like a regular DP, but which is invisible to the EPP and therefore always remains vP-internal. An argument that it is vP-internal is presented based on the subject’s scope. A typology of impersonal constructions is discussed. An alternative theory, according to which the agreement morphology on the finite verb is an incorporated generic pronoun, is discussed and rejected. Generic subject constructions in other languages are discussed. The Finnish null ‘one’ is shown to be characteristic of partial null subject languages only.
Author(s): Holmberg A
Editor(s): Kaiser, E., Hiietam, K., Manninen, S., Vihman, V.
Publication type: Book Chapter
Publication status: In Press
Book Title: Passives and Impersonals in European Languages
Year: 2007
Publisher: John Benjamins
Place Published: Amsterdam
