Subject Copies at the Intersection of Syntax, Discourse and PF: The Uyghur case

Abstract

This paper investigates the paradox of subject positioning in Uyghur, where subjects appear low on the surface but behave as if they occupy a higher position. I argue that this mismatch arises from the interaction between syntactic movement and PF realization. In narrow syntax, subjects indeed raise to the highest TP position; however, different copies are pronounced at PF to satisfy discourse-related prosodic requirements. For subject focus, the lower copy in Spec, FocP is realized to satisfy focus-prominence constraints, while for subject ground, the highest copy in Spec, TP is pronounced. This unified analysis not only accounts for the scope differences between subject focus and subject ground, but also explains the distinct behaviors of subject and object phrases.