Selection and morphology of expletive subject clitics in northern Italian dialects

2019 ◽  
pp. 101-112
Author(s):  
Lorenzo Ferrarotti
Keyword(s):  
Subject Clitics ◽  
Italian Dialects

“Subject” clitics and particles in Provençal

Probus ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-215
Author(s):  
Paola Benincà
Keyword(s):  
Left Periphery ◽  
Peculiar Behaviour ◽  
Subject Clitics ◽  
Interrogative Clauses ◽  
Italian Dialects ◽  
Theoretical Side

Abstract Several Occitan dialects spoken in Western Piedmont exhibit no 1sg subject clitic form (a situation widely attested in Northern Italian dialects), although interrogative clauses with a 1sg subject feature an enclitic particle ke, identical to the complementiser. Many attempts have been made to interpret this ke as a reflex of Lat. E(G)O ‘I’ or originating from the reanalysis of the analogical -k displayed by verbs such as dik ‘I say’. Rather, I claim that ke is what it seems, namely the complementiser, and entertain the hypothesis that in these varieties the complementiser ended up satisfying EPP-like features. To support this analysis, I examine data from a wider area including Provençal, Gascon and Ibero-Romance dialects in which the complementiser is used as a proclitic particle in assertive clauses (Etxepare 2010 a.o.). On the theoretical side, I submit the hypothesis that the peculiar behaviour of the complementiser ke in that area has to do with the checking of a ‘speaker’ feature in the left periphery of the clause.

The Phonology and Syntax of Preverbal and Postverbal Subject Clitics in Northern Italian Dialects

2008 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 523-563 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Cardinaletti ◽  
Lori Repetti
Keyword(s):  
Final Position ◽  
Null Subjects ◽  
Verb Movement ◽  
Phonological Constraints ◽  
Subject Clitics ◽  
Lexical Items ◽  
Italian Dialects

We argue that preverbal and postverbal subject clitics in northern Italian dialects are the same lexical items. The different forms of proclitics and enclitics can be explained phonologically (i.e., by phonological constraints ranked in a particular order) and by the hypothesis that morphologically neutral vowels may be inserted in final position (what we call morphological epenthesis). The distributional differences in the paradigm derive from a competition between overt clitics and null subjects that is resolved in an intricate way across sentence types and across dialects and that depends on the interaction of clitic and verb movement and on Minimize Structure.

Subject clitics and clitic recycling: locative sentences in some Iberian Romance languages

1998 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
VÍCTOR M. LONGA ◽  
GUILLERMO LORENZO ◽  
GEMMA RIGAU
Keyword(s):  
Romance Languages ◽  
Lexical Structure ◽  
Subject Clitics ◽  
Italian Dialects ◽  
Spanish Dialects

The first concern of this article is an analysis of locative sentences in the Iberian Romances. It is argued that both the existential (〈HAVE〉) and the stative (〈BE〉) construction derive from a single abstract verb. Their differences are based in the presence vs. the absence of an incorporation process over an otherwise identical lexical structure. The second topic of the paper is a study of the behavior of pronominal clitics within these sentences. It is observed that while Catalan has a rich paradigm of clitics (accusative, dative, locative, partitive), languages like Asturian, Galician and certain Spanish dialects resort to a ‘recycling’ strategy in order to palliate the deficiencies of their clitic paradigms. In this respect, we will show how accusative clitics are used as partitive, locative, and even subject clitics. We also propose some of the principles which constrain the application of this strategy. Finally, an Appendix is devoted to certain uses of the accusative clitics as modal markers, also within locative sentences. These uses are closely related with the behavior of certain clitics in Northern Italian dialects.

scholarly journals Possessives, from Franco-Provençal and Occitan Systems to Contact Dialects in Apulia and Calabria

Languages ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 63
Author(s):  
Benedetta Baldi ◽  
Leonardo Maria Savoia
Keyword(s):  
Language Variation ◽  
Final Part ◽  
Definite Article ◽  
Test Bed ◽  
North West ◽  
12Th Century ◽  
Complex Knowledge ◽  
Italian Dialects ◽  
Transfer Mechanisms

This article investigates the contact-induced reorganization of the possessive system in the Gallo-Romance dialects spoken from around the 12th century in the villages of Celle and Faeto in North Apulia and Guardia Piemontese in North-West Calabria. Gallo-Romance possessives exclude the article in the prenominal position, whereas in the Southern Italian dialects, possessives follow the noun preceded by the definite article. This original contrast is no longer visible in the varieties of Celle, Faeto and Guardia which changed the original prenominal position to the postnominal position combining with the article, except with kinship terms, preserving the original prenominal position. At the heart of contact phenomena, there are bilingualism and transfer mechanisms between the languages included in the complex knowledge of the speaker, suggesting a test bed for the treatment of language variation and parameterization. We propose an account of morpho-syntactic and interpretive properties of possessives, making use of the insights from the comparison of contact systems with prenominal (Franco-Provençal and Occitan varieties) and postnominal (Southern Italian dialects) possessives. The final part examines the distribution of possessives, tracing it back to the definiteness properties of DP and proposes a phasal treatment based on syntactic and interpretive constraints.

Italian Dialects in the United States. II

1926 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 13
Author(s):  
Herbert H. Vaughan
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Italian Dialects

scholarly journals Dialects Among Young Italian-Australians: A Shift in Attitude and Perception

2017 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 467-483 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruben Benatti ◽  
Angela Tiziana Tarantini
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Social Identity ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Third Generation ◽  
Instrumental Function ◽  
Self Evaluation ◽  
The Family ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Italian Dialects

Abstract The aim of this article is to analyse the relationship that second- and third-generation Italian migrants in Australia have with the Italian dialect of their family. We report on the survey we recently carried out among young Italian-Australians, mainly learners of Italian as a second language. First, we analyse the motivation behind learning Italian as a heritage language. We then move on to describe their self-evaluation of their competence in the dialect of their family, and their perception thereof. Surprisingly, our survey reveals that not only are Italian dialects still understood by most second- and third-generation Italians (contrary to what people may think), but Italian dialects are also perceived by young Italian-Australians as an important part of their identity. For them, dialect is the language of the family, particularly in relation to the older members. It fulfills an instrumental function, as it enables communication with some family members who master neither English nor Italian, but above all, it is functional to the construction of their self and their social identity.

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