The Asymmetry of Subject Pronouns and Subject Nouns in Qumran Hebrew and Cognates

The focus is on the one hand on the asymmetry in the distribution of subject pronouns and nouns and on the other hand on the difference regarding this asymmetry among Qumran Hebrew and its cognates, namely Biblical Hebrew, Biblical Aramaic and Mishnaic Hebrew. Verbs in these languages differentiate into verb forms which allow null subjects. With null subject verb forms of Qumran Hebrew, Biblical Aramaic and Mishnaic Hebrew, subject pronouns are restricted to appear only in a preverbal position of clauses, whereas subject nouns are likely to appear in preverbal and postverbal positions. With verb forms which do not allow null subjects, subject pronouns appear preverbal as well as postverbal. However, it seems that Biblical Hebrew does not fit these distributional properties. With verb forms that allow null subjects no obvious distinction in the distribution of subject pronouns and subject nouns is observed. In line with a principle and parameter approach, the suggestion is that the asymmetry and difference can be correlated. In fact it is showed that the asymmetry can be deduced from a null subject parameter and the differences in the asymmetry from the movement options of the verb.