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.

“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.

Segmental Phonology, Phonotactics, and Syllable Structure in the Romance Languages

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephan Schmid
Keyword(s):  
Initial Position ◽  
Romance Languages ◽  
Medium Size ◽  
Minor Role ◽  
Final Position ◽  
Forthcoming Article ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Vowel Systems ◽  
Moderate Complexity ◽  
Italian Dialects

This is an advance summary of a forthcoming article in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics. Please check back later for the full article. From a typological perspective, the phoneme inventories of Romance languages are of medium size: For instance, most consonant systems contain between 20 and 23 phonemes. An innovation with respect to Latin is the appearance of palatal and palato-alveolar consonants such as /ɲ ʎ/ (Italian, Spanish, Portuguese), /ʃ ʒ/ (French, Portuguese), and /tʃ dʒ/ (Italian, Romanian); a few varieties (e.g., Romansh and a number of Italian dialects) also show the palatal stops /c ɟ/. Besides palatalization, a number of lenition processes (both sonorization and spirantization) have characterized the diachronic development of plosives in Western Romance languages (cf. the French word chèvre “goat” < lat. CĀPRA(M)). Diachronically, both sonorization and spirantization occurred in postvocalic position, where the latter can still be observed as an allophonic rule in present-day Spanish and Sardinian. Sonorization, on the other hand, occurs synchronically after nasals in many southern Italian dialects. The most fundamental change in the diachrony of the Romance vowel systems derives from the demise of contrastive Latin vowel quantity. However, some Raeto-Romance and northern Italo-Romance varieties have developed new quantity contrasts. Moreover, standard Italian displays allophonic vowel lengthening in open stressed syllables (e.g., /ˈka.ne/ “dog” → [ˈkaːne]. The stressed vowel systems of most Romance varieties contain either five phonemes (Spanish, Sardinian, Sicilian) or seven phonemes (Portuguese, Catalan, Italian, Romanian). Larger vowel inventories are typical of “northern Romance” and appear in dialects of Northern Italy as well as in Raeto- and Gallo-Romance languages. The most complex vowel system is found in standard French with its 16 vowel qualities, comprising the 3 rounded front vowels /y ø œ/ and the 4 nasal vowel phonemes /ɑ̃ ɔ̃ ɛ̃ œ̃/. Romance languages differ in their treatment of unstressed vowels. Whereas Spanish displays the same five vowels /i e a o u/ in both stressed and unstressed syllables (except for unstressed /u/ in word-final position), many southern Italian dialects have a considerably smaller inventory of unstressed vowels as opposed to their stressed vowels. The phonotactics of most Romance languages is strongly determined by their typological character as “syllable languages.” Indeed, the phonological word only plays a minor role as very few phonological rules or phonotactic constraints refer, for example, to the word-initial position (such as Italian consonant doubling or the distribution of rhotics in Ibero-Romance), or to the word-final position (such as obstruent devoicing in Raeto-Romance). Instead, a wide range of assimilation and lenition processes apply across word boundaries in French, Italian, and Spanish. In line with their fundamental typological nature, Romance languages tend to allow syllable structures of only moderate complexity. Inventories of syllable types are smaller than, for example, those of Germanic languages, and the segmental makeup of syllable constituents mostly follows universal preferences of sonority sequencing. Moreover, many Romance languages display a strong preference for open syllables as reflected in the token frequency of syllable types. Nevertheless, antagonistic forces aiming at profiling the prominence of stressed syllables are visible in several Romance languages as well. Within the Ibero- Romance domain, more complex syllable structures and vowel reduction processes are found in the periphery, that is, in Catalan and Portuguese. Similarly, northern Italian and Raeto-Romance dialects have experienced apocope and/or syncope of unstressed vowels, yielding marked syllable structures in terms of both constituent complexity and sonority sequencing.

When clitics collide

Diachronica ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 365-397 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mauro Tosco
Keyword(s):  
Morphological Change ◽  
Historical Development ◽  
Alternative Interpretation ◽  
Romance Languages ◽  
Restricted Range ◽  
Object Clitics ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Null Element ◽  
Subject Clitics

Summary The paper deals with a few aspects of the morphosyntax of clitics in Piedmontese (Western Romance) and their historical development. In Piedmontese an element =l= (orthographically l’) is obligatorily inserted between the Subject Clitics and all and only the inflected forms of “to have”; in several varieties of Piedmontese this element has a double interpretation synchronically, either as a semantically null element or as an Object Clitic of 3rd singular. Although the presence of such an element is not rare among neighboring Romance varieties, where it generally acts as a 3rd singular subject clitic, it is argued that in Piedmontese its peculiar distribution is intimately tied to other unusual morphosyntactic features, all of them having developed within the last two-to-three centuries. In particular, historical reanalysis of l’ was crucial in the positioning of the object clitics after the participle in compound verbal forms (a rare pattern among Romance languages). Partially correcting traditional analyses (such as Meyer-Lübke 1900), it is argued that the necessity to avoid ambiguity and clearly identify a pronominal object was at best a contributing factor in triggering morphological change. The postpositioning of the object clitics was rather mainly the result of the extension in use of the subject clitics, and of the ensuing reanalysis of the element l’. This was made possible by two conditions: a restricted set of occurrences in which l’ was found, and a ready-made alternative interpretation. Comparison with neighboring varieties shows that such a development was not possible in those Romance languages which did not have an element similar to l’ in the restricted range of uses of premodern Piedmontese. Résumé Cet article traite de quelques aspects de la morphologie des clitiques en piémontais (une langue romane occidentale) et de leur développement historique. On trouve en piémontais un élément =l= (l’ dans l’orthographe) obligatoirement inséré entre les clitiques du sujet et les formes fléchies du verb ‘avoir’. Dans plusieurs variétés du piémontais cet élément peut être interprété soit comme un élément sémantiquement vide, soit comme le clitique objet de la troisième personne singulier. Bien que la présence d’un élément similaire au l’ piémontais n’est pas rare parmi les variétés voisines (où il joue généralement le rôle de clitique sujet de la troisième personne singulière), l’article démontre que la distribution inhabituelle de cet élément en piémontais est étroitement liée à un certain nombre d’autres particularités morphosyntactiques qui se sont toutes développés durant les deux ou trois derniers siècles. En particulier, la réanalyse historique de l’élément l’ a été décisive pour le positionnement des clitiques objet après le participe dans les temps composés — une solution fort rare parmi les langues romanes. Avec une révision partielle des analyses traditionelles (par ex. Meyer-Lübke 1900), on démontre que la nécessité d’éviter toute ambiguïté et de distinguer clairement un objet pronominal a joué tout au plus un rôle complémentaire dans le changement morphologique. Le positionnement des clitiques object après le participe a été plutôt le résultat d’une extension de l’usage des clitiques sujet, ce qui a amené à une réanalyse de l’élément l’. Cette réanalyse a été permise par deux conditions: une distribution fort limitée de l’ et la possibilité de l’amener à une analyse alternative. La comparaison avec les variétés voisines démontre que le même développement qu’on trouve en piémontais ne s’est pas produit dans ces langues romanes qui étaient dépourvues d’un élément comparable à l’ dans les domaines d’usage bien limités qu’on trouvait en piémontais pré-moderne. Zusammenfassung Dieser Artikel befaßt sich mit einigen Aspekten der Morphosyntax von Klitika im Piedmontesischen (Westromanisch) und mit ihrer historischen Entwicklung. Im Piedmontesichen ist es obligatorisch, ein Element =l= (ortographisch l’) zwischen Subjektsklitika und allen flektierten Formen (und nur diesen) des Verbs ‘haben’ einzufügen. In manchen Mundarten des Piedmontesischen ist dieses Element in zweifacherweise interpretierbar, und zwar entweder als semantisch leeres Element oder als Objektklitikum der 3. Person Singular. Obgleich das Element selbst in benachbarten romanischen Varietäten nicht selten vorkommt und dort im allgemeinen als Klitikum der 3. Person Singular fungiert, wird hier argumentiert, daß seine eigenartige Distribution im Piedmontesischen in engem Zusammenhang mit anderen ungewöhnlichen morphosyntaktischen Phänomenen steht, die sich allesamt innerhalb der letzten zwei bis drei Jahrhunderte entwickelt haben. Insbesondere war eine historische Reanalyse des Elements l’ entscheidend für die Position von Objektsklitika nach dem Partizip in zusammengesetzten Verbformen, was in romanischen Sprachen selten vorkommt. Dieser Artikel berichtigt teilweise traditionelle Analysen (z. B. Meyer — Lübke 1900) und argumentiert, daß die Notwendigkeit, Mehrdeutigkeit zu vermeiden und ein Objektpronomen eindeutig zu identifizieren höchstens sekundär zu morphologischen Veränderungen beigetragen hat. Vielmehr war die Entwicklung nachgestellter Objektsklitika hauptsächlich das Ergebnis einer Ausweitung des Gebrauchs von Subjektsklitika und einer darauffolgenden Reanalyse des Elements l’. Dies wurde durch zwei Faktoren ermöglicht: eine begrenzte Anzahl möglicher Kontexte für l’ und eine bereits vorhandene alternative Interpretationsmöglichkeit. Der Vergleich mit benachbarten Varietäten zeigt, daß eine solche Entwicklung in denjenigen romanischen Sprachen nicht möglich war, die kein dem l’ ähnliches Element in begrenzt möglichen Kontexten nach Art des Früh-Piedmontesischen aufwiesen.

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.

Phonologically conditioned allomorphy in the morphology of Surmiran (Rumantsch)

2008 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen R. Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Optimality Theory ◽  
General Framework ◽  
Great Majority ◽  
Historical Change ◽  
Romance Languages ◽  
Morphological Properties ◽  
Entire System ◽  
Verbal System ◽  
Extended Sense ◽  
Phonological Rule

Alternations between allomorphs that are not directly related by phonological rule, but whose selection is governed by phonological properties of the environment, have attracted the sporadic attention of phonologists and morphologists. Such phenomena are commonly limited to rather small corners of a language's structure, however, and as a result have not been a major theoretical focus. This paper examines a set of alternations in Surmiran, a Swiss Rumantsch language, that have this character and that pervade the entire system of the language. It is shown that the alternations in question, best attested in the verbal system, are not conditioned by any coherent set of morphological properties (either straightforwardly or in the extended sense of ‘morphomes’ explored in other Romance languages by Maiden). These alternations are, however, straightforwardly aligned with the location of stress in words, and an analysis is proposed within the general framework of Optimality Theory to express this. The resulting system of phonologically conditioned allomorphy turns out to include the great majority of patterning which one might be tempted to treat as productive phonology, but which has been rendered opaque (and subsequently morphologized) as a result of the working of historical change.

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