noun phrase types

Question

What are (1) [NP e], (2) control PRO; pro, other instances, and (3) 'e' in the examples? ('NP' here is actually a subscript in the paper)

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I'm reading Barbara Abott's 'Definiteness and Indefiniteness.' In its 'Introduction,' she enumerates definite noun phrases. In the list I see something like this:

NP type: [NP e]
More details: control PRO; pro; other instances of ellipsis
Examples: Mary tried e to fly; [on a pill packet] e contains methanol [=Ariel 1988, ex. 7a]

What are (1) [NP e], (2) control PRO; pro, other instances, and (3) 'e' in the examples? ('NP' here is actually a subscript in the paper)

Answer 1

e in this parlance refers to any empty category, i.e. a phonologically null element in the structure. They can be of various types indeed, such as

• movement traces, more often denoted as t

• controlled PRO, i.e. an empty element that typically occupies subject position in infinitives and receives reference via subject or object control:

  (1) Mary_i tried PRO_i to fly.

• small pro that occupies argument positions in pro-drop languages: cf. Italian

  (2) pro_[1pl] parliamo. `we speak'

• under some theories, an empty pronoun in the ellipsis site, and the e can be verbal:

  (3) John didn't win, bit he tried to [_VP e].

As you can see in three, a superscript in the brackets is actually not specific to NPs, it is notation to specify the category of the constituent enclosed in the brackets; thus, [_NP cake] means that the constituent "cake" is an NP, [_VP ate cake] means that "ate cake" is a VP etc.