Leonardo M. Savoia

Linkers and agreement

Abstract In many languages a linker element is inserted between a noun N and a modifier or a complement of N. We focus on Albanian articles and on Iranian ezafes, and we introduce comparison data from Aromanian. In section 2, we provide arguments as to why currently available formal theories of linkers (as copulas, as case assigners, as means for identity avoidance) face problems when applied to Albanian or Kurdish. In section 3 we argue, on the basis of morphological, syntactic and interpretive evidence, that linkers (at least in the languages considered) form a constituent with the A(P) that follows them and that their category is D. Section 4 contains the theoretical core of the discussion. A linker D and a determiner D have in common the fact that they are both able to satisfy argument slots of a predicative head (e.g. A). However a D closing off a DP is an operator, establishing a relation between a restrictor (the NP) and a domain of quantification (a VP). A linker D is a bound variable – it provides a satisfaction for a theta-role ultimately bound by the higher D. A cross-linguistic typology of determiners, linkers and pronominal clitics based on this analysis is provided. In section 5 we extend the analysis to pre-genitival linkers, treating genitive case as an elementary part-whole relation, of which the linker saturates the external argument (the possessum).

Ergative case, aspect and person splits: Two case studies

Ergativity splits between perfect and imperfective/progressive predicates are observed in languages with a specialized ergative case (Punjabi) and without it (Kurdish). Perfect predicates correspond to a VP projection; external arguments are introduced by means of an oblique case, namely an elementary part–whole predicate saying that the event is ‘included by’, ‘located at’ the argument. A more complex organization is found with imperfective/progressive predicates, where a head Asp projects a functional layer and introduces the external argument. Our proposal further yields the 1/2P vs. 3P Person split as a result of the intrinsic ability of 1/2P to serve as ‘location-of-event’.

From Latin to Romance: case loss and preservation in pronominal systems

Abstract The evolution from Latin into Romance is marked by the loss of case in nominal declensions. In most Romance varieties, however, pronouns, specifically in the 1st/2nd person singular, keep case differentiations. In some varieties 1st/2nd singular pronouns present a three-way case split, essentially the same reconstructed for proto-Romance (De Dardel and Gaeng 1992, Zamboni 1998). We document and analyze the current situation of Romance in the first part of the article (section 1). In the second part of the article we argue that the Dative Shifted distribution of loro in modern Italian, accounted for by means of the category of weak pronoun in Cardinaletti and Starke (1999), is best construed as a survival of oblique case in the 3rd person system (section 2). This casts doubts on the weak pronoun category, as applied to Old Italian as well (Egerland and Cardinaletti 2010).

a/bare finite complements in Southern Italian varieties: mono-clausal or bi-clausal syntax?

In dialects of Apulia, Calabria and Sicily a restricted number of verbs, including ‘stay/be’, ‘go’, ‘come’ and ‘want’ embed finite complements, either bare or introduced by a. One aim of the present work is to make the corpus of data in Manzini and Savoia (2005) accessible in English. The corpus displays a certain amount of microparametric variation, which is also known, in a less complete form, from independently collected data. On the basis of the evidence presented, we will discuss the two major syntactic analyses proposed for this type of sentences. Under the mono-clausal analysis, verbs like ‘stay, ‘go’ etc. are functional heads embedding a lexical predicate (Cardinaletti and Giusti 2001, 2003). The bi-clausal analysis on the contrary treats embedding under ‘stay’, ‘go’ etc. as anormal clausal embedding (Manzini and Savoia 2005). In this article we reiterate that the bi-clausal analysis is not only feasible, but also advantageous, from a morphosyntactic point of view. We conclude by sketching how this analysis can be rendered compatible with the mono-eventive interpretation that at least some of the relevant structures are reported to have.

Propagation and preservation of rounded back vowels in Lucanian and Apulian varieties

This article addresses the descriptive and theoretical aspects of the relation between the cavity properties of vowels and consonants. This relation is studied on the basis of some vocalic harmonizing processes depending on the adjacency between [u] and a velar (or labial) consonant in the domain of the stressed nucleus. Propagation of /u/ and preservation of /u/ in pre-tonic position in Southern Italian varieties provide the crucial testing ground for our analysis; one last process we investigate is the distribution of the metaphonic outcomes in a Salento dialect. The nature of phonological representations is the other question we are concerned with. This point has been recently explored specifically in relation to the explanatory role of the structure and its relation with the melodic content of segments. Our proposal is that the phonological structure of the string corresponds in a direct and exhaustive way to the elementary melodic properties of the segments.

Il formalismo russo, Roman Jakobson e la linguistica nella prima metà del Novecento

This article addresses the relation between Russian Formalism and linguistic thought in the first decades of the twentieth century. The theory of literary language proposed by the Formalist School assigns a central role to the linguistic devices that characterize a text as poetic or literary; the basic idea is that these devices work as a system, a notion derived from Saussurean linguistics. The leading figure we consider is Roman Jakobson, a key interpreter of Formalism, and, at the same time, an original and influential linguist. In his work the interpretation of poetic language is related to an overall linguistic theory, where the properties of natural languages, crucially phonology, and the use (functions) of language have a theoretical characterization.