Change and variation in West Iberian complementation : QUIA/CA from late Latin to early Romance

Abstract

This chapter investigates the evolution of an underreported diachronic divergence in West Iberian clausal syntax involving the completive use of the complementizer CA (<Latin QUIA). Our aims are: i) to establish the principal factors regulating selection of QUIA/CA in Iberian texts written in Latin/Romance between 6th -14th centuries; ii) develop a theoretical account of how the grammatical properties of West Iberian reflexes of QUIA are configured in the clausal syntax. Examination of a newly-compiled corpus covering the LatinRomance transition reveals that the clause type and (morphological) finiteness of QUIA/CA-complements remain unchanged. By contrast, they undergo a functional specialization in their mood/modality, culminating in an indicative/realis restriction and loss of factive construal of the embedded proposition. We propose that the grammatical properties of CA-complements are syntactically instantiated by the conjunction of two formal mechanisms: (declarative) clause-typing via complementizer insertion in Force; and the licensing of realis/indicative features via verb movement into Fin.This chapter investigates the evolution of an underreported diachronic divergence in West Iberian clausal syntax involving the completive use of the complementizer CA (<Latin QUIA). Our aims are: i) to establish the principal factors regulating selection of QUIA/CA in Iberian texts written in Latin/Romance between 6th -14th centuries; ii) develop a theoretical account of how the grammatical properties of West Iberian reflexes of QUIA are configured in the clausal syntax. Examination of a newly-compiled corpus covering the LatinRomance transition reveals that the clause type and (morphological) finiteness of QUIA/CA-complements remain unchanged. By contrast, they undergo a functional specialization in their mood/modality, culminating in an indicative/realis restriction and loss of factive construal of the embedded proposition. We propose that the grammatical properties of CA-complements are syntactically instantiated by the conjunction of two formal mechanisms: (declarative) clause-typing via complementizer insertion in Force; and the licensing of realis/indicative features via verb movement into Fin.B