Summary and Outlook

Abstract

Abstract In this chapter I first summarize the results of this book and then discuss some topics related to the history of the Romance languages. The data described in chapter 2 show that most Romance languages permit specified subjects in infinitive constructions. However, the facts concerning the linear ordering of constituents and case properties show considerable cross-linguistic variation. In contrast to the infinitive constructions selected by perceptional and causative verbs, the subject of the infinitive clause can be either in the nominative or in the accusative case in other constructions. The subject can surface pre- or post-verbally. Although some languages admit both positions, in others only one is allowed. Moreover, the syntactic configurations in which specified subjects are licensed also vary considerably. In the varieties that allow both preverbal and postverbal subjects in infinitive constructions, the choice of either position is usually not arbitrary but rather depends on syntactic properties. This is a fundamental difference compared to finite constructions, where the position of subjects is largely dependent on semantic and pragmatic factors. Some examples may be recalled here: in earlier phases of Italian, and presumably also of Romanian, preverbal subjects are licensed only in the accusative case, whereas postverbal subjects bear the nominative case; in Portuguese, where subjects of infinitives usually behave similarly to those in finite clauses, preverbal subjects are suppressed in certain configurations, for example, when the infinitive clause is selected by an epistemic or a declarative verb. It is striking that after this same group of verbs, Italian allows the subject of an infinitive to become overt, also in the postverbal position. Finally, in Modem Spanish, preverbal infinitival subjects are basically limited to infinitive constructions that occur after certain prepositions. Something similar can be found in some diatopic varieties of French and in substandard Brazilian Portuguese, although here I argue that the case is the accusative and, in further contrast to Spanish, postverbal subjects are not allowed.