Linguistica Brunensia (Feb 2018)
The role of clitics in Serbian presentative constructions
Abstract
Presentative constructions in Serbian allow two patterns [presentative particle NPGEN] and [presentative particle CLi NPiNOM]. This paper proposes derivations of these patterns. The premise is that the choice between the two patterns is determined by the the type of inert v0. Namely, the first pattern is derived if inert v0 can assign partitive case, i.e. v0 [PART], while the latter pattern is derived if v0 cannot assign partitive case. A special focus is put on the [CLi+NPi] pattern since it represents a case of the co-occurrence of a pronominal clitic and a co-indexed NP, which is not characteristic of Serbian. It is argued that the relationship between the NP and the co-indexed clitic is that of agreement. The X0 and the NP establish a relationship in which X0 assigns nominative case to the NP and the NP values X0’s [uφ:]. This agreement is taken to be the same kind of agreement that holds between an NPNOM and the X0 which is in charge of agreement with participles in Serbian. The only twist in presentative constructions is the absence of a verb in the numeration. This means that the φ-features checked in X0 cannot be pronounced as an integral part of a participle. Allowing certain morpho-phonological rules to pronounce boundless of features as various morphemes, it is proposed that the clitic is a spell-out of this bundle of features, resulting in the [CLi+NPi] pattern.
