Complementizer deletion and the split hypothesis

Elena Isolani

doi:10.5565/rev/isogloss.498

Complementizer deletion and the split hypothesis

Authors

Elena Isolani University of Cambridge https://orcid.org/0009-0008-9164-3197

PDF

Abstract

In Italian and Italo-Romance, the omission of the complementizer takes (at least) three distinct forms: CD1, observable in standard Italian, and CD2 and CD3 available in two Tuscan varieties, respectively in Florentine and Pisano. Although different conditions regarding the main and the embedded verbs independently influence the occurrence of these CD types, they consistently stem from verb movement towards the left-periphery. Resting on this assumption, this article proposes the split hypothesis according to which the verb raises towards distinct left-peripheral projections depending on a bundle of features associated with the main verb’s status and the embedded verb’s modality. Consequently, different types of complementizer deletion are structurally realized in separate projections. Additionally, this article addresses the implicational relation among CD1, CD2 and CD3 providing a theoretical framework rooted in the long-standing locality principle, the Head-Movement Constraint, and offering a parametric analysis via the Parametric Comparison Method, that accounts for the implicational nature of these phenomena.

Keywords

complementizer deletion, Italo-Romance, implicational relation, verb movement, parameters

References

Baker, Mark C. 1988. Incorporation: A Theory of Grammatical Function Changing.

Chicago: University of Chicago Press. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/15069

Baker, Mark C. 1996. The Polysynthesis Parameter. NY: Oxford University Press.

https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780195093070.001.0001 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780195093070.001.0001

Baker, Mark C. 2008. The Macroparameter in a Microparametric World. In T. Biberauer (ed.), The Limits of Syntactic Variation, 351-373. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/la.132.16bak?locatt=mode:legacy DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/la.132.16bak

Biberauer, Theresa, Holmberg, Anders, & Ian Roberts. 2014. A syntactic universal and its consequences. Linguistic Inquiry 45: 169-225. https://doi.org/10.1162/LING_a_00153 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1162/LING_a_00153

Biberauer, Theresa, & Ian Roberts. 2012. Towards a Parameter Hierarchy for Auxiliaries: Diachronic Considerations. In J. N. Chancharu, X. F. Hu, & M. Mitrovic (eds), Cambridge Occasional Papers in Linguistics 6: 209-236.

Biberauer, Theresa, & Ian Roberts. 2015. Rethinking Formal Hierarchies: A Proposed Unification. In J. N. Chancharu, X. F. Hu, & M. Mitrovic (eds), Cambridge Occasional Papers in Linguistics 7(1): 1-31.

Cardullo, Sara N., & Kim A. Groothuis. 2024. Revisiting Syntactic Microvariation and Diachrony in the Dual Complementizer Systems of Upper Southern Italy. Transactions of the Philological Society 122 (2): 281-307. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-968X.12292 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-968X.12292

Ceolin, Andrea, Guardiano, Cristina, Irimia, Monica Alexandrina, & Giuseppe Longobardi. 2020. Formal Syntax and Deep History. Frontiers in Psychology 11: 1-21. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.488871 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.488871

Ceolin, Andrea, Cristina, Guardiano, Longobardi, Giuseppe, Irimia, Monica Alexandrina, Bortolussi, Luca, & Andrea Sgarro. 2021. At the Boundaries of Syntactic Prehistory. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 376(1824): 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2020.0197 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2020.0197

Chomsky, Noam. 1981. Lectures on Government and Binding: The Pisa Lectures. Dordrecht: Floris Publications

Chomsky, Noam. 1986. Barriers. Cambridge: MIT Press.

Chomsky, Noam. 2000. Minimalist Inquiries: The Framework (MITOPL 15). In R. Martin, D. Michaels & J. Uriagereka (eds), Step by Step: Essays on Minimalist Syntax in Honor of Howard Lasnik, 89-155. Cambridge: MIT Press.

Chomsky, Noam. 2001. Derivation by Phase. In M. Kenstowicz (ed.), Ken Hale: A Life in Language, edited, 1-52. Cambridge: MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/4056.003.0004 DOI: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/4056.003.0004

Cocchi, Gloria, & Cecilia Poletto. 2002. Complementizer Deletion in Florentine: The Interaction between Merge and Move. In C. Beyssade, R. Bok-Bennema, F. Drijkoningen, & P. Monachesi (eds), Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 2000. Selected papers from ‘Going Romance’ 2000, Utrecht, 30 November–2 December, 57-76. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.232.05coc DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.232.05coc

Cocchi, Gloria, & Cecilia Poletto. 2007. Complementizer Deletion and Double Complementizers. In M. C. Picchi, & A. Pona (eds), Proceedings of the" XXXII Incontro Di Grammatica Generativa, 49-62. Edizioni dell’Orso.

Colasanti, Valentina. 2018. La Doppia Serie Di Complementatori Nei Dialetti Del Lazio Meridionale: Un Approccio Microparametrico. Revue de Linguistique Romane 82: 65-91.

Gianollo, Chiara, Guardiano, Cristina, & Giuseppe Longobardi. 2008. Three Fundamental Issues in Parametric Linguistics. In T. Biberauer (ed.), The Limits of Syntactic Variation, 109-142. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. https://doi.org/10.5565/rev/isogloss.369 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/la.132.05gia

Giorgi, Alessandra. 2010. About the Speaker: Towards a Syntax of Indexicality. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199571895.001.0001 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199571895.001.0001

Giorgi, Alessandra, & Fabio Pianesi. 1997. Tense and Aspect: From Semantics to Morphosyntax. NY: Oxford University Press. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/cam/detail.action?docID=272783 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780195091922.001.0001

Giorgi, Alessandra, & Fabio Pianesi. 2004. Complementizer Deletion in Italian. In L. Rizzi (ed.), The Structure of CP and IP: The Cartography of Syntactic Structures, Volume 2, 190-210. NY: Oxford Academic. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780195159486.003.0007 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780195159486.003.0007

Guardiano, Cristina, & Giuseppe Longobardi. 2016. Parameter theory and parametric comparison. In I. Roberts (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Universal Grammar, 377-400. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://hdl.handle.net/11380/1128499 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199573776.013.16

Guardiano, Cristina, Longobardi, Giuseppe, Cordoni, Guido, & Paola Crisma. 2020. Formal syntax as a phylogenetic method. In R. D. Janda, B.D. Joseph, & B.S. Vance (eds), The Handbook of Historical Linguistics, Volume II, 89-147. Oxford: Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118732168.ch7 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118732168.ch7

Isolani, Elena. 2023. Verb Movement in Florentine: The Case of Complementizer Deletion under a Parametric Approach. Isogloss. Open Journal of Romance Linguistics 10(1): 1-34. https://doi.org/10.5565/rev/isogloss.369 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5565/rev/isogloss.369

Isolani, Elena. (forthcoming). The Parametrization of Declarative Feature: Evidence from Upper Southern Italian Dialects. Linguistic Variation.

Kayne, Richard. 1996. Microparametric syntax: Some introductory remarks. In J. Black, & V. Montapanyane (eds.), Microparametric syntax and dialectal variation, ix–xviii. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.139.01kay

Kayne, Richard. 2000. Parameters and universals. NY: Oxford University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780195102352.001.0001

Ledgeway, Adam. 2005. Moving through the Left Periphery: The Dual Complementiser System in the Dialects of Southern Italy. Transactions of the Philological Society 103(3): 339-96. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-968X.2005.00157.x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-968X.2005.00157.x

Ledgeway, Adam, & Ian Roberts. 2017. Principles and Parameters. In A. Ledgeway, & I. Roberts (eds), The Cambridge Handbook of Historical Syntax, 581-628. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781107279070.028 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781107279070.028

Longobardi, Giuseppe. 2001. The structure of DPs: Some principles, parameters and problems. In M. Baltin, & C. Collins (eds), The Handbook of Contemporary Syntactic Theory, 562-603. Oxford: Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470756416.ch18 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470756416.ch18

Longobardi, Giuseppe. 2003. Methods in parametric linguistics and cognitive history. Linguistic Variation Yearbook, 3(1): 101-138. https://doi.org/10.1075/livy.3.06lon DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/livy.3.06lon

Longobardi, Giuseppe. 2018. Principles, Parameters, and Schemata: A radically underspecified UG. Language and Linguistic Science 41(3-4): 517-558.

Longobardi, Giuseppe, & Cristina Guardiano. 2009. Evidence for syntax as a signal of historical relatedness. Lingua 119(11): 1679-1706. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2008.09.012 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2008.09.012

Longobardi, Giuseppe, & Cristina Guardiano. 2017. Phylogenetic Reconstruction in Syntax: The Parametric Comparison Method. In A. Ledgeway & I. Roberts (eds), The Cambridge Handbook of Historical Syntax, 241-271. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781107279070.013

Manzini, Maria Rita, & Leonardo Savoia. 2005. I dialetti italiani e romanci: Morfosintassi generativa, Volume 3. Alessandria: Edizioni dell’Orso.

Obenauer, Hans-George. 2001. Alternative checkers in the left periphery of Pagotto. Ms., CNRS, Paris. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110912111.343 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110912111.343

Paoli, Sandra. 2007. The Fine Structure of the Left Periphery: COMPs and Subjects. Lingua 117(6): 1057-1079. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2006.05.007 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2006.05.007

Poletto, Cecilia. 1995. Complementizer deletion and verb movement in Italian. University of Venice Working Papers in Linguistics 5:49-79. Venezia: CLI.

Rizzi, Luigi. 1982. Issues in Italian Syntax. Dordrecht: Foris Publications. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110883718

Rizzi, Luigi. 1990. Relativized Minimality. Cambridge: MIT Press.

Rizzi, Luigi. 2004. Locality and Left Periphery. In A. Belletti (ed.), Structures and Beyond, 223-51. NY: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780195171976.003.0008. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780195171976.003.0008

Rizzi, Luigi. 2013a. A Note on Locality and Selection. In Y. Miyamoto, D. Takahashi, H. Maki, M. Ochi, K. Sugisaki, & A. Uchibori (eds), Deep Insights, Broad Perspectives, 325-341. Tokyo: Kaitakusha.

Rizzi, Luigi. 2013b. Locality. Lingua 130: 169-186. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2012.12.002

Roberts, Ian. 1994. Two Types of Head Movement in Romance. In N. Hornstein, & D. Lightfoot (eds), Verb Movement, 207-242. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511627705.012

Roberts, Ian. 1997. Restructuring, Head Movement, and Locality. Linguistic Inquiry 28(3): 423-60.

Roberts, Ian. 2012. Macroparameters and minimalism: A programme for comparative research. In C. Galves, S. Cyrino, R. Lopez, & J. Avelar (eds), Parameter theory and linguistic change, 320-354. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199659203.003.0017

Roberts, Ian. 2019. Parameter Hierarchies and Universal Grammar. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198804635.001.0001 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198804635.001.0001

Roberts, Ian, & Anders Holmberg. 2010. Introduction: Parameters in minimalist theory. In T. Biberauer, A. Holmberg, I. Roberts, & M. Sheehan (eds), Parametric Variation: Null Subjects in Minimalist Theory, 1-57. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511770784.001 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511770784.001

Roberts, Ian, & Anna Roussou. 2003. Syntactic Change: A Minimalist Approach to Grammaticalization. Vol. 100. Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511486326

Samo, Giuseppe, & Elena Isolani. 2024. A Quantitative Computational Study on German and Italo-Romance. Annali Ca' Foscari Serie Occidentale 58: 258-308. https://edizionicafoscari.it/media/pdf/article/annali-di-ca-foscari-serie-occidentale/2024/58/art-10.30687-AnnOc-2499-1562-2024-12-015.pdf.

Scorretti, Mauro. 1981. Complementizer ellipsis in 15th century Italian. Journal of Italian Linguistics 6(1): 35-47.

Travis, Lisa. 1984. Parameters and Effects of Word Order Variation. Ph.D thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Vikner, Sten. 1994. Finite verb movement in Scandinavian embedded clauses. In D. Lightfoot, & N. Hornstein (eds), Verb Movement, 117-147. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511627705.008

Wolfe, Sam. 2016. On the Left Periphery of V2 Languages. Rivista di Grammatica Generativa: Selected Papers from the 41st Incontro di Grammatica Generativa 38, 287-310.

Wolfe, Sam. 2020. Rethinking Medieval Romance Verb Second. In R. Woods, & S. Wolfe (eds), Rethinking Verb Second, 448-368. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198844303.003.0015 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198844303.003.0015

Zanuttini, Raffaella. 1997. Negation and Clausal Structure: A Comparative Study of Romance Languages. New York: Oxford University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780195080544.001.0001

Complementizer deletion and the split hypothesis

Authors

Abstract

Keywords

References

DOI

Published

How to Cite

Downloads

Funding data