Historical syntax

This chapter investigates some of the most salient aspects of the historical syntax of medieval Tuscan, henceforth old Italian. Although the approach is principally synchronic in nature, where relevant, specific differences between the grammars of old and modern Italian are highlighted. The chapter reviews a number of the principal characteristics of the syntax of the (i) clause (word order in terms of a Verb Second constraint, proclisis-enclisis alternations of object clitics, root-embedded asymmetry in the distribution of null subjects, and patterns of overt/covert realization and doubling of the finite complementizer); (ii) sentential core (patterns of perfective auxiliary selection, participle agreement, and subject-verb agreement and their interpretation as reflexes of an active-stative alignment and/or discourse-pragmatic differences based on the topic-focus distinction); and (iii) nominal group (typological distinction between weak and strong D languages, distribution of the indefinite and definite articles, changing patterns of adjectival placement).