Licensing of DP/PRO embedded subjects in Russian

Abstract

The paper contributes to the ongoing discussion of DP/PRO alternation examining properties of Russian evaluative adjectival predicatives that embed a non-finite clause (i.e. važno ‘important’) and arguing that (i) sentences with these predicates and an embedded non-finite clause are ambiguous between obligatory control and overt embedded subject analyses, (ii) the DP/PRO alternation does not correlate with the feature specification or the structural size of an embedded clause, (iii) the alternation is not free and can be formally accounted for by an analysis in terms of cross-clausal licensing of embedded overt DP subjects. The novel data from Russian challenge existing approaches to DP/PRO distribution and non-finite subordination in Slavic languages and provide further support for (a version of) Case filter.