Rena Torres Cacoullos* and Catherine E. Travis Q1 Variationist typology: Shared probabilistic constraints across (non-)null subject languages https://doi.org/10.1515/ling-2019-0011 Abstract: A key parameter in received classifications of language types is the expression of pronominal subjects. Here we compare variation patterns in con- versational data of English – considered a non-null-subject language – and Spanish – a well-studied null-subject language. English has a patently lower rate of expression (approximately 3% unexpressed 1sg and 3sg human subjects vs. 60% in Spanish). Despite the stark difference in rate of expression, the same probabilistic constraints are at work in the two languages. Contrary to popular belief, VP coordination is neither a discrete nor a distinguishing category of English. Instead, a shared constraint is linking with the preceding subject, a refinement of accessibility to include, alongside coreferentiality, measures of structural connectedness – both prosodic and syntactic. Other shared con- straints on unexpressed subjects are coreferential subject priming (a tendency to repeat the form of the previous mention) and lexical aspect (reflecting the contribution of a temporal relationship to subject expression). Where the lan- guages most differ is in the envelope of variation. In English, besides corefer- ential-subject verbs conjoined with a coordinating conjunction, unexpressed subjects are limited to prosodic initial-position in declarative main clauses, a restriction that is absent in Spanish. We propose that the locus of cross-language comparisons is the variable structure of each language, defined by the set of probabilistic constraints but also the delimitation of the variable context within which these are operative. Keywords: null subjects, universals, VP coordination, envelope of variation, probabilistic constraints *Corresponding author: Rena Torres Cacoullos, Department of Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA, E-mail: rct11@psu.edu Catherine E. Travis, School of Literature, Languages and Linguistics, The Australian National University, Acton, ACT 2601, Australia, E-mail: catherine.travis@anu.edu.au Linguistics 2019; aop 1 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40