Pro-drop and subject pronouns in Assamese

Abstract

In recent years a considerable attention has been given to the study of control and pro-drop. Languages with rich agreement patterns allow for phonetically empty subject which is called “pro”. This paper deals with the pro-drop phenomena of Assamese. The main objective of the paper is to give a descriptive analysis of the subject pronouns and their nature in the pro-drop phenomena. The paper also aims to give a basic idea of this pro-drop phenomenon and shows how certain subject pronouns behave differently in Assamese. Pro drop in Assamese is a major linguistic characteristic of the language. The findings of the study revealed that we can drop most of the subject pronouns in Assamese. Though Assamese is considered as a pro-drop language, this phenomenon is not acceptable in written language. The sentences should be in a full structural representation in written language. In other words, we can say that pro-drop is used in our daily conversations; it is more or less like informal conversations.