The interaction of parasitic gaps and adjunct control in Spanish

Abstract

Parasitic gaps in Spanish can be licensed in two unique environments. Campos (1991) and Garcia Mayo (1995) discuss Spanish clitics that are able to license parasitic gaps and Sheehan (2015) shows that passive subjects can also license parasitic gaps in Spanish. These types of parasitic gaps display two key asymmetries that have yet to be explained in the literature. First, while passive subjects can license a parasitic gap, active subjects cannot. Second, in both the clitic and passive structures, the parasitic gap antecedent cannot be animate. I account for these asymmetries by looking at the controller of the adjunct subject in these structures. Crucially, the element that controls PRO must be different from the parasitic gap antecedent.