“Pluringulars”, pronouns and quirky agreement

Abstract

Unlike full noun phrases, weak and null pronouns typically cannot procrastinate: they cannot move at LF. Taking this as its starting point, this paper addresses the behaviour of English weak and null pronouns in three agreement domains: agreement attraction, agreement with committee-type noun phrases (here dubbed “pluringulars” when they trigger plural finite verb agreement), and agreement in there sentences. Agreement attraction is analysed in terms of LF-movement, which, in the light of the fact that they cannot LF-move, immediately accounts for the fact that weak pronouns cannot trigger attraction. “Pluringulars” are argued to be complex noun phrases headed by a null plural pronoun, which explains their failure to trigger attraction and a number of other properties of “pluringulars” which otherwise stand out as quirks, including the fact that they cannot be the associate of there in plural-agreeing there sentences. Agreement attraction also fails in there sentences, which is shown to supply an argument against expletive replacement.