Griko and Salentino show various degrees of diachronic and diatopic microvariation in the retreat and loss of the infinitive, whilst displaying at the same time a high degree of overall structural uniformity in their parallel preservation of the infinitive in: (1) restructuring contexts; (2) infinitival relatives; and (3) negative imperatives. On the surface, there is nothing a priori to suggest that these three contexts should be connected in any way. Yet this article demonstrates how these three uses can be reduced to a single structural explanation which views the infinitive as a reduced clausal constituent (viz. v-VP) generated in a monoclausal structure selected in all cases by a modal, temporal or aspectual auxiliary which is phonologically overt in (1), but oscillates between overt and covert phonological realizations in (2) and (3) in accordance with crosslinguistic variation. The result is a unified analysis which allows us to capture the distribution of infinitival complementation in all the relevant varieties quite simply in terms of a so-called restructuring configuration in which the infinitive invariably instantiates a monoclausal structure selected by a T-related auxiliary. At the same time, this analysis also offers us a highly natural explanation of the distribution of finite and infinitival complementation in Salentino after causative make. The former is aligned with the faire-infinitif type, in which the subject is pragmatically foregrounded and structurally projected, and the latter with the faire-par type, in which the subject is pragmatically backgrounded and not structurally projected, hence the selection of the infinitive which is the typical morphosyntactic expression of reduced clausal constituents. By contrast, the exceptional behaviour of Griko on the one hand, which exclusively employs finite complementation, and the Salentino dialects of the province of Brindisi on the other, which exclusively employ infinitival complementation, simply represent cases of idiosyncratic lexical variation in the distribution of finite and infinitival complementation which is subject to considerable nanovariation across the Greek and Romance varieties of Salento
Anche se caratterizzati da diversi gradi di microvariazione diacronica e diatopica relativa al progressivo declino e all’eventuale perdita dell’infinito, il griko e il salentino mostrano, in generale, un alto grado di uniformità strutturale nella conservazione dell’infinito nei contesti a ristrutturazione (1), nelle relative infinitivali (2) e nell’imperativo negativo (3). Superficialmente, non c’è a priori nessun motivo per cui dovremmo aspettarci la distribuzione dell’infinito proprio in questi tre contesti strutturali. Tuttavia, il presente articolo mette in evidenza come questi tre usi dell’infinito possano essere ricondotti ad una singola spiegazione strutturale. Secondo tale interpretazione, l’infinito costituirebbe un complemento proposizionale ridotto (ovvero un v-VP) generato all’interno di una struttura monofrasale e selezionato in tutti i casi da un ausiliare di tipo modale, temporale o aspettuale, fonologicamente esplicito in (1), ma soggetto a oscillazione tra realizzazioni fonologiche esplicite ed implicite in (2)-(3), in funzione della variazione interlinguistica. Ne consegue un’analisi unitaria che tiene conto della distribuzione della complementazione infinitivale in entrambe le varietà, ora interpretabile come un chiaro esempio di una configurazione detta a ristrutturazione. Allo stesso modo tale analisi ci offre anche un’evidente spiegazione della distribuzione della complementazione finita e infinitivale nei dialetti salentini con il predicato causativo fare. Il primo tipo di complementazione codifica il tipo causativo detto faire-infinitif, in cui il soggetto viene messo in primo piano a livello pragmatico e viene perciò strutturalmente proiettato, mentre la complementazione infinitivale realizza il tipo causativo detto faire-par, in cui il soggetto passa in secondo piano e non viene strutturalmente proiettato, spiegando così la selezione dell’infinito, in quanto tipica espressione morfosintattica dei costituenti proposizionali ridotti. D’altro canto, il comportamento eccezionale del griko, il quale impiega esclusivamente la complementazione finita, e dei dialetti salentini della provincia di Brindisi, i quali impiegano esclusivamente la complementazione infinitivale, rappresenta un caso di variazione lessicale idiosincratica nella distribuzione della complementazione finita e infinitivale, chiaramente soggetta a notevole nanovariazione nelle diverse varietà greche e romanze del Salento.
(2024). Patterns of infinitival and finite complementation in Griko and Salentino [journal article - articolo]. In L'ITALIA DIALETTALE. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10446/280449
Patterns of infinitival and finite complementation in Griko and Salentino
Ledgeway, Adam;
2024-01-01
Abstract
Griko and Salentino show various degrees of diachronic and diatopic microvariation in the retreat and loss of the infinitive, whilst displaying at the same time a high degree of overall structural uniformity in their parallel preservation of the infinitive in: (1) restructuring contexts; (2) infinitival relatives; and (3) negative imperatives. On the surface, there is nothing a priori to suggest that these three contexts should be connected in any way. Yet this article demonstrates how these three uses can be reduced to a single structural explanation which views the infinitive as a reduced clausal constituent (viz. v-VP) generated in a monoclausal structure selected in all cases by a modal, temporal or aspectual auxiliary which is phonologically overt in (1), but oscillates between overt and covert phonological realizations in (2) and (3) in accordance with crosslinguistic variation. The result is a unified analysis which allows us to capture the distribution of infinitival complementation in all the relevant varieties quite simply in terms of a so-called restructuring configuration in which the infinitive invariably instantiates a monoclausal structure selected by a T-related auxiliary. At the same time, this analysis also offers us a highly natural explanation of the distribution of finite and infinitival complementation in Salentino after causative make. The former is aligned with the faire-infinitif type, in which the subject is pragmatically foregrounded and structurally projected, and the latter with the faire-par type, in which the subject is pragmatically backgrounded and not structurally projected, hence the selection of the infinitive which is the typical morphosyntactic expression of reduced clausal constituents. By contrast, the exceptional behaviour of Griko on the one hand, which exclusively employs finite complementation, and the Salentino dialects of the province of Brindisi on the other, which exclusively employ infinitival complementation, simply represent cases of idiosyncratic lexical variation in the distribution of finite and infinitival complementation which is subject to considerable nanovariation across the Greek and Romance varieties of SalentoFile | Dimensione del file | Formato | |
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