Silent arguments without <i>pro</i>: The case of Basque

Basque is traditionally described as a three-way pro-drop language, a<br />paradigmatic instance of the positive setting of the pro-drop parameter. This<br />article investigates the phenomenon of silent arguments in Basque and proposes<br />a novel account of this phonological emptiness. It is argued that Basque silent<br />arguments are best analyzed as elided DPs. This account avoids the shortcomings<br />of the pro-drop analysis with respect to the licensing and interpretation effects<br />of silent arguments, and its interaction with information structure allows astraightforward explanation of the distribution of overt and silent arguments.