Non-coordinated null objects in Medieval French

Abstract The article investigates non-coordinated anaphoric null objects (ANOs) in medieval French. The study provides an overview of the contexts in which ANOs are attested and of their evolution during the medieval period (13th to 15th centuries). Through this overview, the paper argues that a uniform analysis of ANOs in medieval French is not possible by arguing that ANOs can be of different types. In main and most embedded clauses, the ANOs are null pronouns while in non-finite adjunct clauses, the ANOs are gaps. In the most frequent context of object omission (the reduction of a clitic cluster), the ANOs are not the result of an empty category but rather a case of post syntactic clitic omission.