shadow pronoun
English
Etymology
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Noun
shadow pronoun (plural shadow pronouns)
- (linguistics) A pronoun that is inserted into a subordinate clause to refer to the antecedent of the relative pronoun, often converting the subordinate clause into a clause that can stand on its own as a sentence. For example, in the sentence "That is the shirt that she sewed a button onto it", "it" is a shadow pronoun.
- 1980, Linguistic Inquiry - Volume 11, Issues 2-4, page 367:
- Perlmutter proposes that all chopping rules are rules that leave a shadow pronoun subsequently deleted.
- 1980, Saadun Ismail Suaieh, Aspects of Arabic Relative Clauses, page 231:
- Perlmutter (1972) proposes that all rules which move constituents over variables be considered "copying " rules. He further argues that if there is a rule which deletes the "shadow pronoun", i.e., the pronoun left behind by the copying rule, this Shadow Deletion rule will be sensitive to island constraints.
- 1989, James Milroy, Regional Variation in British English Syntax, page 46:
- Shadow pronouns are very frequent in spoken Scottish English but are also found in many varieties of informal English, for example in Ireland, England and the United States.
- 2004, Reineke Bok-Bennema, Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 2002, page 164:
- The crucial distinction is not subject clitic versus object clitic, but shadow pronoun versus free anaphor.
- Synonyms: copy pronoun, resumptive pronoun
Usage notes
Most English native speakers consider shadow pronouns incorrect usage, but they are often used, even by speakers who consider them incorrect, especially when a subordinate clause is very complicated.
Related terms
- shadow deletion
- shadow pronoun hypothesis