Empty categories
Empty categories
Contents
Empty subjects
Subjects elided under conjunction (Conjunction Reduction)
*con*: subjects elided under conjunction, by default.
- con*-D, *con*-A: oblique subjects elided under conjunction
- con*-N: nominative subjects elided under conjunction which are controlled by a previous oblique subject
Expletives
Expletives (*exp*): Note that (NP-SBJ *exp*) is not used in the Icelandic corpus for the experiencers of known quirky-case-verbs; see the documentation on Quirky Case. Note that in early (Old Icelandic) texts, it may be difficult to distinguish between *exp* and *pro* in cases where there is an empty subject and it has a roughly impersonal (i.e. "maður") interpretation. In searches where you want to include all such sentences or all impersonals in early texts, it is wise to include both *exp* and *pro* in your searches.
Arbitrary PRO
*arb*: arbitrary PRO in the IP-INF complements of inherent ECM verbs.
pro subject
*pro*: other empty subjects. Note that in early (Old Icelandic) texts, it may be difficult to distinguish between *exp* and *pro* in cases where there is an empty subject and it has a roughly impersonal (i.e. "maður") interpretation. In searches where you want to include all such sentences or all impersonals in early texts, it is wise to include both *exp* and *pro* in your searches.
Sometimes, it's ambiguous whether a quantifier is the subject of the clause or if it modifies a *pro* subject. Then the context may indicate the right parse.
( (IP-MAT (VBDI Sátu) (ADVP-LOC (ADV þar)) (NP-SBJ (Q-N allar)) (PP (P um) (ADJP (ADJ-A kyrt))) (. ,-,)))
Topicalization or stylistic fronting of quantifiers (or other elements, e.g. D, N, P): indicated with *ICH* traces according to Penn Guidelines.
Empty objects of verbs: not indicated in annotation.
Empty objects of prepositions: in this case we follow the guidelines of the York Corpus of Old English Prose (YCOE). See also Particles under Head Types.
Empty oblique subject
A case extension is added to empty subjects if and only if the empty element is non-nominative. This can most frequently occur in cases of conjunction reduction, like *con*-D (empty dative subject), but also in other cases where the subject has been omitted, like *pro*-D.
( (IP-MAT (CONJ og-og) (NP-SBJ *con*-D) (VBDI þótti-þykja) (NP-SBJ (N-N skömm-skömm)) (IP-INF (TO að-að) (VB skilja-skilja) (PP (P við-við) (NP (PRO-A hann-hann)))) (. .-.)))
Parasitic Gaps
Parasitic gaps are marked with the same trace (same index) as the real gap on which they are parasitic, as in the example below:
(CP-QUE-SPE (IP-SUB-SPE (BEPI Er-vera)
(NP-SBJ (PRO-N það-það))
(NEG ekki-ekki)
(NP-PRD (D-N sá-sá)
(CP-REL-SPE (WNP-2 0)
(C sem-sem)
(IP-SUB-SPE (NP-OB1 *T*-2)
(NP-SBJ (PRO-N þeir-hann))
(VBDI sóktu-sækja)
(PP (P til-til)
(IP-INF-PRP-SPE (NP-OB1 *T*-2)
(TO að-að)
(VB lífláta-lífláta)
(CODE {COM:parasitic_gap}))))))))
(. ?-?))
(ID 1540.NTJOHN.REL-BIB,200.545))
We frequently also put a comment in the token indicating that the gap is parasitic.
A generic empty category (X *)
Traces of A-movement are marked with an asterisk " * ", including all pseudo-passives.
BE *
We do not use (BE *) after a modal verb and before a participle (VAN or VBN):
(IP-MAT-SPE (NP-SBJ (Q-N Lítil-lítill) (N-N tilraun-tilraun)) (MDPI mun-munu) (VAN birt-birta) (PP (P til-til) (NP (PRO-G þess-það))))
