Syntactic Variation and Verb Second: A German dialect in Northern Italy (Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today)

This monograph investigates the syntax of the finite verb in Mòcheno, a minority language spoken in a German speech island of Northern Italy. Basing her study on detailed new data collected during extensive fieldwork, and focusing on finite verb movement; on multiple access to the left periphery; on pro licensing mechanism and on the distribution of OV/VO word orders, the author refutes the traditional view that the syntactic variation found in Mòcheno is due to the presence of two competing grammars as a consequence of contact with Romance varieties and accounts for the peculiarities of Mòcheno syntax within a theory couched in the framework of Generative Grammar. This book contributes to our understanding of the verb-second phenomenon and sheds new light on the asymmetries between Old Romance and Germanic verb-second languages. A useful tool for all linguists working on both theoretical and comparative syntax and to anyone interested in language variation, dialectology and typology. Syntactic Variation and Verb Second 2 Editorial page 3 Title page 4 LCC data 5 Table of contents 6 Acknowledgments 10 List of abbreviations 12 1. Introduction 14 2. Mòcheno and the V2 phenomenon 32 2.1 Introduction 32 2.2 On the V2 phenomenon 35 2.2.1 V2 in Continental Germanic 36 2.2.2 V2 in Old Romance languages 43 2.2.3 Triggers for movement 52 2.2.4 Partial conclusions 55 2.3 Mòcheno as a V2 language 56 2.3.1 Rowley’s (2003) account 56 2.3.2 On the presence of the Korrelate of V2 58 2.3.3 On the structure of Mòcheno left periphery 63 2.3.4 Against an account in terms of optionality/grammar competition 80 2.4 Conclusions 87 3. The syntax of subject pronouns 90 3.1 Introduction 90 3.2 Three classes of subject pronouns in Mòcheno 92 3.2.1 Sentence-initial position 93 3.2.2 The coordination test 96 3.2.3 Focalization and isolation 97 3.2.4 Partial conclusions 100 3.3 Distribution of subject pronouns 102 3.3.1 Distribution of subject reduced forms in main clauses 102 3.3.2 Reduced forms are not agreement markers 107 3.3.3 Distribution of subject reduced forms in embedded clauses 109 3.3.4 Distribution of strong subject pronouns 115 3.4 Conclusions 122 4. Satisfaction of EPP and realization of subjects 126 4.1 Introduction 126 4.2 Fronted constituents and EPP 132 4.2.1 Fronted operators 132 4.2.2 The hanging-topic construction 138 4.2.3 Simple preposing 140 4.2.4 Left-dislocation 143 4.3 Sentences with a fronted Nominative subject 145 4.3.1 Fronted subjects and the EPP feature 146 4.4 Conclusions 149 5. Mòcheno as a partial pro-drop language DP-subjects 152 5.1 Introduction 152 5.2 Mòcheno as a partial pro-drop language 154 5.2.1 Properties of pro-drop languages 154 5.2.2 Licensing of null referential subjects and rich agreement 157 5.2.3 Free-subject inversion and that-trace effects 158 5.2.4 Expletive null subjects and generic pronouns 161 5.2.5 Proposed analysis 163 5.3 The syntax of DP subjects 167 5.3.1 DP subjects as informationally marked XPs 167 5.3.2 DP subjects in sentences with a fronted operator 172 5.4 Conclusions 175 6. Multiple access to CP and asymmetric pro-drop split 180 6.1 Introduction 180 6.2 Multiple access to CP and EPP 183 6.2.1 Bottleneck effects 184 6.2.2 Combination of constituents in the left periphery 186 6.2.3 Again on simple-preposed topics and EPP 189 6.2.4 Grewendorf/Poletto’s account 192 6.2.5 An alternative account for main declarative clauses 194 6.2.6 Sentences with a fronted operator 200 6.2.7 Partial conclusions 205 6.3 On the syntax of embedded clauses 207 6.3.1 Position of the finite verb in embedded clauses 208 6.3.2 Form of the complementiser and CP structure 210 6.3.3 Realization of the subject and syntax of the finite verb 216 6.4 Conclusions 222 7. Conclusions 226 References 234 Appendix 248 Questionnaires from Palai 248 Questionnaires from Fierozzo 276 Questionnaires from Roveda 307 Index 336 Suitable for all linguists working on both theoretical and comparative syntax and to anyone interested in language variation, dialectology and typology, this book investigates the syntax of the finite verb in Mocheno, a minority language spoken in a German speech island of Northern Italy.