Testing linguistic theory and variation to their limits: The case of Romance

Through a number of illuminating cases studies which draw in large part on the largely under-utilized data of Romance dialectal varieties, the present article sets out to highlight the importance that Romance data, especially those of non-standard varietites, can play in testing and enriching currents theories of syntax. In particular, we shall show that dialectal varieties, although frequently overlooked in the past, offer an immensely fertile and still relatively unexplored experimental territory in which to profitably investigate new ideas about language structure, change and variation. At the same time, we champion the mutual benefits for theoretical linguists and Romanists of adopting a more integrated and reciprocally-informed approach in their respective treatments of linguistic evidence, highlighting how a familiarity with the key tools and ideas established in both fields has the potential to enrich linguistic and empirical analyses considerably.Théorie linguistique et variation. Le cas des langues romanes Grâce à l’examen d’une série d’études de cas éclairantes puisées en grande partie dans les données de variétés dialectales romanes trop souvent mises à l’écart, cet article a pour objectif de mettre en relief l’importance du rôle des données romanes, et surtout de celles tirées des variétés non-standard, dans l’évaluation et dans l’enrichissement des théories syntaxiques actuelles. En particulier, on met en évidence comment les variétés dialectales, bien qu’à peine exploitées dans le passé, offrent un terrain expérimental extrêmement fertile et encore peu exploré aujourd’hui, qui permet d’explorer de nouvelles pistes à propos de la structure, du changement et de la variation linguistiques. En même temps, on exposera les avantages mutuels pour les linguistes théoriques et les spécialistes en linguistique romane à adopter une approche à la fois plus intégrée et réciproquement informée dans leurs traitements respectifs des faits linguistiques. On montrera ainsi comment une connaissance des outils et des principes établis dans les deux champs peut apporter des enrichissements considérables aux analyses linguistiques et empiriques

Verb segon en el llatí tardà: l’ordre de paraules de l’oració en l’«Itinerarium Egeriae»

In this article we undertake a systematic study of the Itinerarium Egeriae, one of the best known late Latin texts, to determine the proper characterization of the word order of the text and to consider in particular whether the Itinerarium Egeriae can legitimately be considered to present a verb-second (V2) grammar on the par with the well-studied grammars of medieval Romance. The results, based on detailed quantitative and qualitative analyses of the text and, where relevant, appropriate comparisons with medieval Romance, confirm the innovative nature of the syntax of the Itinerarium Egeriae whose word order patterns are shown to follow an asymmetric V2 constraint. The article therefore offers valuable original evidence for the often claimed, but hitherto unproven, hypothesis that the V2 syntax of medieval Romance represents the continuation of a parametric setting already well established in the grammar of late Latin.En aquest article duem a terme un estudi sistemàtic de l’Itinerarium Egeriae, un dels textos del llatí tardà més ben coneguts, per tal de determinar la caracterització adequada de l’ordre de mots del text i veure, en particular, si l’Itinerarium Egeriae es pot considerar legítimament que presenta una gramàtica de verb segon (V2) de manera semblant a les gramàtiques ben estudiades del romànic medieval. Els resultats, basats en detallades anàlisis quantitatives i qualitatives del text i, on és pertinent, en comparacions adequades amb el romànic medieval, confirmen la naturalesa innovadora de la sintaxi de l’Itinerarium Egeriae, els patrons d’ordre de mots de la qual es demostra que segueixen una restricció asimètrica de V2. L’article, per tant, ofereix evidència original i valuosa a favor de la hipòtesi sovint proposada però fins ara no demostrada que la sintaxi V2 del romànic medieval representa la continuació d’una fixació paramètrica ja ben establerta en la gramàtica del llatí tardà

The limits of linguistic theory and variation: The case of Romanian

Drawing on Romanian examples, this article explores, in a manner which is accessible to both general scholars of the Romance languages and linguists, how the richly documented diachronic and synchronic variation exhibited by Romanian offers a wealth of linguistic data (often of a typologically exotic nature) of interest not just to comparative Romance linguists, but also to general linguists. This perennially fertile and still under-utilized testing ground will be shown to have a central role to play in challenging linguistic orthodoxies and shaping and informing new ideas and perspectives about language change, structure and variation, and should therefore be at the forefront of linguistic research and accessible to the wider linguistic community. At the same time, the discussion will also highlight how a familiarity with current key ideas and assumptions in theoretical linguistics has a significant role to play in understanding the structures and patterns of Romanian.This is the author accepted manuscript. It is currently under an indefinite embargo pending publication by the university of Bucharest

Differential Object Marking and the properties of D in the dialects of the extreme south of Italy

This paper discusses two case studies of microvariation in accusative marking in the Italo-Romance varieties of the extreme south of Italy. In particular, the diatopic variation displayed by the dialects of southern Calabria gives rise to peculiar patterns of alternation between presence or absence of the marker 'a' ‘to’ in flagging the accusative. The realisation of accusative case is partially governed by semantic and referential features, i.e. specificity and animacy. In addition, the nature of the realisation of the D head results in a degree of competition between zero marking and analytic accusative marking with 'a'. Given the century-long co-existence of Latin/Romance and Greek in southern Calabria, the relevant morphosyntactic patterns in Case-marking will also be examined from a language contact perspective. We will highlight how the relevant outcomes do not simply involve borrowing mechanisms or template copying from the lending variety but, rather, produce hybrid structures no longer ascribable to a purely Romance or Greek grammar

The negative imperative in southern Calabria. Spirito greco, materia romanza again?

Much attention has been devoted in the literature to the study of imperatival morphology in Romance, and in particular the distribution and nature of true vs suppletive forms exhibited by positive and negative paradigms. Within this scenario we consider below a special case of suppletion in the paradigm of the negative imperative in some dialects of southern Calabria (§2). The relevant paradigms are special in several key respects. First, they involve the extension of an original infinitival desinence to a present indicative verb, giving rise to a hybrid imperatival form which exceptionally marries together finite and non-finite inflexional markings. Second, the synchronic comparison of these southern Calabrian varieties allows us a rare opportunity to reconstruct in diachrony the emergence and extension of the relevant suppletive pattern across different persons. Third, the patterns of suppletion in southern Calabria just outlined do not represent a Romance-internal development but, rather, the outcome of contact-induced change and, in particular, the influence of the local Greek sub-/adstrate on the surrounding Romance varieties (§3). The resultant system of formal paradigmatic oppositions thus reproduces an underlying Greek model, not a Romance one, giving rise to a case of what Rohlfs famously termed spirito greco, materia romanza (‘Greek spirit, Romance material’). At the same time, these Greek-Romance hybrid patterns also provide significant evidence for the formal morphosyntactic equivalence between competing Greek finite and Romance non-finite forms of subordination, inasmuch as extension of the infinitival desinence never penetrates those imperatival forms introduced by a Greek-style modal subordinator (§4). Finally, the extension of the Romance infinitival desinence according to an underlying Greek model, although initially a manifestation of a suppletive pattern, will be shown to yield in synchrony a novel true imperatival pattern and, in turn, an alternation between a suppletive positive imperative and a true negative imperative, a typologically very rare formal opposition otherwise not attested in Romance or beyond (§5).Leverhulme funded projec

Manciati siti? Les constructions moyennes avec les participes résultatifs-statifs en italien et dans les variétés italo-romanes méridionales

This is the accepted manuscript. The final version is available at http://www.cairn.info/revue-langages-2014-2-page-63.htm

Agreement

This chapter offers an overview of the development of the theory of agreement highlighting the major contributions that have been proposed on the basis of the Romance languages. The first part of the chapter follows the analysis of verb–subject agreement from early generative grammar to contemporary syntactic theory. After a short overview of syntactic agreement, the chapter moves on to morphological agreement, discussing among other things the relation between rich agreement and null subjecthood as well as agreement and subject clitics in Romance. The chapter offers a number of examples from standard and non-standard Romance languages