Abstract
AbstractThe aim of this contribution is to discuss three possible theoretical interpretations of grammaticalised structures in present-day Italo-Romance varieties. In particular, we discuss and analyse three diachronic case studies in relation to the generative view of grammaticalisation. The first case-study revolves around the expression of future tense and modality. This is discussed in the light of the assumption according to which grammaticalised elements result from merging elements in higher positions than their original merge positions within the lexical domain, giving rise to the upward directionality of the grammaticalisation process within the clause (Roberts, Ian G. and Anna Roussou, 2003, Syntactic change: A minimalist approach to grammaticalization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). The second case study challenges this view, by discussing irrealis complementisers as a case of a downward pathway of grammaticalization at the CP level. For our third case study, namely the development of (discontinuous) demonstrative structures from Latin to Romance, the rich Italo-Romance empirical evidence is analysed through the lens of a parametric account (Longobardi, Giuseppe, Cristina Guardiano, Giuseppina Silvestri, Alessio Boattini, and Andrea Ceolin, 2013, Toward a syntactic phylogeny of modern Indo-European languages, Journal of Historical Linguistics 3(1), 122-152), in order to capture the role of the relevant semantic and syntactic features within the fine-grained architecture of the DP. It will be observed that the diachronic development of some functional categories in (Italo-)Romance results from cyclic pathways of grammaticalisation, as the same category might cyclically change from more synthetic to more analytic, and vice-versa. Moreover, it will also be shown how the two theoretical approaches adopted, i.e. the cartographic model (adopted in Roberts, Ian G. and Anna Roussou, 2003. Syntactic change: A minimalist approach to grammaticalization, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), and the parametric accounts (Longobardi, Giuseppe, Cristina Guardiano, Giuseppina Silvestri, Alessio Boattini and Andrea Ceolin, 2013, Toward a syntactic phylogeny of modern Indo-European languages, Journal of Historical Linguistics 3(1), 122-152), are able to provide a principled explanation of the structural correlates of grammaticalisation at the sentential, clausal and nominal level of investigation.
Highlights
The first case-study revolves around the expression of future tense and modality. This is discussed in the light of the assumption according to which grammaticalised elements result from merging elements in higher positions than their original merge positions within the lexical domain, giving rise to the upward directionality of the grammaticalisation process within the clause
For our third case study, namely the development of demonstrative structures from Latin to Romance, the rich Italo-Romance empirical evidence is analysed through the lens of a parametric account (Longobardi, Giuseppe, Cristina Guardiano, Giuseppina Silvestri, Alessio Boattini, and Andrea Ceolin, 2013, Toward a syntactic phylogeny of modern Indo-European languages, Journal of Historical Linguistics 3(1), 122– 152), in order to capture the role of the relevant semantic and syntactic features within the fine-grained architecture of the DP
The passage from Latin to Romance is characterised by the rise of ex-novo functional categories, resulting from different cases of grammaticalisation (Ledgeway 2011a; Ledgeway 2012: Ch. 4), namely the process whereby new grammatical elements develop through the reanalysis of already existing lexical items in the language (Harris and Campbell 1995; Heine and Kuteva 2002; 2007; Meillet 1912; Narrog and Heine 2017; Roberts and Roussou 2003; Van Gelderen 2004)
Summary
We discuss a well-attested, canonical case of grammaticalisation (cf. Roberts and Roussou 2003: Ch. 2) involving the expression of futurity and (different types of) modality in southern Italo-Romance varieties. A commonly assumed, yet oversimplistic, view is that central-southern ItaloRomance varieties below the ‘Viterbo-Perugia-Ancona’ isogloss (Rohlfs 1968: 333) never developed an unambiguous synthetic form for the expression of futurity (cf (i) below), as happened in the vast majority of other Romance varieties (notable exceptions are, Sardinian and Daco-Romance) In its stead, these varieties employ either the present indicative We discuss the singular case of southern Italo-Romance future and modal expressions to show that even the most canonical instance of ‘upward grammaticalisation’ (§2.2) still implies a fairly high degree of complexity when it comes to accommodate and rearrange arrays of TAM-specifications within already-available and/or innovative formal expressions (both analytic and synthetic) Despite these differences, both formations with HABERE and an infinitive start out as modal expressions and may later acquire a future interpretation, without ceasing to encode different modal values. These facts have direct implications for our understanding of the functional portion of the clause, introduced in §2.2, as the different reanalysis and grammaticalisation paths we will discuss evidence a consistent directionality of semantic and syntactic change, irrespective of the competition between synthetic and analytic forms
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