P06 - The (Non-)Deficiency and (Non-)Redundancy of Clitic Pronouns
Project description
Focusing on clitic doubling (CD), this project investigates the relationship between agreement, clitics, and weak and strong pronouns. It hypothesizes that these forms belong to a single grammatical class but differ in structural size and in the features determining their degree of overt realization. Drawing on Kiparsky’s D-hierarchy, the project models pronominal strength through mechanisms of deficiency and redundancy, including impoverishment and rules of exponence.
It proposes that the feature responsible for repeated realization is [topic], which becomes bleached during grammaticalization. Doubling consequently develops from topic doubling in a particular position into agreement with the highest argument or generalized clitic doubling driven by syntactic locality. Languages therefore exhibit different degrees of doubling—from zero elements and agreement to clitics—depending on grammaticalization and syntactic position. The project examines how this account explains binding, reconstruction, resumption, the Person-Case Constraint, and locality and anti-locality effects associated with clitic pronouns.
Team
Dalina Kallulli
Principal Investigator
University of Vienna
Dalina Kallulli studied English and linguistics at the universities of Tirana, Trondheim, and Durham, where she received her PhD in Theoretical Linguistics. Her research focuses on voice, argument structure, clitic constructions, resumption, relative clauses, and other wh-constructions. Read more
Adina Camelia Bleotu
Postdoc Researcher
University of Vienna
Adina Camelia Bleotu received her PhD in Linguistics from Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and works at the universities of Vienna and Bucharest. Her research combines theoretical and experimental linguistics with language acquisition, focusing on pronouns, agreement, null objects, reflexivity, and the Person–Case Constraint. Read more
Ekaterina Levina
Postdoc Researcher
University of Vienna
Ekaterina Levina received her PhD in Linguistics from the University of Texas at Austin after studying theoretical linguistics, German linguistics, Spanish, German as a Foreign Language, and law. Her cross-linguistic research connects semantics, syntax, and pragmatics, with particular interests in definiteness, anaphoric uptake, possessives, event conceptualization, and modality. Read more
Cluster membership
Output
Publications
2026
Burukina, I., & Kallulli, D. (2026). Deriving composite roles in syntax. Proceedings of the Linguistic Society of America, 11(1), 6143.
author={Burukina, I. and Kallulli, D.},
title={Deriving composite roles in syntax},
year={2026},
volume={11},
number={1},
booktitle={Proceedings of the Linguistic Society of America},
pages={6143} }
Kallulli, D., & Roberts, I. (2026). Refining the Borer-Chomsky Conjecture: Redundancy and Deficiency. Catalan Journal of Linguistics.
author={Kallulli, D. and Roberts, I.},
title={Refining the Borer-Chomsky Conjecture: Redundancy and Deficiency},
year={2026},
journal={Catalan Journal of Linguistics} }
Levina, E. (2026). Differential object marking in Spanish. Does affectedness really matter? Proceedings of the International Argument Alternation Workshop 2025, 67–76.
author={Levina, E.},
title={Differential object marking in Spanish. Does affectedness really matter?},
year={2026},
place={Kobe University},
booktitle={Proceedings of the international argument alternation workshop 2025},
pages={67–76} }
2025
Bleotu, A. C., & Bîlbîie, G. (2025). Agreement with complex disjunction: Syntactic and semantic strategies with singular disjuncts in child and adult Romanian. Isogloss. Open Journal of Romance Linguistics, 11(7), 1–27. https://doi.org/10.5565/rev/isogloss.579
author={Bleotu, A. C. and Bîlbîie, G.},
title={Agreement with complex disjunction: Syntactic and semantic strategies with singular disjuncts in child and adult Romanian},
year={2025},
month={Nov},
volume={11},
ISSN={2385-4138},
DOI={10.5565/rev/isogloss.579},
number={7},
journal={Isogloss. Open Journal of Romance Linguistics},
pages={1–27} }
Bleotu, A. C., & Levina, E. (2025). The role of animacy and number in anaphoric personal pronoun subjects: Experimental insights from child and adult Romanian. Proceedings of the Conference Referential Expressions in Discourse (RED) 2025.
author={Bleotu, A. C. and Levina, E.},
title={The role of animacy and number in anaphoric personal pronoun subjects: Experimental insights from child and adult Romanian},
year={2025},
booktitle={Proceedings of the conference Referential Expressions in Discourse (RED) 2025} }
Kallulli, D., & Roberts, I. (2025). Defectivity and auxiliary syncretism: diachronic aspects. Journal of Historical Syntax, 9.
author={Kallulli, D. and Roberts, I.},
title={Defectivity and auxiliary syncretism: diachronic aspects},
year={2025},
volume={9},
journal={Journal of Historical Syntax} }
Kallulli, D., & Roberts, I. (2025). Form Copy and A´-dependencies: Revisiting Resumption. Catalan Journal of Linguistics, 24(2), 45–62.
author={Kallulli, D. and Roberts, I.},
title={Form Copy and A´-dependencies: Revisiting Resumption},
year={2025},
volume={24},
number={2},
journal={Catalan Journal of Linguistics},
pages={45–62} }
Kallulli, D., & Roberts, I. (2025). We thought and thought, and eventually solved this: One predicate modifies the other. In H. Kishimoto, K. Masashi, & X. Zicheng (Eds.), Papers from the International Workshop on the Syntax of Predication and Modification 2024 (pp. 53–70).
author={Kallulli, D. and Roberts, I.},
title={We thought and thought, and eventually solved this: One predicate modifies the other},
year={2025},
place={Kobe University},
booktitle={Papers from the International Workshop on the Syntax of Predication and Modification 2024},
editor={Kishimoto, H. and Masashi, K. and Zicheng, X.},
pages={53–70} }
Levina, E. (2025). Clitic doubling in Rioplatense Spanish. Proceedings of the Conference Referential Expressions in Discourse (RED) 2025.
author={Levina, E.},
title={Clitic doubling in Rioplatense Spanish},
year={2025},
booktitle={Proceedings of the conference Referential Expressions in Discourse (RED) 2025} }
Levina, E. (2025). One account for three kinds of non-unique definites. Proceedings of CLS 60, 297–308.
author={Levina, E.},
title={One account for three kinds of non-unique definites},
year={2025},
booktitle={Proceedings of CLS 60},
pages={297–308} }
Levina, E. (2025). Set-anchored anaphora in Rioplatense Spanish: Direct object clitic doubling. Proceedings of SALT 35, 221–242.
author={Levina, E.},
title={Set-anchored anaphora in Rioplatense Spanish: Direct object clitic doubling},
year={2025},
booktitle={Proceedings of SALT 35},
pages={221–242} }
López Otero, J. C., & Bleotu, A. C. (2025). Divergence and avoidance in the production of DOM in Romanian and Spanish among Romanian-speaking L2 speakers of Spanish. Glossa: A Journal of General Linguistics, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.16995/glossa.16581
author={López Otero, J. C. and Bleotu, A. C.},
title={Divergence and avoidance in the production of DOM in Romanian and Spanish among Romanian-speaking L2 speakers of Spanish},
year={2025},
month={Mar},
volume={10},
ISSN={2397-1835},
url={https://www.glossa-journal.org/article/id/16581/},
DOI={10.16995/glossa.16581},
number={1},
journal={Glossa: a journal of general linguistics} }
2024
Kallulli, D., & Roberts, I. (2024). Form Copy and wh-dependencies. In F. Silke, D. Georgi, F. Heck, J. Hein, A. Himmelreich, A. Murphy, & P. Weisser (Eds.), Strict Cycling (Vol. 97, pp. 271–286).
author={Kallulli, D. and Roberts, I.},
title={Form Copy and wh-dependencies},
year={2024},
series={Linguistische Arbeitsberichte},
volume={97},
booktitle={Strict Cycling},
editor={Silke, F. and Georgi, D. and Heck, F. and Hein, J. and Himmelreich, A. and Murphy, A. and Weisser, P.},
pages={271–286},
collection={Linguistische Arbeitsberichte} }
Talks
2026
Bleotu, A. C., Irimia, M. A., Roeper, T., & Kallulli, D. (2026). Grooming verbs and reflexivity in child Romanian: Differences between non-overt objects and overt clitic objects. The Syntax and Semantics of Implicit Arguments, Graz.
author={Bleotu, A. C. and Irimia, M. A. and Roeper, T. and Kallulli, D.},
title={Grooming verbs and reflexivity in child Romanian: Differences between non-overt objects and overt clitic objects},
year={2026},
eventtitle={The Syntax and Semantics of Implicit Arguments},
venue={Graz} }
Bleotu, A. C., Roeper, T., Irimia, M. A., & Kallulli, D. (2026). Grooming verbs and the null reflexive Voice. Evidence from child Romanian. The 35th Colloquium on Generative Grammar, Barcelona, Spain.
author={Bleotu, A. C. and Roeper, T. and Irimia, M. A. and Kallulli, D.},
title={Grooming verbs and the null reflexive Voice. Evidence from child Romanian},
year={2026},
eventtitle={The 35th Colloquium on Generative Grammar},
venue={Barcelona, Spain} }
Burukina, I., & Kallulli, D. (2026). Deriving composite roles in syntax. The 2026 LSA Annual Meeting, New Orleans, United States.
author={Burukina, I. and Kallulli, D.},
title={Deriving composite roles in syntax},
year={2026},
eventtitle={The 2026 LSA Annual Meeting},
venue={New Orleans, United States} }
Irimia, M. A., & Kallulli, D. (2026). Linkers, matching, raising and why: Strict adjacency and kinds of definiteness. The 35th Colloquium on Generative Grammar, Barcelona, Spain.
author={Irimia, M. A. and Kallulli, D.},
title={Linkers, matching, raising and why: Strict adjacency and kinds of definiteness},
year={2026},
eventtitle={The 35th Colloquium on Generative Grammar},
venue={Barcelona, Spain} }
Kallulli, D. (2026). Make your room, [I] mom [tell you affectionately] — and other aspects of Albanian imperative syntax. Conference on Albanian Multilingualism in Time and Space, University of Regensburg, Germany.
author={Kallulli, D.},
title={Make your room, [I] mom [tell you affectionately] — and other aspects of Albanian imperative syntax},
year={2026},
eventtitle={Conference on Albanian Multilingualism in Time and Space},
venue={University of Regensburg, Germany} }
Kallulli, D. (2026). On River Banks and Implicit Arguments [Invited talk]. The 44th International Seminar on the Albanian Language, Literature and Culture, Prishtina, Kosovo.
author={Kallulli, D.},
title={On River Banks and Implicit Arguments},
year={2026},
eventtitle={The 44th International Seminar on the Albanian Language, Literature and Culture},
venue={Prishtina, Kosovo} }
Kallulli, D., & Roberts, I. (2026). Discovering Parameters. The 2nd GLOW in Asia Workshop for Young Scholars, Nagoya, Japan.
author={Kallulli, D. and Roberts, I.},
title={Discovering Parameters},
year={2026},
eventtitle={The 2nd GLOW in Asia Workshop for Young Scholars},
venue={Nagoya, Japan} }
Kallulli, D., & Roberts, I. (2026). Parameters in the substantive lexicon: from Italian relatives to Mundurucu numerals. The 53rd Romance Linguistics Seminar, Trinity Hall, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
author={Kallulli, D. and Roberts, I.},
title={Parameters in the substantive lexicon: from Italian relatives to Mundurucu numerals},
year={2026},
eventtitle={The 53rd Romance Linguistics Seminar},
venue={Trinity Hall, Cambridge, United Kingdom} }
Kallulli, D., Roberts, I., & Yang, C. (2026). Redundancy, Deficiency and Grammar Discovery: From the Possible to the Learnable via Tolerance. 48th Generative Linguistics in the Old World, Siena, Italy.
author={Kallulli, D. and Roberts, I. and Yang, C.},
title={Redundancy, Deficiency and Grammar Discovery: From the Possible to the Learnable via Tolerance},
year={2026},
eventtitle={48th Generative Linguistics in the Old World},
venue={Siena, Italy} }
Kallulli, D., Roberts, I., & Yang, C. (2026). Taraldsen’s Generalisation and the Test of Tolerance. Rencontres Autour de la Linguistique Formelle 9 (RALFe 9), Paris, France.
author={Kallulli, D. and Roberts, I. and Yang, C.},
title={Taraldsen’s Generalisation and the Test of Tolerance},
year={2026},
eventtitle={Rencontres Autour de la Linguistique Formelle 9 (RALFe 9)},
venue={Paris, France} }
Kallulli, D., Roberts, I., & Yang, C. (2026). The Tolerance Principle, Taraldsen’s Generalisation and Null Subjects. Linguistics Association of Great Britain Annual Meeting 2026, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
author={Kallulli, D. and Roberts, I. and Yang, C.},
title={The Tolerance Principle, Taraldsen’s Generalisation and Null Subjects},
year={2026},
eventtitle={Linguistics Association of Great Britain Annual Meeting 2026},
venue={Edinburgh, United Kingdom} }
Kallulli, D., Roberts, I., Shlonsky, U., & Yang, C. (2026). Types of Null Subjects and the Test of Tolerance. North East Linguistics Society 57, New York.
author={Kallulli, D. and Roberts, I. and Shlonsky, U. and Yang, C.},
title={Types of Null Subjects and the Test of Tolerance},
year={2026},
eventtitle={North East Linguistics Society 57},
venue={New York} }
2025
Kallulli, D. (2025). Aspects of Predication in Albanian: From Admirative to Perceptual Reports [Invited talk]. Seminari XLIII Ndërkombëtar për Gjuhën, Letërsinë dhe Kulturën Shqiptare (The XLIII International Seminar on Albanian Language, Literature and Culture), Prishtina, Kosovo.
author={Kallulli, D.},
title={Aspects of Predication in Albanian: From Admirative to Perceptual Reports},
year={2025},
eventtitle={Seminari XLIII Ndërkombëtar për Gjuhën, Letërsinë dhe Kulturën Shqiptare (The XLIII International Seminar on Albanian Language, Literature and Culture)},
venue={Prishtina, Kosovo} }
Kallulli, D. (2025). Some arguments against the head-raising analysis of relative clauses [Invited talk]. Linguistics at IUSS Colloquium, Pavia, Italy.
author={Kallulli, D.},
title={Some arguments against the head-raising analysis of relative clauses},
year={2025},
eventtitle={Linguistics at IUSS Colloquium},
venue={Pavia, Italy} }
Kallulli, D. (2025). The (Non-)Deficiency and (Non-)Redundancy of Clitic Pronouns [Invited talk]. The 18th conference on Syntax, Phonology and Language Analysis (SinFonIJA 18), Skopje, North Macedonia.
author={Kallulli, D.},
title={The (Non-)Deficiency and (Non-)Redundancy of Clitic Pronouns},
year={2025},
eventtitle={The 18th conference on Syntax, Phonology and Language Analysis (SinFonIJA 18)},
venue={Skopje, North Macedonia} }
Kallulli, D., & Roberts, I. (2025). Parameters in the substantive lexicon: from Italian relatives to Mundurucu numerals. Going Romance 2025, Venice, Italy.
author={Kallulli, D. and Roberts, I.},
title={Parameters in the substantive lexicon: from Italian relatives to Mundurucu numerals},
year={2025},
eventtitle={Going Romance 2025},
venue={Venice, Italy} }
Kallulli, D., & Roberts, I. (2025). Refining the Borer-Chomsky Conjecture: Redundancy and Deficiency. The 34th Colloquium on Generative Grammar (CGG34), Madrid, Spain.
author={Kallulli, D. and Roberts, I.},
title={Refining the Borer-Chomsky Conjecture: Redundancy and Deficiency},
year={2025},
eventtitle={The 34th Colloquium on Generative Grammar (CGG34)},
venue={Madrid, Spain} }
2024
Burukina, I., & Kallulli, D. (2024). Multi-level datives and (in)flexible syntax. Flexible Syntax, Vienna, Austria.
author={Burukina, I. and Kallulli, D.},
title={Multi-level datives and (in)flexible syntax},
year={2024},
eventtitle={Flexible Syntax},
venue={Vienna, Austria} }
Kallulli, D. (2024). Double doubling: once again on Albanian clitics. Seminari XLII Ndërkombëtar për Gjuhën, Letërsinë dhe Kulturën Shqiptare (The 50th International Seminar on the Albanian Language, Literature and Culture), Prishtina, Kosovo.
author={Kallulli, D.},
title={Double doubling: once again on Albanian clitics},
year={2024},
eventtitle={Seminari XLII Ndërkombëtar për Gjuhën, Letërsinë dhe Kulturën Shqiptare (The 50th International Seminar on the Albanian Language, Literature and Culture)},
venue={Prishtina, Kosovo} }
Kallulli, D. (2024). From agreement to clitic doubling and back to agreement: revisiting (a)symmetries [Invited talk]. Puzzles of Agreement: Syntactic, Semantic, and Psycholinguistic Perspectives, Germany.
author={Kallulli, D.},
title={From agreement to clitic doubling and back to agreement: revisiting (a)symmetries},
year={2024},
eventtitle={Puzzles of Agreement: Syntactic, Semantic, and Psycholinguistic Perspectives},
venue={Germany} }
Kallulli, D. (2024). Of Clitics and Copies [Invited talk]. New Approaches to Clitics in Romance and Beyond., Vienna, Austria.
author={Kallulli, D.},
title={Of Clitics and Copies},
year={2024},
eventtitle={New Approaches to Clitics in Romance and Beyond.},
venue={Vienna, Austria} }
Kallulli, D., & Roberts, I. (2024). Comparative Syntax: From Voice to Resumption [Invited lecture]. Linguistic Summer Institute of Taiwan, Taipei, Taiwan.
author={Kallulli, D. and Roberts, I.},
title={Comparative Syntax: From Voice to Resumption},
year={2024},
eventtitle={Linguistic Summer Institute of Taiwan},
venue={Taipei, Taiwan} }
Kallulli, D., & Roberts, I. (2024). Form Copy and wh-dependencies. The 33rd Colloquium on Generative Grammar (CGG33), Madrid, Spain.
author={Kallulli, D. and Roberts, I.},
title={Form Copy and wh-dependencies},
year={2024},
eventtitle={The 33rd Colloquium on Generative Grammar (CGG33)},
venue={Madrid, Spain} }
Kallulli, D., & Roberts, I. (2024). We thought and thought, and eventually solved this: One predicate modifies the other. The International Workshop on the Syntax of Predication and Modification 2024, Tokyo, Japan.
author={Kallulli, D. and Roberts, I.},
title={We thought and thought, and eventually solved this: One predicate modifies the other},
year={2024},
eventtitle={The International Workshop on the Syntax of Predication and Modification 2024},
venue={Tokyo, Japan} }