Clitic blocking as a side-effect of 1st/2nd person licensing: The case of -suu in Punjabi

Abstract

The 3rd person object clitic –suu in Punjabi is blocked with 1st/2nd subjects, but not 3rd subjects. Presenting these novel facts, this paper explains blocking effects on -suu as a side-effect of the person licensing requirements of 1st/2nd subjects. I propose that –suu is licensed at FP, to which it moves via the Part/T head. In a derivation with 1st/2nd subjects, this movement is impeded due to mismatching person features on the licensing Part head. Conversely, in a structure with 3rd subjects, there is no 1st/2nd person feature bearing PartP to obstruct the clitic’s movement.