Infinitives and subjecthood between Latin and Old Italian

Abstract

AbstractThe chapter examines the syntactic behaviour of a special class of non-canonical subjects, namely nominal infinitives, in Latin and in one of its daughter languages, Old Italian. The data show that Latin infinitives can appear in subject function only if the finite verb of the clause belongs to a restricted set of unaccusative predicates, corresponding to states or telic changes of state. In other words, Latin infinitives cannot surface as subjects of unergative and transitive predicates, thus conforming to a widespread cross-linguistic trend concerning non-canonical subjects. Vice versa, the distribution of subject infinitives in Old Italian is unrestricted, insofar as they are eligible to subjecthood regardless of the finite verb of the clause. The hypothesis this chapter explores is that the change which took place from Latin to Old Italian, involving the syntactic status of nominal infinitives, might have started from the clauses with a finite experiencer predicate.