Empty category

The phenomenon was named and outlined by Noam Chomsky in his 1981 LGB framework,[1][2] and serves to address apparent violations of locality of selection — there are different types of empty categories that each appear to account for locality violations in different environments.

The four possible interactions of plus or minus values for these features yield the four types of null DPs.

[6] PRO is a universal lexical element, it is said to be able to occur in every language, in an environment with a non-finite embedded clause.

[14] The DP is ‘dropped’ from a sentence if its reference can be recovered from the context; "pro" is the silent counterpart of an overt pronoun.

[7][16] Chinese is an example of a pro-drop language, where both subjects and objects can be dropped from the pronounced part of finite sentences, and their meaning remains clear from the context.

'In certain syntactic environments (e.g. specifier VP and the specifier position of a TP which introduces a non-finite verb), case features are unable to be “checked”, and a determiner phrase must move throughout the phrase structure in order to check the case features.

*Square brackets throughout example 2 indicate an empty DP category This English example shows that DP [Cheri] is originally introduced in the specifier position of the embedded infinitive clause, before moving to the specifier position of the matrix clause.

This movement happens in order to check the features of the raising verb [seem],[19] and leaves behind a DP-trace (tDP) in the original position of the DP.

[20] Wh-items undergo Wh-movement to the specifier of CP, leaving a Wh-trace (tWH) in its original position.

"Many languages such as Portuguese freely allow for the omission of the object of a transitive verb and use a variable empty category in its place.

All null heads are the result of some movement operation on the underlying structure, forcing a lexical item out of its original position, and leaving an empty category behind.

There are many types of null functional categories, including determiners, complementizers and tense markers, which are the result of more recent research in the field of linguistics.

Null heads are positions which end up being unpronounced at the surface level but are not included in the anaphoric and pronominal features chart that accounts for other types of empty categories.

[27] In addition to this, some compelling data from the Kansai dialect of Japanese, in which the same adverb can evoke different meaning depending on where it is attached in a clause, also points towards the existence of a null C. For example, in both complementizer-less and complementizer environments, the adverbial particle dake (“only”) evokes the same phrasal meaning:[28] John-waJohn-TOP[Mary-gaMary-NOMokot-taget.angry-PASTtte-dake]that-onlyyuu-ta.say-PASTJohn-wa [Mary-ga okot-ta tte-dake] yuu-ta.John-TOP Mary-NOM get.angry-PAST that-only say-PAST‘John said only that Mary got angry.

'The interpretation of (c) is as follows: “John said that among a number of people that might have gotten angry, only Mary did.” As demonstrated by (c), the adverb should evoke a different meaning than in (a) if it is attached to any item other than a complementizer.

[28] The IP Hypothesis, on the other hand, asserts that the complementizer layer is simply nonexistent in complementizerless clauses.

[29][30] Other work focuses on some differences in grammatical adjunction possibilities to “that” versus “that-less” clauses in English, for which the CP Hypothesis apparently cannot account.

It states that under the CP Hypothesis, both clauses are CPs and thus should display the same adjunction possibilities; this is not what we find in the data.

'While in Latvian, the equivalent verb "cerēt" takes an overt complementizer phrase: Zēniboy.PLcer,hope.3kathatviņiemthey.DAT.PLkādssomeonepalīdzēs.help.FUT.3Zēni cer, ka viņiem kāds palīdzēs.boy.PL hope.3 that they.DAT.PL someone help.FUT.3'The boys hope that somebody will help them.

Tense markers are used to put events in time on a timeline in relation to a reference point, usually the moment of speech.

A null tense marker is when this indication of time undergoes a movement operation in the underlying structure and leaves an empty category behind.

In rare cases, a null tense marker can also be the byproduct of a coordination operation, such as in Korean.

[32] For a proper tense interpretation of the first conjunct conjunct, it is necessary to construct a phonetically null tense inflection as schown schematically in the template below: Verbs that select for three arguments cause an issue for X-bar theory, where ternary branching trees are not allowed.

For empty categories, this is a particularly interesting consideration, since, when children ask for a certain object, their guardians usually respond in “motherese”.

An example of a motherese utterance which doesn't use empty categories is in response to a child's request for a certain object.

It is noted that ‘thematic government’ may be all the child possesses at a young age and this is enough to recognize the concept of empty category.

The proper amount of time must be given to learn the certain aspects of an empty category (case marking, monotonicity properties, etc.).