Slavic and Romance pro-drop in contrast Evidence from Czech and Spanish

Abstract

The present paper investigates similarities and differences between Czech and Spanish regarding the (non-)expression of pronominal subjects (PS). The nature of this comparative study is qualitative, and its central question is whether Czech and Spanish use the same strategies for omission and expression of PS. Previous research describes both Czech and Spanish as consistent pro-drop languages, and at first glance their strategies for (non-)expression of PS are identical. However, in certain structures, Czech allows overt pragmatic as well as grammatical expletives, a feature which - in combination with several further structural properties - substantially distinguishes it from Spanish. The differences that may emerge when comparing two languages leads automatically to a discussion of the typology of pro-drop languages.