Romance clitics are currently accounted for as DP arguments moved to functional head positions or as functional heads (AccVoice, etc.) licensing pro-DPs in argument position. I take the view that clitics are first merged as heads, projecting independently motivated categories on the functional spine of the sentence (φP, ApplP). I argue that they can satisfy theta relations without need for a pro associate. From an empirical point of view, a pure head syntax for clitics is favoured in explaining the asymmetries between clitics and phrases, found in several syntactically relevant domains (order, agreement, case). I show how the hypothesis that clitics are functional heads derives the internal order of the clitic string, which does not necessarily match (or mirror) that of phrasal constituents. I also consider agreement asymmetries (perfect participle agreement) and case asymmetries (in relation to Differential Object Marking).
Romance pronominal clitics as pure heads / Rita Manzini. - In: JOURNAL OF LINGUISTICS. - ISSN 0022-2267. - ELETTRONICO. - (2022), pp. 1-31.
Romance pronominal clitics as pure heads
Rita Manzini
2022
Abstract
Romance clitics are currently accounted for as DP arguments moved to functional head positions or as functional heads (AccVoice, etc.) licensing pro-DPs in argument position. I take the view that clitics are first merged as heads, projecting independently motivated categories on the functional spine of the sentence (φP, ApplP). I argue that they can satisfy theta relations without need for a pro associate. From an empirical point of view, a pure head syntax for clitics is favoured in explaining the asymmetries between clitics and phrases, found in several syntactically relevant domains (order, agreement, case). I show how the hypothesis that clitics are functional heads derives the internal order of the clitic string, which does not necessarily match (or mirror) that of phrasal constituents. I also consider agreement asymmetries (perfect participle agreement) and case asymmetries (in relation to Differential Object Marking).I documenti in FLORE sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.