ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the properties of Puerto Rican Spanish (PRSp) subjects, and discusses how they can affect the characterization of PRSp as a consistent null-subject language. It examines the properties of consistent null-subject languages, exemplified by Standard Spanish (SS), against the behavior of PRSp subjects. The chapter explores whether the different characteristics of PRSp subjects grant the inclusion of this variety in some other types of null-subject languages, namely, discourse-related null-subject languages such as Chinese and Japanese or partial null-subject languages such as Brazilian Portuguese (BP). It focuses on the position of pre- and postverbal overt subjects to refine the particular properties of PRSp subjects and their positions. The chapter discusses generative research which has always assumed that the position of subjects is regulated by the Extended Projection Principle (EPP). It also examines the behavior of PRSp lexical subjects against number of well-documented semantic and syntactic asymmetries.
