FORMATION AND DIFFUSION OF THE SUFFIX -ETT- IN ITALIAN PERFECT (PASSATO REMOTO): THEORIES AND REALITY

Abstract

The article deals with a subject of origins and spread of suffi x -ett-. The suffi x is used to form the fi rst and the third persons singular and the third person plural of the Italian perfect form (passato remoto) of some second conjugation verbs (-ere conjugation verbs). Since the midnineteenth century a number of European experts in Romanic languages have off ered different theories of suffix -ett- origins (ideas by Demattio, Amedeo and others). On considering them we have found the majority of the theories groundless and uncreditable. We believe the Bybee - Slobin supposition to be worth noticing among contemporary ones. Their idea suggests the spread of suffi x -ett- as a consequence of rethinking the pattern that reads as follows: “Passato remoto can have a segment with a double sibilant”. The double sibilant is really present in such Italian perfect forms as disse, scrisse, visse, resse and in the corresponding forms of cognate verbs. This supposition is quite logical but still has a number of drawbacks, which prevents us from admitting it as the principle one.We suppose the theory of suffi x -ett- originating from perfect forms of the verb stare off ered by Friedrich Diez to be the most logical and verifi able. Documented evidence of it is contained in the works of Italian scholars F. D’Ovidio and R. Spina, yet the latter has some discrepancies between the periodization of the suffi x spread off ered in the work and the actual data. Some written sources may have failed to survive till present, which makes it diffi cult to reconstruct an objective picture of the process under consideration development. Yet that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t tackle the issues of the Italian verb historical morphology.Summarizing and analyzing the views of the experts in Romanic languages mentioned above, we have put forward our own periodization of the phenomenon under consideration basing on the documented data.