Register-specific subject omission in English and French and the syntax of coordination

Abstract

In both English and French, as such non-pro drop languages, finite clause subjects can be omitted in second-conjunct subject ellipsis in the core grammar and as a result of register-specific subject omission (as in diary style writing). The parallelisms between second-conjunct ellipsis present and register-specific subject omission present a challenge for accounts viewing register-specific subject omission as a register-related grammatical property. This chapter shows that the two phenomena cannot be assimilated. Based on patterns with quantificational subjects, the small conjunct coordination analysis is invoked to derive second-conjunct subject ellipsis. For register-specific subject omission a register-specific account for the derivation of subject omission is retained. The chapter introduces a novel set of data of register-specific subject omission, namely the ellipsis of a second-conjunct subject not coreferential with the first-conjunct subject. This pattern is the output of the coordination of two full-fledged clauses, the second of which with register-specific subject omission.