Referential null subjects in Russian: A synchronic and diachronic overview

Abstract

In this chapter, I will offer an overview of null subjects (NSs) with individual reference interpretation in the history of Russian. Specifically, I will relate the current use of NSs in root contexts and NSs in syntactically embedded/subordinate clauses in Russian to their diachronic development. The diachronic approach of this chapter will take as its starting point the synchronic description of the two relevant linguistic systems representing the initial and final stages of the change, i.e. referential NSs in Old Russian and Modern Russian. Fortunately, detailed synchronic accounts of these elements have been previously put forward, especially for Modern Russian. The main contribution of this chapter will then be to relate the two NS systems, which are, in principle, very different, and explain the reasons for a natural transition from one grammar to the next.