Topicalization, Dislocation and Clitic Resumption

Abstract

AbstractRomance languages make use of syntactic topicalization strategies to mark various kinds of topic constituents, typically under Clitic Left Dislocation (CLLD) or Clitic Right Dislocation (CLRD). Despite the great deal of attention that these phenomena have received in the last decades, different analyses have been proposed and several questions are still controversial. In this paper, I focus on the role and distribution of clitic resumption in Italian topicalization constructions with the aim of identifying the syntactic properties that correlate with the overt presence of the resumptive clitic. The apparent optionality of the clitic is subject to variation across Romance and reflects structural differences, showing that non‐resumed left dislocation actually corresponds to a structure other than CLLD. The ultimate goal of this analysis is thus to provide evidence in support of the movement analysis of CLLD, and against recent revivals of the base‐generation or adjunction approach, by arguing that left dislocation with and without clitic resumption corresponds to two distinct types of A'‐movement.