Discontiguous linearizations in the sentential core

2019 ◽  
pp. 63-107
Author(s):  
Alexandru Nicolae
Keyword(s):  
Romance Languages ◽  
Complex Predicates ◽  
Verb Movement ◽  
Functional Elements ◽  
Auxiliary Verbs ◽  
Gradual Process ◽  
Embedded Clauses

This chapter analyses two distinct phenomena found in old and modern Romance varieties, namely ‘interpolation’ and ‘scrambling’, against the data of old Romanian. Unified by the non-adjacency between higher functional elements (clitics and auxiliary verbs) and the lexical verb, interpolation and scrambling are discussed under the blanket term ‘discontiguous linearizations in the sentential core’ and are shown to be derived in old Romanian through lower verb movement along the clausal spine. The existence of lower verb movement in old Romanian supports an important aspect of the diachrony of V-raising in Romanian and in the Romance languages: generalized V-to-I movement is not attained only through the reanalysis of a relaxed V2 grammar (specific to matrix clauses), but also through a gradual process of V-raising to the left along the clausal spine (characterizing embedded clauses). Discontiguous linearizations involving higher functional elements and modal complex predicates bring evidence for the analysis of interpolation and scrambling.

Verb Second in Medieval Romance

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sam Wolfe
Keyword(s):  
Old French ◽  
Romance Languages ◽  
Verb Second ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Verb Movement ◽  
Medieval Romance ◽  
Second Languages ◽  
Clausal Structure ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
Null Argument

This book provides the first book-length study of the controversial subject of Verb Second and related properties in a range of Medieval Romance languages. Both qualitative and quantitative data are examined and analysed from Old French, Occitan, Sicilian, Venetian, Spanish, and Sardinian to assess whether the languages were indeed Verb Second languages. The book argues that unlike most modern Romance varieties, V-to-C movement is a point of continuity across all the medieval varieties, but that there are rich patterns of synchronic and diachronic variation in the medieval period which have not been noted before. These include differences in the syntax–pragmatics mapping, the locus of verb movement, the behaviour of clitic pronouns, the syntax of subject positions, matrix/embedded asymmetries, and the null argument properties of the languages in question. The book outlines a detailed formal cartographic analysis both of both the synchronic patterns attested and of the diachronic evolution of Romance clausal structure.

The scope of embedded Verb Second in modern Yiddish

2020 ◽  
pp. 665-681
Author(s):  
Molly Diesing ◽  
Beatrice Santorini
Keyword(s):  
Native Speaker ◽  
Second Order ◽  
Verb Second ◽  
Verb Movement ◽  
Embedded Clauses ◽  
Finite Verb

Embedded Verb Second (V2) clauses have been analysed as embedded main clauses or in terms of selection. This chapter presents data from both corpora and native speaker judgements showing that Verb Second order in embedded clauses in Yiddish goes well beyond what can be explained by either of the above approaches, with V2 possible and attested in interrogatives as well as declaratives. Adjunction of adverbials to V2 clauses is possible as well, yielding orders with the finite verb in third position (V3). But V3 resulting from lack of verb movement, as is seen in Mainland Scandinavian and (optionally) in Icelandic, is not found.

Historical overview

2021 ◽  
pp. 63-104
Author(s):  
Diego Pescarini
Keyword(s):  
Ninth Century ◽  
Romance Languages ◽  
Historical Overview ◽  
Verb Movement ◽  
Null Objects ◽  
Object Clitics ◽  
Information Packaging ◽  
Main Factors ◽  
The Relationship

The chapter overviews the evolution from Latin pronouns to present-day object clitics. The discussion of Latin focuses on the relationship between pronominal syntax and three main factors: information packaging, verb movement, and the licensing of null objects. Then the chapter examines the earliest Romance documents (eighth–ninth century) and elaborates on the distinction between archaic and innovative early Romance languages. The former allowed interpolation, i.e. the presence of material between proclitics and the verb, while the latter exhibited adverbal clitics, which are always attached to a verbal host. The loss of enclisis/proclisis alternations in finite clauses (Tobler-Mussafia effects) marks the transition towards modern systems. Further variation across modern vernaculars results from clitic climbing, which is often lost in restructuring contexts and, to a lesser extent, in compound and simple tenses. Lastly, the chapter overviews several systematic changes affecting the order of sequences formed by two or more object clitics.

scholarly journals INTERACTIONS BETWEEN VERB MOVEMENT AND AGREEMENT IN KARITIANA (TUPI STOCK)

2003 ◽  
Vol 60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luciana R. Storto
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Final Position ◽  
Verb Second ◽  
Verb Movement ◽  
Transitive Verb ◽  
Present Evidence ◽  
Constituent Order ◽  
Embedded Clauses ◽  
Agreement Morphology

Este artigo tem como objetivo mostrar que o Karitiana, uma língua da família Arikém, tronco Tupi, falada em Rondônia, Brasil, é uma língua V-2, que apresenta movimento obrigatório do verbo para a posição de complementizador (C) nas sentenças matrizes. O verbo transitivo, invariavelmente, ocorre em primeira ou segunda posição em relação a seus argumentos nas sentenças principais, quando aparece, obrigatoriamente, marcado por tempo e concordância. Já nas sentenças subordinadas, o verbo aparece nú na última posição. Apresentamos evidências de movimento verbal ao discutirmos a ordem dos constituintes, a posição dos núcleos funcionais nas sentenças, e as possibilidades de adjunção adverbial na língua. Abstract This paper aims to show that Karitiana, a language of the Arikém family, Tupi stock, spoken in Rondônia, Brazil, is a verb-second language, which presents obligatory movement of the verb to complementizer position (C) in root clauses. The transitive verb, invariably, occurs in first or second position with respect to its arguments in matrix clauses, when it is marked by tense and agreement morphology. In embedded clauses, the verb is bare and occurs in final position. We present evidence of verb movement through a discussion of constituent order, the position of functional heads in the sentence, and adverb adjunction possibilities.

scholarly journals Unaccusativity and Perfect Auxiliary Selection in Romance: Theory and an Observational Study in Second Language Acquisition

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 155
Author(s):  
Christopher D. Sams
Keyword(s):  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Observational Study ◽  
Romance Languages ◽  
Auxiliary Verbs ◽  
The Past ◽  
Language Classroom ◽  
Auxiliary Selection ◽  
Intransitive Verbs ◽  
Past Tenses ◽  
Selection Of

The aim of this paper is to investigate the properties associated with unaccusativity and the selection of auxiliary verbs (AUX) in the perfect tenses of the modern Romance languages. The modern languages that have a split-AUX system (such as Italian and French) operate under a principle in which some intransitive verbs select the equivalent of to be as their AUX in the compound past tenses, and others select the equivalent of to have. In research I have conducted over the past decade in the Italian language classroom, Bentley and Eythórsson’s auxiliary selection hierarchy (ASH) is best suited to explain how L2 Italian learners acquire the ability to make the appropriate surface AUX selection.

scholarly journals Uma abordagem unificada para a posição de clíticos em português brasileiro e em francês (A unified analysis for clitic positionin brazilian portuguese and french)

2013 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aroldo Leal de Andrade
Keyword(s):  
Head Movement ◽  
Brazilian Portuguese ◽  
Complex Predicates ◽  
Verb Movement ◽  
Main Motivation ◽  
Phase Extension ◽  
Alternative Approach

O presente texto tem por objetivo propor uma abordagem unificada para a posição de clíticos em predicados complexos em português brasileiro e em francês, a partir da noção de extensão de fases apresentada em Den Dikken (2007). A principal motivação para essa escolha consiste numa correlação entre perda do movimento do verbo e perda da morfologia de tempo, que seria um fator explicativo para a mudança nos clíticos dessas línguas. Nesse sentido, o artigo questiona uma proposta alternativa, segundo a qual a inclusão de uma projeção temporal encaixada seria a razão principal para a mudança para a não-subida de clíticos.PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Clítico; fases sintáticas; movimento de núcleo; português brasileiro; francês. ABSTRACTThis text aims at proposing a unified analysis for clitic position in complex predicates in Brazilian Portuguese and French, developing the notion of phase extension put forward in Den Dikken (2007). The main motivation for this choice consists in a correlation between loss of verb movement and loss of tense morphology, an explanatory factor for the change in clitics in these languages. In this sense, the paper questions an alternative approach according to which the inclusion of an embedded temporal projection would be the main reason for the change to clitic non-climbing.KEYWORDs: Clitic; syntactic phases; head movement; Brazilian Portuguese; French.

scholarly journals The degree of verb movement in embedded clauses in three varieties of Norwegian

Nordlyd ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristine Bentzen
Keyword(s):  
Verb Movement ◽  
Remnant Movement ◽  
Embedded Clauses ◽  
Feature Checking

The position of the verb(s) in embedded non-V2 contexts varies in Norwegian dialects. In Eastern Norwegian (EastN), all verbs have to follow all adverbs in non-V2 contexts. In Tromsø Northern Norwegian (TrNN) main verbs and non-finite auxiliaries have to follow all adverbs, but finite auxiliaries may precede adverbs they take scope over. In Regional Northern Norwegian (ReNN) all finite verbs (main/auxiliary) may precede all adverbs, and non-finite auxiliaries may precede adverbs they take scope over. These data are accounted for within a remnant movement approach. The variation between the three dialects is argued to follow from differences in how selectional features on auxiliaries and T are checked. It is suggested that auxiliaries are associated with a pair of functional projections (so-called lifters): a VP lifter below and an AdvP lifter above. An auxiliary with these lifters ‘sinks’ below adverbs it takes scope over. Overt feature checking (through adjacency) occurs when the lifters are present; covert feature checking occurs when the lifters are absent. In EastN, overt feature checking, and the lifters, is obligatory for all auxiliaries; in TrNN this is obligatory for non-finite auxiliaries but optional for finite auxiliaries; in ReNN this is optional for all auxiliaries.

Between lexical verbs and auxiliaries

2021 ◽  
pp. 15-43
Author(s):  
Taro Kageyama
Keyword(s):  
Complex Predicates ◽  
Verb Phrase ◽  
Auxiliary Verbs ◽  
Event Structures ◽  
Formal Taxonomy ◽  
Compound Verbs ◽  
Type 3 ◽  
Subjective Meanings

This chapter classifies Japanese V-V complexes into four major types on the basis of morphosyntactic criteria and shows that the formal taxonomy has semantic underpinnings. Type 1: lexical thematic compound verbs (lexical verb + lexical verb), Type 2: lexical aspectual compound verbs (lexical verb + delexicalized aktionsart verb), Type 3: syntactic compound verbs (verb phrase + delexicalized phasal verb), Type 4: V-te V complex predicates (verb phrase + delexicalized aspectual/attitudinal/benefactive verb). The delexicalized V2s in Types 2, 3, and 4 modify the event structures of the first verbs with an array of aktionsart, phasal, pragmatic, and subjective meanings that are largely comparable to those of Indian vector verbs. These delexicalized verbs, coupled with the auxiliary verbs of a fifth type designating politeness or contempt, are conceived of as “semilexical” categories representing intermediate stages of development on a verb-to-auxiliary grammaticalization cline.

The position of subjects in Germanic and Romance questions

2021 ◽  
pp. 44-69
Author(s):  
Anna Cardinaletti
Keyword(s):  
Romance Languages ◽  
Verb Movement ◽  
Subject Pronouns ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Difference

This chapter discusses a difference between Germanic and Romance languages in the syntax of subjects: While in Germanic wh-questions, full subjects can occur in the canonical, preverbal position (English: where has John gone?), in Romance, this is impossible, in either order (Italian: *dove è Gianni andato? / *dove Gianni è andato?). The same restriction holds in the Romance languages with overt subject pronouns. Verb – subject inversion is not allowed with full subjects but only with pronouns (French: *où est Jean allé? vs. où est-il allé?). Furthermore, full subjects cannot precede the verb when it does not raise across the subject; only pronouns can (French: *où Jean est allé? vs. où il est allé?). The difference between Germanic and Romance languages is attributed here to the interaction between verb movement and subject placement. In Germanic, the verb/auxiliary raises to C in wh-questions and makes subject movement to Spec-Subj necessary to satisfy the Subject Criterion. In Romance, the verb/auxiliary raises to lower positions, which makes the movement of full subject DPs impossible in wh-questions. Deficient pronouns are exempted from the Subject Criterion, which makes them possible in wh-questions in all languages.

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