0000000000568025
AUTHOR
Federica Cognola
Parameterizing 'lexical subject-finite verb' inversion across Verb Second languages: On the role of Relativized Minimality at the vP edge
By discussing novel data from two Dolomitic Ladin languages spoken in Northern Italy, Badiotto and Gardenese, we show that in these Verb-second languages subject-finite verb inversion i) is constrained by the syntactic (adverb or object) and discourse (focus or topic) nature of the sentence-initial constituent, and by the discourse status of the DP subject. We demonstrate that in both varieties subjects in inversion either appear in a FocusP of the vP periphery (Belletti 2004, Poletto 2010) or in an A position in the IP layer, and that the observed distribution of inversion follows from two universal constraints of movement affecting extraction through the vP edge: a) cyclicity (extraction …
Verb-Second and (micro)-variation in two Rhaeto-Romance varieties of Northern Italy.
Rhaeto-Romance varieties are the only present-day Romance varieties which exhibit the Verb Second constraint (Benincà 1994, Poletto 2002, Salvi 2010). In this chapter we examine two properties typically ascribed to the Verb Second phenomenon, subject-finite verb inversion and restrictions on the co-occurrence of multiple constituents in the sentence-initial position, in two Rhaeto-Romance varieties spoken in South Tyrol (Province of Bolzano, Northern Italy). We demonstrate that both varieties behave like Verb-Second languages as far as both phenomena are concerned, but exhibit a specific Verb-Second system governed by the interplay between syntactic and discourse constraints which differs f…
On the null-subject phenomenon: an example of successful linguistic research
This chapter deals with the history on the studies on null subjects, and on the most recent approaches.
Mòcheno e tamòcco: su due soprannomi etnici per tedesco
In questo contributo discutiamo l’etimologia dei termini mòcheno e tamòcco, utilizzati in Trentino-Alto Adige per riferirsi a due gruppi tedescofoni e alla loro lingua. In particolare, mòcheno indica la popolazione e la lingua di ceppo tedesco della valle del Fersina in Trentino (anche detta Valle dei Mòcheni), mentre tamòcco è utilizzato in provincia di Bolzano come spregiativo per gli appartenenti al gruppo linguistico tedesco. L’obiettivo primario del contributo è proporre una sistematizzazione delle varie occorrenze di mòcheno e tamòcco nelle fonti, discutendo sia i risultati degli studi precedenti, sia nuovi dati onomastici, toponomastici e dialettali dell’area alpina orientale da noi …
On the Syntax of Fronted Adverbial Clauses in Two Tyrolean Dialects: The Distribution of Resumptive Semm
Abstract This chapter discusses adverbial resumption in two Tyrolean dialects, Meranese and Mòcheno, which represent two privileged environments for investigations on microvariation. We show that certain classes of fronted adverbials are resumed in both languages by the resumptive element semm (lit. “there, then”), which behaves semantically like a generalized resumptive because it is used with a variety of adverbial clauses. However, unlike the Norwegian generalized resumptive studied by Christine Meklenborg, semm is a maximal category and cannot resume nominal arguments. We demonstrate that resumption with semm is limited to central adverbial clauses (e.g. temporal clauses), while periphe…
Microvariation in the Distribution of Resumptive Pronouns in the Left Dislocation Construction in Two Tyrolean Dialects of Northern Italy
In this paper we document a so-far neglected case of microvariation involving resumptive pronouns in the left-dislocation construction in Meranese, spoken in South Tyrol, and Mòcheno, spoken in the Fersina valley (Trentino). While in standard German resumptive elements in this construction belong to the class of D-pronouns, the two Tyrolean dialects considered in the paper exhibit, as resumptive pronouns, both (i) D-pronouns and (ii) pronominal usages of the distal demonstrative formed by the definite article (D) and sèll corresponding to ‘that one’. We show that in both languages D+sèll forms overlap with German D-pronouns in most contexts, whereas D-pronou…