Abstract

We show that reduced personal argument pronouns in Dutch and German surface in a proper subset of the positions accessible to full argument DPs. Therefore, we argue for a unified syntactic analysis, which takes both types of DPs to be subject to the same phrase structural principles and the same positioning rules, namely, XP-scrambling and XP-'topicalization'. Our argument here rests a. o. t. on the observation that the case against DP-permutability in Dutch has been overstated. As far as syntax proper goes, we suggest that a simple 'filter', banning the scrambling of deaccented DP-objects across the subject is responsible for restrictions on Dutch word order. Our theory has the virtue of providing a unified account for reduced and full DPs in both Dutch and German. We further argue that degrees of constituent permutability and frontability should be derived under a multifactorial account, drawing on independently motivated principles from the syntax-discourse interface and (morpho-)phonology as they interact with the system of pronouns. It follows that, as far as syntax goes, reduced pronouns in Dutch and German must not be treated as 'special clitics'. Neither should they be analyzed as bare X0 -categories. Thus, no syntactic argument for the existence or directional orientation of functional heads can be based on these elements. In developing our account, we draw heavily on colloquial variants of 'Standard German'. Along the way we pay considerable attention to various methodological issues.