dummy subject

A dummy pronoun, also known as an expletive pronoun, is a deictic pronoun that fulfills a syntactical requirement without providing a contextually explicit meaning of its referent. As such, it is an example of exophora.

A dummy pronoun is used when a particular verb argument (or preposition) is nonexistent, but when a reference to the argument (a pronoun) is nevertheless syntactically required. This is commonly the case if the verb is an impersonal verb, but it could also be that the argument is unknown, irrelevant, already understood, or otherwise taboo (as in naming taboo). For example, in the phrase " is obvious that the violence will continue", the term 'it' is a dummy pronoun, not referring to any agent. Unlike a regular pronoun of English, it cannot be replaced by any noun phrase.

The term 'dummy pronoun' refers to the function of a word in a particular sentence, not a property of individual words. For example, 'it' in the example from the previous paragraph is a dummy pronoun, but 'it' in the sentence "I bought a sandwich and ate " is a referential pronoun (referring to the sandwich).

Dummy pronouns are used in many languages across language families. Some of these families include
Germanic languages, such as German and English, Celtic languages, such as Welsh and Irish, and Volta-Niger languages, such as Ewe and Esan. Other common languages with dummy pronouns include French and, colloquially, in Thai. Pronoun-dropping languages such as Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, and Turkish do not require dummy pronouns.

Dummy subjects

Weather ''it''

One of the most common uses of dummy pronouns is with weather verbs, such as in the phrases "''it'' is snowing" or "''it'' is hot." In these sentences, the verb (''to snow, to rain'', etc.) is usually considered semantically impersonal even though it appears syntactically intransitive; in this view, the required ''it'' in "it is snowing" is a dummy word that does not refer. In English literature, there is also marginal use of the feminine ''she'', such as in the phrase "''She''s going to rain."

Other views

Although the weather ''it'' is frequently considered a dummy pronoun, there have been a few objections to this interpretation. Noam Chomsky has argued that the ''it'' employed as the subject of English weather verbs can control the subject of an adjunct clause, just like a "normal" subject. For example, compare:
:''She brushes her teeth before having a bath.''
::→ ''She brushes her teeth before she has a bath.''

:''It sometimes rains after snowing.''
::→ ''It sometimes rains after it snows''.

If this analysis is accepted, then the "weather ''it''" is to be considered a "quasi-(verb) argument" and not a dummy word.

Some linguists such as D. L. Bolinger go further, claiming that the "weather ''it''" simply refers to a general state of affairs in the context of the utterance. In this case, it would not be a dummy word at all. Possible evidence for this claim includes exchanges such as:
:''Was it nice (out) yesterday?''
:''No, it rained.''
where ''it'' is implied to mean "the local weather".

Existential ''there''

Another common use of dummy pronouns in English is the use of ''there'' in existential clauses, such as in the phrase "''there'' are polar bears in Norway." This is also occasionally referred to as the anticipatory ''there''.

This should be distinguished from the locative ''there'', as in "I saw a polar bear over ''there.''" This use of ''there'' acts as a locative adverb rather than a subject.

While the existential use of ''there'' has generally been analyzed as a subject, it has been proposed that elements like expletive ''there'' in existential sentences and ''pro''-''forms'' in inverse copular sentences play the role of dummy predicate rather than dummy subject, so that the postverbal noun phrase would rather be the embedded subject of the sentence.

Raising verbs

Other examples of semantically empty pronouns are found with raising verbs in "unraised" counterparts. For example:

:''It seems that John loves coffee.'' (Corresponding "raised" sentence: ''John seems to love coffee.'')

:''There is a bird flying outside.'' (Corresponding "raised" sentence: ''A bird is flying outside.'')

Extraposition

Dummy ''it'' can also be found in extraposition constructions in English, a process known as ''it''-extraposition. For example:

:''It is fun living in Paris.'' (Corresponding non-extraposed sentence: ''Living in Paris is fun.'')

At least in English, ''it''-extraposition appears much more frequently than non-extraposition.

Dummy objects

In English, dummy object pronouns tend to serve an ''ad hoc'' function, applying with less regularity than dummy subjects, though use of the dummy object can be traced at least as far back as the early sixteenth century.

Dummy objects are sometimes used to transform transitive verbs to a transitive light verb form: e.g., ''do'' → ''do it'', "to engage in sexual intercourse"; ''make'' → '' make it'', "to achieve success"; ''get'' → '' get it'', "to comprehend". Prepositional objects are similar: e.g., '' with it'', "up to date"; '' out of it'', "dazed" or "not thinking". All of these phrases, of course, can also be taken literally. For instance:

:He ordered a cheeseburger, and even though it took them a while to make it, he did get some French fries with it.

See also

* Impersonal verb
* Null-subject language

References

*Everaert, M. - van Riemsdijk, H - Goedemans, R. (eds) 2006 The Blackwell Companion to Syntax, Volumes I-V, Blackwell, London: see "existential sentences and expletive there" in Volume II.
* Graffi, G. 2001 200 Years of Syntax. A critical survey, John Benjamins, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

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Pronouns
Transitivity and valency