On the evolution of mesoclisis in the imperative in Western Lombard varieties
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Lisa Gasner
Abstract
This paper elaborates on mesoclisis in the imperative clause in Western Lombard in the light of new evidence from the varieties of Castiglione d’Adda and Sant’Angelo Lodigiano. These varieties in the Atlante italo-svizzero (AIS) both display mesoclitic 1st person plural imperatives with a reflexive clitic occurring between the verbal root and inflection. The present study provides new data that allow us to enrich and refine the currently available empirical picture and to shed light on the diachronic changes these dialects have undergone over the past century. It is shown that mesoclisis is no longer present in Castiglionese, but is still attested to varying degrees in Santangiolino with the indirect object clitic ghe and the reflexive clitic se. Moreover, the paper addresses clitic splits determined by mesoclisis and discusses the theoretical implications of intra-linguistic variation in Santangolino. It is argued that the data constitute a counterexample to the hierarchical scale proposed in the literature for other (Romance) varieties and thus challenges the cross-linguistic validity of said hierarchy.
Abstract
This paper elaborates on mesoclisis in the imperative clause in Western Lombard in the light of new evidence from the varieties of Castiglione d’Adda and Sant’Angelo Lodigiano. These varieties in the Atlante italo-svizzero (AIS) both display mesoclitic 1st person plural imperatives with a reflexive clitic occurring between the verbal root and inflection. The present study provides new data that allow us to enrich and refine the currently available empirical picture and to shed light on the diachronic changes these dialects have undergone over the past century. It is shown that mesoclisis is no longer present in Castiglionese, but is still attested to varying degrees in Santangiolino with the indirect object clitic ghe and the reflexive clitic se. Moreover, the paper addresses clitic splits determined by mesoclisis and discusses the theoretical implications of intra-linguistic variation in Santangolino. It is argued that the data constitute a counterexample to the hierarchical scale proposed in the literature for other (Romance) varieties and thus challenges the cross-linguistic validity of said hierarchy.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Introduction 1
- Variation and change in transitivity alternations and argument realization in Italo-Romance 9
- Syntactic and functional broadening of the reflexive markers in Romance: for a typological approach 33
- The prosodic features of pragmatic chillo in Neapolitan: implications for syntax and diachrony 55
- On the surprising origin of what-particles in Italian dialects 79
- On the evolution of mesoclisis in the imperative in Western Lombard varieties 107
- Inflectional classes in Istriot: a first systematisation in diachrony and synchrony 127
- Parlare le cose: structural aspects and syntactic-semantic disambiguation of some Italo-Romance verba dicendi in a diachronic and synchronic perspective 143
- The mass neuter of Praianese: new data and some insights 163
- Differential possessive marking in Italo-Romance 187
- On the feminine plural definite article and the interrogative conjugation in the dialect of Berbenno (BG) 213
- Pseudo-coordination and cu-finite construction in Salento: a case of syntactic reanalysis 233
- Differential object marking in the dialects of Southern Calabria 255
- Language index
- Name index
- Subject index
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Introduction 1
- Variation and change in transitivity alternations and argument realization in Italo-Romance 9
- Syntactic and functional broadening of the reflexive markers in Romance: for a typological approach 33
- The prosodic features of pragmatic chillo in Neapolitan: implications for syntax and diachrony 55
- On the surprising origin of what-particles in Italian dialects 79
- On the evolution of mesoclisis in the imperative in Western Lombard varieties 107
- Inflectional classes in Istriot: a first systematisation in diachrony and synchrony 127
- Parlare le cose: structural aspects and syntactic-semantic disambiguation of some Italo-Romance verba dicendi in a diachronic and synchronic perspective 143
- The mass neuter of Praianese: new data and some insights 163
- Differential possessive marking in Italo-Romance 187
- On the feminine plural definite article and the interrogative conjugation in the dialect of Berbenno (BG) 213
- Pseudo-coordination and cu-finite construction in Salento: a case of syntactic reanalysis 233
- Differential object marking in the dialects of Southern Calabria 255
- Language index
- Name index
- Subject index
