Microvariation and Change in the Romance Left Periphery-Reference-Cited by-同舟云学术

Microvariation and Change in the Romance Left Periphery

Published:2022-05-01 Issue:1 Volume:34 Page:235-272
ISSN:0921-4771
Container-title:Probus
language:en
Short-container-title:

Author:

Wolfe Sam¹

Affiliation:

1. Oxford University , Faculty of Linguistics, Philology, and Phonetics, Clarendon Institute , Oxford , OX1 2JD , UK

Abstract

AbstractDespite the vast literature which has accrued on the fine structure of the Romance left periphery, there exists no diachronic account of the emergence of the considerable microvariation between Romance varieties today. Focussing in particular on the syntax of French and Venetan varieties, this article suggests that certain northern Romance varieties have diverged maximally from an Early Medieval Romance norm in which each left-peripheral Head attracts a wide variety of suitable Goals for movement, unlike the ‘innovative’ Romance grammars which emerge in the post-medieval period where the suitable class of Goals becomes restricted along categorial or information-structural grounds. The account predicts that the most ‘conservative’ Modern Romance grammars allow widespread argument fronting via movement, whereas their most ‘innovative’ counterparts show heavy restrictions on such operations.

Publisher

Walter de Gruyter GmbH

Subject

Linguistics and Language,Language and Linguistics

Link

https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/probus-2022-0009/pdf

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