Left dislocations with and without epithets

Abstract

Left dislocated constructions in the Porteño dialect of Spanish may have, in addition to the obligatory clitic and/or subject agreement marker, an anaphoric epithet doubled by the clitic (CL). This construction sheds some light on the controversial issue of whether the LD phrase reaches its final position via movement or whether it is directly merged where it appears. After summarizing the properties of Clitic Left Dislocations (CLLD), I briefly discuss the movement and the base-generation hypotheses for the LD constituent. I also point out the strengths and weaknesses of each approach. I derive the examples of CLLD with and without epithets by merging the LD phrase directly into TopP while accounting for connectivity effects and select island sensitivity through long distance agreement between the CL and TopP. Finally, I show that the proposal explains the properties of both subtypes of CLLD constructions without the disadvantages of previous accounts.