What do Reduced Pronominals Reveal about the Syntax of Dutch and German?

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 rests a.o.t. on the observation that the case for a subject-/nonsubjectasymmetry wrt fronting into Spec,CP has been overstated. Instead we diagnose what we call “Conditional Symmetry.” We thus suggest that a more insightful account can be developed if Dutch and German possess exactly one target-position for fronted XPs. 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 X°-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.