The dynamics of the PF interface: Negation and clitic clusters

Abstract

In this article we take into account the different development of Italian and French with respect to the Jespersen cycle of negation: both languages started with a similar system, but are nowadays rather different. We argue that several different factors are involved in the activation of the cycle, which is the result of a general economy strategy. We claim that Jespersen's cycle can be blocked if speakers have access to any kind of evidence that the negative marker is complex. Here we provide evidence that the cycle is blocked when the preverbal negative marker is morphologically complex (i.e. at least bi-morphemic). We investigate several Italo-Romance varieties (both old and modern) and show that the alternation between two forms of the preverbal negative marker which depends on the presence of object clitics can either be a syntactic process or a phonological one, (although still sensitive to syntactic information). We argue that these morpho-phonological phenomena block the activation of the cycle as they make the bi-morphemic nature of the negative marker recognizable by the speakers. In addition, the data we present can shed light on the more general principles that map the PF interface.