AGREEMENT AND PRO-DROP IN SOME DIALECTS OF ENGLISH

In this paper, we consider data from a number of English dialects in w hich the distribution of pronouns and verb inflection differs radicall y from that in standard English. In these dialects, pronouns adjacent to the verb occur with an uninflected form of the verb, at least for s ome types of subjects and some subset of verbs. Pronouns that are sepa rated from the verb or immediately follow it, on the other hand, occur with an inflected verb form. We provide an analysis of these construc tions within lexical-functional grammar (LFG) in which the pronouns oc curring with the uninflected form are analyzed as pro-clitics to the v erb. Given this analysis of pronouns as verbal inflection, the constru ctions in which they occur lack an overt subject and can hence be refe rred to as ''pro-drop'' constructions. We examine a property that has frequently been associated with pro-drop languages - the COMP-trace ef fect - but find the link between the two properties too weak to be rel evant to our discussion. Finally, we consider briefly the implications of the LFG analysis of this phenomenon for diachronic aspects of the data.