Icelandic Imposters and the Proprial Article * Jim Wood 1 Introduction Collins & Postal (2008) argue that in sentences like (1a), where the present authors is understood to be the speaker, the present authors contains a null pronoun WE, as in (1b). (1) a. The present authors 1 attempt to defend ourselves 1 . b. [XP [DP2 WE ][DP3 the present authors ] ] The Icelandic sentence in (2a) is only acceptable if the speaker is not understood to be one of the reporters. If the speaker is understood as one of the reporters, a personal pronoun við ‘we’ must be used. (2) a. Fréttamennir.nir Reporters.the tala speak.3PL stundum sometimes vitlaust. incorrectly. ‘The reporters sometimes speak incorrectly.’ b. Við We fréttamennir.nir reporters.the tölum speak.1PL stundum sometimes vitlaust. incorrectly. ‘We reporters sometimes speak incorrectly.’ However, if the plural DP is a coordinate phrase, the pronoun is optional. Both (3a-b) are accept- able when pabbi ‘Daddy’ is the speaker. (3) a. Mamma Mommy og and pabbi Daddy ætla intend.3PL að to fara go saman together í to vinnu work í dag today b. Við We Mamma Mommy og and pabbi Daddy ætlum intend.1PL að to fara go saman together í to vinnu work í dag today ‘Mommy and Daddy are going to work together today.’ Finally, if a third-person pronoun is used with the above DPs, the sentence can never refer to the speaker. (4) a. Þau They. NEUT Mamma Mommy og and Pabbi Daddy ætla intend.3PL að to gefa give þér you sælgæti. candy. ‘Mommy and Daddy are going to give you candy.’ b. Þeir They. MASC bræðurnir brothers.the eru are.3PL búnir finished að to fela hide sig REFL í in kjallarunum. cellar.the ‘The brothers have hidden themselves in the cellar.’ * Huge thank you to Hallvarður Ásgeirsson and Júlía Hermannsdóttir for all their help! Unless otherwise cited, all the Icelandic sentences come from working with them, but they should get none of the blame for any mistakes. Þakka ykkur kærlega fyrir! Also thanks to Chris Collins, Jeroen van Craenenbroeck, Marcel den Dikken, Inna Livitz, Arhonto Terzi, along with the folks at the CUNY Syntax Supper and the two reviewers for comments on various versions of this work. Finally, thanks to Gunnar Hrafn Hrafnbjargarson for discussing certain parts of the data with me. 1