Polite pronouns and the person-case constraint #
The Italian polite pronoun LEI is formally third person feminine singular but refers to the
addressee, and in a ditransitive clitic cluster it patterns with the second person. Adamson and
Zompì give polite pronouns two person values, an uninterpretable one read by agreement and an
interpretable one read at LF, and argue that the person-case constraint reads the interpretable
one. A person restriction is stated over a person valuation of pronoun entries (Licit): the
agreement valuation Morphosyntactic reads the fragments' person and the LF valuation
Syntacticosemantic their referentialPerson.
Main results #
morphosyntactic_iff_of_ordinary: the two valuations coincide on ordinary pronouns.morphosyntactic_lei_formal,syntacticosemantic_lei_formal: agreement-keyed restrictions treat LEI as lei, interpretation-keyed ones as tu.lei_accusative: on the Weak and Strong grammars the interpretable valuation bans a third person dative over accusative LEI, which the agreement valuation licenses, as do the accounts ofdeal_licenses_leiandgluttony_licenses_lei.fancy_constraint: the Fancy Constraint of faire-causatives gives the same cells.resolved_person: coordination resolves LEI to second person on its interpretable value and to third on its agreement value.usted_accusative,sie_accusative: Spanish USTED and German SIE show the effect.assumed_identity: under the German assumed-identity restriction, an exponence effect, SIE behaves as third person plural.
Implementation notes #
As in the paper, the rejection by some Weak-PCC speakers of a first person dative over accusative
LEI is left open (first_dative_lei). The Person Licensing Condition, the clitic logophoric
restriction, and the rival accounts of polite pronouns by impoverishment or by unmarked-value
recruitment have no formal counterpart here.
References #
Person restrictions over a person valuation #
R licenses the dative–accusative pair dat, acc under the person valuation person
when it licenses the scenario of the dative's person over the accusative's.
Equations
- AdamsonZompi2025.Licit R person dat acc = ∃ (p : Person) (q : Person), person dat = some p ∧ person acc = some q ∧ R { high := p, low := q }
Instances For
Equations
- AdamsonZompi2025.instDecidableLicitOfDecidablePredScenarioPerson R person dat acc = id inferInstance
The morphosyntactic prediction has R read agreement person.
Equations
- AdamsonZompi2025.Morphosyntactic R = AdamsonZompi2025.Licit R fun (x : PersonalPronoun) => x.person
Instances For
The syntacticosemantic prediction has R read referential person.
Equations
Instances For
The two predictions coincide on ordinary pronouns, those denoting exactly the categories their agreement features realize.
Every restriction reading agreement person treats LEI as lei.
Every restriction reading interpretable person treats LEI as tu.
Italian #
The Italian grammars are Weak for most speakers and Strong for those rejecting 1>2 and 2>1.
Equations
Instances For
Second over third and third over third are licit and third over second is not, on either valuation and either grammar.
LEI as dative over a third person accusative is licit on both valuations.
A third person dative over accusative LEI is licensed on agreement person and banned on interpretable person.
The interaction–satisfaction grammars, read over agreement person, license accusative LEI.
Feature gluttony, read over agreement person, licenses accusative LEI, since a third person dative and a third person accusative do not glutton the Weak probe.
Under the Fancy Constraint with a third person causee as applied argument, a third person accusative is licit and second person and LEI are not.
Coordinated with a third person, LEI resolves to second person on its interpretable value and to third on its agreement value.
A first person dative over accusative LEI is licit on the Weak grammar and banned on the Strong one, exactly as over ti; some Weak speakers nonetheless reject it.
Spanish and German #
USTED as dative over a third person accusative is licit; a third person dative over accusative USTED is not.
A third person dative over accusative SIE is banned where over third plural sie it is licit.
Under assumed identity with a third plural subject, SIE, entering with its agreement person, does not glutton the person probe where second plural ihr does, and a singular subject gluttons the number probe against plural SIE.