The Pro-drop Parameter in Mazandarani

Abstract

Abstract or unexpressed pronoun in Pro-drop languages refers to a linguistic element having a syntactic function with no phonetic representation. These kinds of languages are divided in different varieties. This article, in the first level, tries to mention the properties of pro-drop languages and at the second one, tries to compare and survey Mazandarani based on pro-drop language division done by Rizzi (1982) to see that in which group, it can be placed. As a whole, the structure of all pro-drop languages can be divided into four groups; 1. Fixed pro-drop languages like Italian, Greek and Persian; 2. Expletive (Null filler) pro-drop languages such as German, some kinds of Dutch and African languages; 3. Relative pro-drop languages as Hebrew, Russian, Marathi, and Brazilian Portuguese; 4. Discourse pro-drop languages like Chinese, Japanese and Korean. With the comparison of Mazandarani to the properties of pro-drop languages, we come to the conclusion that this language belongs to the category of consistent pro-drop languages. Meanwhile, it can be categorized in discourse pro-drop languages as well, because the co-indexation of covert pronoun and the subject of matrix sentence depends on the discourse context.

Keywords

• abstract pronoun
• covert pronoun
• expletive pro
• fixed pro-drop
• relative pro-drop
• discourse pro-drop