Apparent wh-in-situ in Bellunese: Microparametric variation in the locus of subject clitic inversion

Abstract

The paper investigates wh-in-situ in Lamonat and Sovramontino, two understudied varieties of the Bellunese super-dialect area (Munaro 1998; 1999; Munaro et al. 2001; Poletto & Pollock 2004; 2009; 2015), from a new perspective, whereby patterns of non-canonical wh-constituent order are dictated primarily by discourse-pragmatic needs and only secondarily by morpho-syntactic constraints. I propose that the canonical vs. non-canonical position of the wh-element is determined by three factors: (i) the discourse-pragmatics of the wh-item, (ii) its morpho-syntactic status as clitic or tonic, and (iii) the height of verb movement that targets the split C-domain (Rizzi 1997) and assures the well-formedness of root interrogatives across North-Eastern Italian Dialects (abbreviated NEIDs). By comparing Bellunese with Friulian (a neighbouring NEID) with respect to the formation of wh-questions, I argue that the special in-situ position of wh-elements in Bellunese is only apparent: it is the result of a deeper micro-parametric variation in the left-peripheral projection targeted by T-to-C movement in questions across NEIDs, which can be either ForceP or FinP. In Bellunese root interrogatives, the left-peripheral head targeted by T-to-C movement, Force°, is higher than the left-peripheral position occupied by the wh-element, SpecFocP, generating apparent wh-in-situ and the rigid constituent order: verb, wh-item, subject. Finally, I put forward the hypothesis that, in root interrogatives, such micro-parametric variation is a V2 reflex; in fact, Wolfe (2016) argues that, across medieval NIDs, V2 could be satisfied either in FinP or ForceP.