Binding as agree and index raising: The case of Polish accusative object experiencers

This paper aims to account for peculiar binding properties of non-nominative arguments of Polish psychological predicates focusing on accusative Object Experiencers (hence, OE). It has been observed that although Polish anaphors are subject oriented, they can be bound by accusative experiencers ( ; ; ). At the same time, these arguments, unlike nominative subjects, are also proper antecedents for both reflexive and pronominal possessives. This mixed behaviour poses a puzzle for the traditional formulation of Binding Theory ( , ; ; ; ; ), which assumes complementarity between anaphors and pronominals in their local domains and plainly states that the subject is the privileged binder in Slavic. We base our analysis on a number of recent proposals, including , and , following . The proposal implements the concept of binding as (upward) Agree as well as Index Raising (IR), where the head of the anaphoric/pronominal element (henceforth the index) is (covertly) moved and adjoined to v or T. Lexicalisation and distribution of anaphoric and pronominal elements is determined by two factors: the movement of the index and the case position of the binder.