Dummy Pronoun

A Dummy Pronoun is a pronoun that is used for syntax without explicit meaning.

• AKA: Expletive Pronoun, Pleonastic Pronoun.
• Context:
  • It is a Nonreferential Word.
  • …
• Example(s):
  • “/[It] [is obvious] that [she needs medication]." ⇒ "That she needs meditation is obvious”.
  • "[There] (usually/often) is [a seat available]./" ⇒ "(usually/often) a seat is available.
    • "[A seat available]" cannot be treated as an standard NP
• Counter-Example(s):
  • A Personal Pronoun.
  • A Reflexive Pronoun
  • A Reciprocal Pronoun.
  • A Possessive Pronoun.
  • A Demonstrative Pronoun.
  • A Relative Pronoun.
  • An Interrogative Pronoun
  • An Indefinite pronouns.
• See: Idiom, Pronoun, Syntactic Expletive, Syntactic Pleonasm, Impersonal Verb.

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References

2017

• (odlt, 2017) ⇒ The Online Dictionary of Language Termonology (ODLT): Expletive Pronoun http://www.odlt.org/ballast/expletive_pronoun.html Retrieved:2017-07-01
  • QUOTE: Definition - A type of pronoun that is used when the sentence's syntax requires a subject but that subject doesn't exist.

    Example - In the sentence It is obvious that this definition is incomplete the it is an expletive pronoun because it doesn't refer to any existing subject.

2009

• (Wikipedia, 2009) ⇒ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dummy_pronoun
  • A dummy pronoun (formally: expletive pronoun or pleonastic pronoun) is a type of pronoun used in non-pro-drop languages, such as English. It is used when a particular verb argument (or preposition) is nonexistent, unknown, irrelevant, already understood, or otherwise not to be spoken of directly, but when a reference to the argument (a pronoun) is nevertheless syntactically required.
  • For instance, in the phrase, It is obvious that the violence will continue, it is a dummy pronoun, not referring to any agent. Unlike a regular pronoun of English, it cannot be replaced by any noun phrase.

2003

• (Sag et al., 2003) ⇒ Ivan A. Sag, Thomas Wasow, and Emily M. Bender. (2003). “Syntactic Theory: A Formal Introduction, 2nd edition." CSLI Publications.
  • NOTES: section 11 is on "Dummies and Idioms".

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