On the syntax of focalizers in some Italo-Romance dialects
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Nicola Munaro
Abstract
In this article I will discuss the distributional properties of focalizers in different Italian dialects, providing evidence for Kayne (1998)’s analysis of focalizing particles and for his overt movement approach to scope relations, and highlighting the necessity of widening narrow syntactic operations in order to develop an empirically adequate account. I will propose that focalizers can be first merged in two structural positions, that is, as heads of Focus projections located at the left periphery of each phase, the higher one within the CP phase, the lower one at the left edge of vP. I will argue that these elements overtly attract the focalized constituent into their specifier, and that the considerable crosslinguistic variation attested depends on the activation of a higher functional projection that can attract the focalizer to its head and, eventually, remnant material to its specifier; the raising of remnant constituents to the relevant landing site turns out to be parasitic on the adjunction of the focalizer to the relevant head, which makes the corresponding specifier position visible and accessible.
Abstract
In this article I will discuss the distributional properties of focalizers in different Italian dialects, providing evidence for Kayne (1998)’s analysis of focalizing particles and for his overt movement approach to scope relations, and highlighting the necessity of widening narrow syntactic operations in order to develop an empirically adequate account. I will propose that focalizers can be first merged in two structural positions, that is, as heads of Focus projections located at the left periphery of each phase, the higher one within the CP phase, the lower one at the left edge of vP. I will argue that these elements overtly attract the focalized constituent into their specifier, and that the considerable crosslinguistic variation attested depends on the activation of a higher functional projection that can attract the focalizer to its head and, eventually, remnant material to its specifier; the raising of remnant constituents to the relevant landing site turns out to be parasitic on the adjunction of the focalizer to the relevant head, which makes the corresponding specifier position visible and accessible.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction vii
- A’-dependencies in French 1
- The irregular forms of the Italian “Passato Remoto” 17
- On the lack of stranded negated quantifiers and inverse scope of negation in Romance 59
- Evidence for the competition-based analysis of subjunctive obviation from relative and adverbial clauses in Italian 75
- Quotative expansions 93
- Datives, prepositions, and argument structure in Spanish 125
- A typology of agreement processes and its implications for language development 143
- On the syntax of focalizers in some Italo-Romance dialects 157
- The phonotactics of word-initial clusters in Romance 175
- Double object constructions in Spanish (and Catalan) revisited 193
- Cognitive economy, non-redundancy and typological primacy in L3 acquisition 217
- L1 acquisition of noun ellipsis in French and in Dutch 249
- Index 267
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction vii
- A’-dependencies in French 1
- The irregular forms of the Italian “Passato Remoto” 17
- On the lack of stranded negated quantifiers and inverse scope of negation in Romance 59
- Evidence for the competition-based analysis of subjunctive obviation from relative and adverbial clauses in Italian 75
- Quotative expansions 93
- Datives, prepositions, and argument structure in Spanish 125
- A typology of agreement processes and its implications for language development 143
- On the syntax of focalizers in some Italo-Romance dialects 157
- The phonotactics of word-initial clusters in Romance 175
- Double object constructions in Spanish (and Catalan) revisited 193
- Cognitive economy, non-redundancy and typological primacy in L3 acquisition 217
- L1 acquisition of noun ellipsis in French and in Dutch 249
- Index 267
