The syntax of subordination in Cimbrian and the rationale behind language contact
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Ermenegildo Bidese
,
Andrea Padovan
Abstract
The aim of this contribution is twofold: (i) providing a detailed description of subordination in Cimbrian and (ii) discussing the concept of language contact in terms of feature transfer. As has been recently pointed out, Cimbrian declarative and relative clauses display a unique pattern among the German dialects w.r.t. embedding. In fact, different complementizers trigger different syntax as regards the position of the finite verb. In our contribution, we extend the analysis to adverbial clauses for the first time and also investigate the double pattern of embedding in indirect wh-questions. Our data suggest that contact-induced syntactic change can be explained in terms of transfer of single abstract features.
©2014 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Munich/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- The vulnerability of the C-layer: introductory notes on German complementizers in contact
- Complementizers in the German-language Sprachinsel of Deutschpilsen/Nagybörzsöny (Hungary)
- Language contact and variation patterns in Walser German subordination
- The syntax of subordination in Cimbrian and the rationale behind language contact
- On asymmetric pro-drop in Mòcheno. Pinning down the role of contact in the maintenance of a root-embedded asymmetry
- From C-oriented cliticization to verbal agreement in Kansas Bukovina Bohemian
- Complementizer agreement in eastern Wisconsin: (Central) Franconian features in an American heritage language community
- On the variability of Texas German wo as a complementizer
- How interrogative pronouns can become relative pronouns: the case of was in Misionero German
- Complex complementizers and the structural relation with weak T. New (morpho)syntactic data from a Pomeranian language island in Brazil
- Annual Index Volume 67 (2014)
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- The vulnerability of the C-layer: introductory notes on German complementizers in contact
- Complementizers in the German-language Sprachinsel of Deutschpilsen/Nagybörzsöny (Hungary)
- Language contact and variation patterns in Walser German subordination
- The syntax of subordination in Cimbrian and the rationale behind language contact
- On asymmetric pro-drop in Mòcheno. Pinning down the role of contact in the maintenance of a root-embedded asymmetry
- From C-oriented cliticization to verbal agreement in Kansas Bukovina Bohemian
- Complementizer agreement in eastern Wisconsin: (Central) Franconian features in an American heritage language community
- On the variability of Texas German wo as a complementizer
- How interrogative pronouns can become relative pronouns: the case of was in Misionero German
- Complex complementizers and the structural relation with weak T. New (morpho)syntactic data from a Pomeranian language island in Brazil
- Annual Index Volume 67 (2014)
