Browsing by Author "Tilahun, Kassa"

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    Pronominal empty categories in gamo
    (Addis Ababa Universiy, 2004-06) Tilahun, Kassa; Engdashet, Dr. Haile Eyes us
    In this thes is, the pro nomina l empty ca tego ri es of Gaillo arc dl sc lI ss" d The principles of thc GB Theory al'e relied on to iden tify the distribut ion ami interpretation of pronominal empty categori es in the language. Gamo is found to bc a pro-drop lan guage as subj ect NPs can be covc rt in, tensed clause. The covert NP subj ects, pro, can be recovered from subject NP aglcemcn t elements attached on verbs. It, on the other han d, is argued that objec t NPs are not allowed to b e covert. The absence of object NP AGR clements is the ca use for thi s. Moreover, nominal feat ures are absent in Gamo subordinate clall ses, \,1 hi ch in turn r estrict the presence 0 fpro in a complement clau se except the relal'l e and pa rti cipi al clau ses. !t is al so discussc;d that pro can semantica lly int e q)l' ~ t ccl as defi ni te ly or arbitrary based on the presence or abscnce of AGR elements. As thc discuss ion of the analv3 is revea ls Gamo pro fills in a theta or a non- theta po:.iri on. The other type of pronominal empty category, PRO, occurs in the subj ect rnsiti nn of infinite clauses. Its content is rccovel'ed when an antecedent Ip or an Illp li clt argument that is believed to have the sta tus of pro is conside red.