This paper investigates the possibility of subject omission in the history of Icelandic, including the syntactic and pragmatic conditions under which it could arise. Based on regression analysis of substantial data drawn from the IcePaHC corpus, we provide robust quantitative support for Hjartardóttir's (1987) claim that null subjects persist until a very late stage in Icelandic. We also argue, contra Sigurðsson (1993), that only one licensing mechanism is needed for null subjects in early Icelandic. Moreover, on the basis of the position of the null subjects and their person features, we argue that the modern stage, where (predominantly 3rd person)pro-drop yields to a system permitting topic drop of all persons, arises in Icelandic in the early twentieth century.*

中文翻译：

---

早期冰岛语中的空主题

本文探讨了冰岛语历史上主语省略的可能性，包括它可能出现的句法和语用条件。基于从 IcePaHC 语料库中提取的大量数据的回归分析，我们为 Hjartardóttir (1987) 的说法提供了强有力的定量支持，即在冰岛语中，空主题一直持续到很晚的阶段。我们还争辩说，与 Sigurðsson (1993) 相反，在早期的冰岛语中，空主题只需要一种许可机制。此外，基于空主体的位置及其人称特征，我们认为现代阶段，其中（主要是第三人称）亲-drop 产生于允许所有人放弃话题的系统，出现在 20 世纪初的冰岛语中。*