International Journal of English Literature and Social Sciences, 5(5)

Sep-Oct 2020 |Available online: https://ijels.com/

Licensing and Identification of empty subjects in

Maithili
Anshu Chaudhary

Department of Linguistics & CSTLs, Indira Gandhi National Tribal University, Amarkantak, M.P., India

Abstract— The present paper explains licensing and identification in Maithili in relation to other null
subject language within Minimalist approach. It shows Maithili is consistent null subject language and
also allows thematic and non-thematic pro. Maithili allows null subject in both of the clauses either in root
clauses or in embedded clauses. Many scholars have developed their theories regarding null subject
language. But, I am going to focus on well-known linguists who worked on pro-drop parameter in the field
of linguistics. Various scholars with different theories give their ideas on pro from traditional to minimalist
framework. Further we deal with licensing and identification of pro. Licensing and Identification are two
independent processes but are closely interrelated. This paper investigates various properties of pro in
Maithili and verbal morphology.
Keywords— pro-drop, null subject, finite clause, verb agreement, honorific degree.

I. INTRODUCTION features, i.e. subject and object. Now, we examine pro-

Maithili belongs to Indo-Aryan languages spoken by the drop and non- pro-drop languages in detail.
30 million of people in two bordering Nation-India and 1.1. Pro-drop language
Nepal. In India, Maithili is basically used to communicate A pro-drop language is a language in which certain classes
in North Bihar. It is highly honorific language. The degree of pronouns may be deleted. Pro drop languages are also
of Honorificity in Maithili is clearly divided into three called as null subject languages. Now, we see how pro-
categories: honorific, non-honorific and middle honorific. drop takes place in Maithili with suitable examples.
Maithili honorificity has many grades, i.e. high, low, mid.
1. a. Ɵ jae-b
Like many other South Asian languages it shares many of
go-FUT.1
the typological features of South Asian language. The
basic unmarked word order in Maithili is SOV (subject, I will go.
object, verb) pattern. World languages can be initially b. hǝm Ɵ dekh-ǝl-iǝuk
classified into two types. They are namely pro-drop
I see-PST-(1+3NH)
languages and non-pro drop languages. As we know that
pro drop is not universal it varies language to language. A I saw you.
preliminary question is: what are the characteristics of a In the above examples 1(a&b) subjects and objects
(PDL) Pro-drop language which differ from NPDL (non- are freely dropped in any context and pro present
pro drop language)? In this paper we will discuss about the syntactically but not phonetically. In the sentence 1 (a)
role of thematic and non-thematic (expletive) pro in jae-b ‘go’ is primary verb agreement which reflects tense,
Maithili root clauses. In Maithili the verbal Inflection is person and honorific grade whereas in 1 (b) dekh-ǝl-iǝuk
determined by person and honorific grade of the subject. ‘see’ is secondary verb agreement reflects tense, person
Some cases honorificity of object can take over subject to and honorific grade. In secondary verb agreement the verb
mark agreement onto the verb. Ramawatar Yadav (1996) copies both features, i.e. subject and object at the same
proposed two-dimensional verb agreement in Maithili, i.e. time which can’t be separated. Hindi is one of the pro drop
primary and secondary agreement. In primary agreement languages it allows pro in various types of sentences.
verb copies the person and honorific features of the
1.2. Non pro-drop language
subject. Whereas in secondary agreement verb copies both
Non-pro drop languages don’t allow dropping the
pronouns in a finite context. Pronouns are always present
ISSN: 2456-7620
https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijels.55.31 1547
International Journal of English Literature and Social Sciences, 5(5)
Sep-Oct 2020 |Available online: https://ijels.com/

overtly in such non-pro drop languages. These types of (a) licensed and
non-pro drop languages are called as non-null subject (b) identified.
languages. Examples of non-null subject languages are like
Rizzi (1986a) followed Taraldsan (1978) and gave light on
English, French etc. Consider the following English
the importance of rich agreement to license NSs.
examples.
According to Rizzi (1986a) person-number are enough to
2. a. Do you come tomorrow? licensing NSs. Language like Chinese which lacks verbal
b. *Do (pro) come tomorrow? agreement, since it allows empty subjects. On the other
c. are you coming to college today? side Rizzi (1986a) points out that the person-number is
enough to license null subjects.
d.* are (pro) coming to college today?
2.3. Jaeggli and Safir’s proposal (1989)
Jaeggli and Safir (1989) proposed Morphological
Since English is non-null subject language it doesn’t allow
Uniformity which distinguishes PDL and NPDL’s.
pro drop in the sentences. If we observe the above
Morphologically Uniformity are inflectional /paradigm in
sentences 2(b,d) are ungrammatical. Similarly, French also
a language is morphologically uniform if the paradigm has
doesn’t allow null subjects in the sentences.
either only underived inflectional (stem) forms or only
derived inflectionl form (stem+affixes). According to
II. VARIOUS PROPOSALS OF PRO DROP morphological informality language has paradigm with
PARAMETER Morphological system. Languages like Spanish, Germanic,
etc. Maithili comes under Morphological Uniformity. This
Perlmutter (1971) firstly introduced the notion of Pro-Drop
language is Morphological Uniformity because it has such
Parameter (PDP) in the field of linguistics. Pro-drop
type of paradigm which is suggested by Osvaldo Jaeggi &
parameter is a parameter that determines whether a
Kenneth J. Safir (1989). In this language every paradigm
language is a pro-drop language or not. In case of pro-drop
has its own affixes under verbal inflection. In other words,
languages parameter allows an empty pro-element to be
we can say that paradigm is uniform of all its form are
identified by its governor. Languages, lack of subject
morphologically complex or if none of them are. If the
actually have both null version of ‘thematic and expletive’,
paradigm is mixed, that means, if some of its form will be
and this properties correlates with syntactic properties.
Stem+affixes and some of its form will be only stem then
Now, we discuss on major pro-drop parameter proposals
we can say that it is not Morphological Uniformity.
given by the different linguistics after Perlmutter (1971).
Through given example in English and French, we will see
2.1. Noam Chomsky Proposal (1982) how Morphological uniformity is violated.
Chomsky followed Teraldsen’s (1978) opinion and 2.4. Null Subject parameter
formulated the PDP (1981) that allows empty pronominal
Perlmutter (1971) firstly argued on pro-drop parameter
subject in a matrix clause or finite clause. Chomsky
(PDP) or NSP. Jaeggli& Safir (1989) pointed out that null
suggested (1981) ‘Rule R’ (affix hoping) may apply either
subjects are permitted in all and languages are
in syntax or in PF in PDL’s while it permits only in
morphologically uniform inflection paradigm. The basic
NPDL’s. By applying ‘R Rule’ in Italian language, the
observation on null subject languages like Spanish, Italian
subject position becomes ungoverned at Surface Structure
is that:
permits ‘pro’. But when we come on English language the
PF component, the subject is governed at S-Structure and • ability to drop the pronoun
‘pro’ is ruled out. Torrego (1981) pointed out the ‘Rule R’ • that- trace filter
does not account for Spanish. So Chomsky (1982) • free subject inversion
abounded the concept of ‘pro-drop’ in tensed clause is Languages from the entire world will have these features
PRO in PDL’s formulated a new empty category called or none of them. Spanish and Italian [+pro-drop] having
pro. Again Chomsky returned to the original position that the properties and English and French [-pro-drop] don’t
the pro-drop parameter to rich AGR. have these features. Null Subject languages (NSLs) have
2.2. Rizzi Proposal (1986a) certain properties or parameters which differ from non-
Rizzi (1986a) theory of null subjects can occur two NSLs. Rizzi’s (1982) work on null subjects have been
parameters are involved, a licensing parameter and observed that NSLs like Italian, Spanish and non-NSLs
identification parameter. For null subjects, they must be like English & French as cited in (Camacho, Jose 2). Many
scholars have given their proposals regarding null subject
ISSN: 2456-7620
https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijels.55.31 1548
 International Journal of English Literature and Social Sciences, 5(5)
Sep-Oct 2020 |Available online: https://ijels.com/

parameters. Holmberg and Roberts (2010) observed that The absence of any satisfactory solution to the problem
there are four types of null subject parameters: regarding thematic null subject languages, Cole concluded
i. Consistent null-subject languages that subject verb agreement must where the overt thematic
pronouns coincide with its presence. Molvyn Cole (2009)
ii. Expletive null-subject languages
concluded two diagnostic features for thematic null
iii. Discourse null-subject languages subjects i.e. mention below.
iv. Partial null-subject languages. i. By reference to an antecedent in context.
By analysing these types, we can say that Maithili comes ii. By subject verb AGR upto the point of morphological
under consistent null subject language type. Maithili can maximality.
drop the pronoun in any tense. It is noticed that tense and
Cole (2009) also argued that languages which are rich
agreement is always present in all Maithili root clauses.
agreement inflections have thematic null subject and
However, Maithili allows dropping the pronouns in any
languages such as Chinese which have recoverable
tense.
context. Consider some of the list of NSLs.
i. Chinese- no verbal morphology
III. A TYPOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THEMATIC
ii. Spanish- subject verb agreement for person and number
AND EXPLETIVE PRO IN MAITHILI
iii. Bengali- subject verb agreement for person and
Rizzi (1986) argued that null pronouns are licensed by a
honorific grade
governing head and have their semantic content recovered
by the features of that head i.e. represented by subject verb iv. Maithili- subject verb agreement for person and
agreement in thematic subject pro. These approached honorific grade
created the some issues for some null subject languages Now, it is clear that one requirement for thematic null
like Chinese, Japanese, and some East Asian languages. subjects are morphological maximality which we can see
C.T.J Huang (1984, 1989) tried to resolve this problem by in the above mentioned data. Morphological maximality
applying variable analysis and his General Control Rule refers that the maximum extent to which null subjects can
(regarding PRO/pro). His proposal was proved be recovered by agreement in the language i.e. number,
unsatisfactory by Xu (1986), Xu & Langendoen (1985) gender, and person. As we see person and number in
and Y. Huang (2000). In Jaeggli & Safir proposed that Spanish, person in Bengali and Maithili but absence in
thematic null subject can be considered only in Chinese. So, thematic null subjects in Chinese recovers it’s
morphologically uniform languages. These languages have meaning from contextual items. We look Spanish has rich
either feature like identifying morphology throughout their verb agreement but still thematic null subject is recovered
verb paradigm or no identifying morphology throughout by contextual items.
their verb paradigm. 3. Juan llegaba a case Ɵ
But these features are not suitable for some of the Tenia las llaves
languages like Norweign, Swedish & Danish lack both Joan arrives-3S.IMPERF to house. have-
verbal morphology and thematic null subjects. Cole (2010) 1/3S IMPERF the keys
mentioned in his paper that overt pronouns are necessary
Joan was arriving home. He had the keys.
in languages with weak agreement to give an importance
that AGR through the spec agreement. It is not required in Through the example (3), it is established that, in Spanish
rich AGR languages and also not necessary in languages where thematic null subjects are not recovered by
lacking AGR for person and number. Spec is only one agreement, it can be recovered by contextual items. It is
personality who makes the clear concept regarding the also observed in most of the languages like Italian,
absence of thematic null subjects in Swedish by relating it Portuguese, Turkish, Hindi, etc.
to the presence of Adjective, Nouns and Determiners in Languages like Chamorro and Irish, the subjects must be
that language. After that her concept was countered by the null when verb shows person subject agreement. Maithili
concept of the absence of subject verb agreement and is a pro drop language. It doesn’t allow gender and number
thematic null subjects by Danish, Norwegien, Afrikans, feature. Maithili shows person and honorific grade (H,
etc. (Tomoika, 2003), (Neelena & Szendari, 2007), NH, MH) feature. Here, referential content of pro can be
(Franscarelle, 2007) work on these thematic null subject recover by person and honorific grade feature. Subjects
languages are not so much successful. may be thematic or expletive (non-thematic). And some of

ISSN: 2456-7620
https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijels.55.31 1549
International Journal of English Literature and Social Sciences, 5(5)
Sep-Oct 2020 |Available online: https://ijels.com/

the languages allow both type of subject to be null or any person, aspect, and honorific degree (H, NH). Maithili
of them. There are four possible combinations of doesn’t show number and gender; it allows person and
null/overt and expletive/thematic subjects, which are honorific grade (H, MH, NH).
mentioned below: Now, we look some data of expletive pro in Maithili.
i. Null thematic subjects/null expletive subjects 5. i. bͻrsᴂi ch-ai
ii. Overt thematic subjects/null expletive
rain AUX-AGR.3NH
subjects
iii. Null thematic subjects/overt expletive It is raining.
subjects
iv. Overt thematic subjects/overt expletive
ii. ek-ta raja rah-ᴂl
subjects
(Camacho, Jose, 2013) one-CLAS king be-PST.3NH
Most of the languages like Spanish, Chamorro & Quechua There was a king.
have both combinations of null thematic subjects/null
expletive subjects. Whereas, York Creole shows that
thematic subjects can be overt but expletive are null as
cites in (Camacho, Jose, 2013). Finnish allows thematic iii. lagait ᶕich [ki o nᶕi
subjects can be null but /some expletive are obligatory kha-it]
overt. At last, English and French show both types of seems AUX.PRE.3NH [that he/she not
clauses i.e. pronominal or expletive. eat-FUT.3NH]
Maithili allows thematic pro in root clauses as well as It seems that he will not eat.
embedded clauses. Consider the following examples.
4. i. pro ᴂ-l-e Expletive NS is not phonetically present but it exists. It
come-PST-2NH always shows 3rd person, singular, agreement. Maithili
You came. allows expletive null subjects in root and embedded
clauses as shown in
5(i-iii). The content of pro can be recovered by the verb
ii. pro ge-l-ah
which reflects tense, person and honorific degree(NH).
go-PST-3H
He went.
IV. VERB AGREEMENT IN MAITHILI
Maithili verbs are marked with tense, mood and aspect.
iii. hǝm bujh- ǝit chi [ki The Maithili verb encodes the person and honorific grade
pro ᴂ-l] of the subject noun phrase. The verb agreement inflection
i understand-IMPERF AUX.PRE.1 [COMP is determined by person and honorific grade of the subject.
come-PST.3NH] In some cases honorificity of object can take over subject
to mark agreement onto the verb. The honorificity has
I understand that he came.
many grades in Maithili, i.e. high, low, mid. Yadav (1996)
talked about two-dimensional agreement in Maithili, i.e.
iv. [jᴐ pro bhukh lǝgǝ-l-u tǝ] ahã kh primary and secondary agreement. In primary agreement
iǝh lᴂ-b the verb copies the person and honorific features of the
subject. Whereas in case of secondary agreement verb
[if hungry feel-FUT-2H then] you
copies both features i.e., subject and object. The
eat take-FUT.2H
Agreement is overtly realized between Verb and NP (noun
If you feel hungry you will eat. phrase). The verb changes its form according to PNG
(person, number and gender) of the Subject. In all
Maithili allows null subjects freely, which is languages these features may not be overtly present across
grammatically acceptable. The dropped pronominals are the world. The Basic type of verb agreement in Maithili is
hǝm ‘I’, tu ‘you’ o ‘he/she’. The verb reflects tense, person and honorific grade of the subject.

ISSN: 2456-7620
https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijels.55.31 1550
International Journal of English Literature and Social Sciences, 5(5)
Sep-Oct 2020 |Available online: https://ijels.com/

V. LICENSING AND IDENTIFICATION 5.2. Identification of pro

The concept of pro puts emphasis on the licensing and As we discussed already about Jaeggli & Safir (1989)
identification of pro in NSLs. Languages which shows rich opinion that NSs can be thematic and non thematic He
agreement is required to license NSs. To identifying the points out that identification of pro is important for
content of NSs, it is necessary to recover them. Thus, NS referential value of NSs. NSs in German are not referential
is licensed by verbal agreement and identified by finite I or so that it can’t be identified by finite I. Identification takes
T in NSLs. place through ∅ features (number, gender, person). Rizzi’s
5.1. Licensing of pro work (1986a) widely accepted throughout nineties and till
today as cited in Homberg & Roberts, 2010.
Finite clause allows null subjects with or without AGR. In
Maithili, we have seen that pro can occur without AGR. Of i.Licensing: pro is case marked by X0y ,where y is
course, tense is mandatory to license a pro in Maithili. parameterised.
Person feature is mandatory for pro. Maithili shows person ii.Identification: pro inherits ∅ features values of X0y.
feature and honorific grade not gender and number The verbal morphology played a crucial role in the study
features. Null subjects are licensed by rich verbal of null subjects and the concept of pro drop parameter for
agreement in NSLs. Following Taraldsen (1978) argued on the identification of null subjects. Rizzi work (1982,
the importance of rich agreement to license null subjects. 1986), the rich agreement verbal morphology on finite
The person and number play a crucial role to recover the verb allows speaker to find out the person, number, gender
content of pro. On the other hand, Rizzi (1986) argues that of an empty subject. Agreeing morphology also plays a
person feature is enough to license ‘pro’. In Maithili, the crucial role to the licensing of null subject (Coqnola,
relationship between verbal agreement (primary and 2018). Therefore, Morphology richness of null subject
secondary) and null subjects are argued. Languages like languages allow to satisfy the requirement that all
Chinese, Japanese, etc which lack verbal agreement allow sentence has subject (EPP property).
null subjects.
However, null subjects are not limited to languages with
As we already know that pro occurs in the subject position rich agreement. In radical/discourse NS languages with
of finite clauses. Another features of pro is that Infl poor agreement system languages like Chinese, Japanese,
+Tense in NSLs. PRO occurs in non-finite clause of non- Thai, etc.allows null subjects inspite of poor agreement.
NSLs whereas a pro occurs in finite clause. There are two Radical null subject languages proposed that NSs can be
features that determine the null subject parameter i.e. traced out through discourse or context as well as verbal
‘Licensing’ and ‘Identification’. Licensing refers a morphology. The identification of NSLs, takes place
situation for null subjects of any NSLs. And identification through topic antecedent and a mechanism of feature
of pro can be determined by rich agreement on verb or by inheritance. The approach of null subject is the
other means. NSLs like German which drop expletive combination of verbal agreement and presence of
subjects whereas Italian drops both thematic as well as antecedent in the context give a vital role in the
expletive subjects. identification of NSs. Cole (2009, 2010) argued on
According to Jaeglli & Safir (1989), ‘thematic pro must be identification of NSs occurs through Agree and context
identified, whereas the non-thematic pro needs to be identification. Morphologically, the identification of null
licensed alone’. This means only thematic null subjects thematic subjects need the maximal agreement. It is find
can be identified, whereas non-thematic null subjects out those languages don’t require the same number of
needs to be licensed. Many languages which show only features for realization of agreement in order to identify
expletive, inflectional morphology is not rich for finding null subject (PNG). Cole (2009) point out that null
the referential content of pro. A thematic null subject has thematic subject may needs an antecedent in the discourse
theta-roleso it needs to be licensed only, its referential to be identified. In Radical/discourse null subject
content of pro can be easily identified. Languages which languages, the empty category can be traced out without
are rich in inflectional morphology, the referential features the overt category (contextually strong languages without
of pro can be identified. Languages like Italian, Spanish, AGR).
and the referential content of pro can be recovered by
agreement.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
I am extremely fortunate to have got Dr. Kothakonda
Suman as my Supervidor. I express my deep gratitude to
ISSN: 2456-7620
https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijels.55.31 1551
International Journal of English Literature and Social Sciences, 5(5)
Sep-Oct 2020 |Available online: https://ijels.com/

my Supervisor Dr. Kothakonda Suman who tolerantly and [17] Taraldsen, T, (1978), On the NIC, vacuous application and
patiently supervised me in this thesis. His helpful nature the that-trace filter. Unpublished ms: MIT.
made my research possible. I have learnt many things not [18] Jose A. Camacho, (2013), Null Subjects, Cambridge
University press.
academically but also personally. Discussion with my
[19] Jha, Govind , (1958), Verb conjugation in Maithili, Journal
supervisor was really very fruitful. He always used to
of the Bihar Research Society.
encourage my confidence so that I could complete my [20] Yadav, Ramawatar, (1996), A reference grammar in
thesis academically. His suggestion and feedback were Maithili, Walter de Grutey, Berlin.
very important for writing my thesis. I can’t forget his
valuable support in my entire life.

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