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Romance Historical Syntax: Special Issue on Syntactic Analyzability in Diachrony
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Romance Historical Syntax: Special Issue on Syntactic Analyzability in Diachrony

A Special Issue of Languages (ISSN 2226-471X).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (21 October 2025) | Viewed by 16107

Editors

Prof. Dr. Josep Alba-Salas

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Spanish Department, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA 01610, USA
Interests: Romance linguistics; historical linguistics; collocations and light verb constructions
Dr. Manuel Delicado Cantero

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Literature, Languages and Linguistics, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
Interests: historical syntax; Romance linguistics; Spanish syntax

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Analyzability is a key concept in syntactic research in Romance languages and beyond. Langacker (1987: 292) defines this notion as the “recognition of the contribution that each component makes to the composite conceptualization”. Building on Langacker, Bybee (2010: 45) explains that it includes “the language user’s recognition of the individual words and morphemes of an expression as well as its morphosyntactic structure” and distinguishes it from semantic compositionality (cf. Traugott and Trousdale 2013 and Vincent 2015).

Diachronic changes in syntactic analyzability have featured prominently in research on the evolution of different types of (complex) expressions in Romance, such as prepositions, complementizers, light verb constructions, collocations, and idioms, among others (e.g., Fagard et al. 2020; Alba-Salas 2020; Amaral and Delicado Cantero 2022), typically relying on similar diagnostics (cf. Montoro del Arco 2006). The literature overlaps in certain aspects, particularly a general loss of syntactic freedom, but diverges in others, arguably due to different theoretical assumptions. Some studies emphasize the complete loss of internal syntax through a gradual process. Take, for instance, Torres Cacoullos’s (2006) usage-based/functionalist analysis of Spanish a pesar de ‘in spite of’ from a collocation to a single unit (see also Torres Cacoullos 2015 on the Spanish progressive and unithood and Lehmann 2019 on prepositions and univerbation). Other studies highlight the preservation of some internal syntax even in cases where constituents were recategorized as functional categories. Consider, for example, Roy and Svenonius’s (2009) formal analysis of complex prepositions as including a lexically reduced noun—akin to Svenonius’s (2006, 2010) AxParts—in a fully fledged phrasal projection (see also Vincent 2020).

The concept of syntactic analyzability has crucial theoretical implications for our diachronic and synchronic understanding of certain categories and expressions across all frameworks. It is tightly linked to other concepts such as lexicalization, grammaticalization, univerbation and de/recategorization, for example, in the case of discourse markers (Garachana Camarero 2008) and complementizers (Baunaz and Lander 2018; Manzini and Roussou 2020).

This Special Issue seeks to expand our empirical and theoretical understanding of syntactic analyzability in diachrony by bringing together researchers on historical romance syntax working within different frameworks. Key questions include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • What new diachronic evidence is available to refine our understanding of syntactic analyzability and its loss over time? Are there new diagnostics for the loss of analyzability besides those already proposed in the literature? What counts as unambiguous evidence of absolute loss of syntactic analyzability, and why?
  • How are the notions analyzability, complexity, and internal syntax best understood? How do new analyses of diachronic data bear on Langacker’s and Bybee’s definitions of analyzability? Is there a theoretical difference between internal syntax and syntactic analyzability? To what extent are the corresponding definitions dependent on theory-internal considerations, as opposed to broader conceptual issues?
  • What new diachronic evidence might help illuminate the link between syntactic analyzability and related concepts such as grammaticalization, re/decategorization, univerbation, lexicalization, collocation, word, complex category, and syntactic unit, among others? Are concepts such as univerbation or syntactic fixation theoretically incompatible with internal syntactic structure?
  • What is the theoretical link between the fine-grained syntactic studies of complex constructions proposed in some recent formal analyses and accounts of the loss of internal analyzability in the usage-based/cognitive/functionally-oriented literature? To what extent do formal and functionalist/cognitive perspectives on syntactic analyzability differ and overlap?
  • How do historical changes in the meaning and distributional properties of elements in an expression contribute to the loss of syntactic analyzability of the expression as a whole? How do such developments reflect broader changes in the language(s) under consideration?

We welcome contributions addressing any of these questions in any Romance languages and varieties and from any theoretical perspective. Papers exploring, testing, and revisiting the conceptual/theoretical implications of the historical loss of syntactic analyzability with new empirical evidence are of particular interest, regardless of the categorial nature of the elements involved. Contributions from a single theoretical approach are welcome; (single- or co-authored) papers that combine or discuss formal and functionalist analyses are highly encouraged.

Tentative completion schedule:

  • Abstract submission deadline: 17 February 2025
  • Notification of abstract acceptance: 2 April 2025
  • Full manuscript deadline: 21 October 2025

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 400–600 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the Guest Editors (manuel.delicado@anu.edu.au; jalba@holycross.edu). Abstracts will be reviewed by the Guest Editors for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of the Special Issue. Full manuscripts (word limit: 8000–12,000 words) will undergo double-blind peer review.

Prof. Dr. Josep Alba-Salas
Dr. Manuel Delicado Cantero
Guest Editors (Listed Alphabetically)

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Languages is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

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Keywords

  • syntactic analyzability
  • internal syntax
  • Romance syntax
  • diachronic syntax
  • re/decategorization
  • complex construction
  • univerbation
  • syntactic freedom

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Published Papers (16 papers)

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Research

35 pages, 1023 KB  
Article
Syntactic Analyzability in Complex Predicates: Verbal Periphrases, Serial Verbs and Auxiliary Chains
by Mar Garachana-Camarero
Languages 2026, 11(7), 137; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages11070137 - 1 Jul 2026
Viewed by 434
Abstract
This article examines the relationship between semantic and syntactic evolution in the development of three Spanish verbal constructions: verbal periphrases, pseudo-coordinative constructions (e.g., va y dice), and auxiliary chains. While theories of grammaticalization and diachronic construction grammar generally predict a parallel decrease [...] Read more.
This article examines the relationship between semantic and syntactic evolution in the development of three Spanish verbal constructions: verbal periphrases, pseudo-coordinative constructions (e.g., va y dice), and auxiliary chains. While theories of grammaticalization and diachronic construction grammar generally predict a parallel decrease in semantic compositionality and syntactic analyzability, the behavior of these constructions suggests a more complex scenario. We argue that semantic compositionality and syntactic analyzability do not always evolve in tandem. Instead, the constructionalization of grammatical patterns may preserve aspects of internal syntax even when constituents undergo functional recategorization. Drawing on previous analyses and a corpus-based examination of Spanish complex predicates, we show that verbal periphrases, pseudo-coordinative constructions, and auxiliary chains maintain analyzable internal structure despite diachronic reduction of compositional meaning. We propose that (complete) loss of analyzability tends to occur only at advanced stages of grammatical change. The study contributes to current debates on the nature of grammaticalization/constructionalization, internal syntax, and the cognitive status of auxiliary constructions, offering a broader perspective on mechanisms of language change. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Romance Historical Syntax: Special Issue on Syntactic Analyzability in Diachrony)
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20 pages, 315 KB  
Article
Embedding Strategies in Early Venetan Vernaculars
by Nicola Munaro
Languages 2026, 11(7), 135; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages11070135 - 26 Jun 2026
Viewed by 582
Abstract
The aim of this work is to shed some light on the categorial status and syntactic distribution of the subordinators como and, more specifically, quando as it emerges from some early Venetan texts dating back to the 13th and 14th centuries. The proposed [...] Read more.
The aim of this work is to shed some light on the categorial status and syntactic distribution of the subordinators como and, more specifically, quando as it emerges from some early Venetan texts dating back to the 13th and 14th centuries. The proposed analysis accounts for the semantic ambiguity of these embedding connectors in strictly structural terms. In particular, the pervasive interpretive ambiguity of come/como attested in the old Italo-Romance varieties considered here is traced back to a diachronic process of reanalysis affecting its categorial status from specifier to head, which reflects a well attested crosslinguistic tendency. This diachronic change in turn will be shown to be linked to the syntactic distribution of the temporal subordinator quando, which can be reduced to general underlying principles of phrase structure building, in the sense that the temporal vs hypothetical interpretive import of quando was determined by the particular syntactic configuration involved. The semantic ambiguity of the subordinating connectors analyzed here is explained then in strictly structural terms, adopting a cartographic approach to the functional articulation of the clausal left-periphery. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Romance Historical Syntax: Special Issue on Syntactic Analyzability in Diachrony)
15 pages, 309 KB  
Article
Analyzability and Grammaticalization of Consecutive Phrases Containing {forma/manera/modo/suerte} and Their Variants
by María Victoria Pavón Lucero
Languages 2026, 11(7), 134; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages11070134 - 26 Jun 2026
Viewed by 360
Abstract
In contemporary Spanish, there are three types of sequences with consecutive meaning that contain the nouns forma, manera, modo, and suerte: the sequence de tal {forma/modo/manera/suerte} que, which forms part of a prepositional phrase that contains a consecutive [...] Read more.
In contemporary Spanish, there are three types of sequences with consecutive meaning that contain the nouns forma, manera, modo, and suerte: the sequence de tal {forma/modo/manera/suerte} que, which forms part of a prepositional phrase that contains a consecutive construction formed by a quantifying phrase and a subordinate clause headed by que; the phrasal conjunction de {forma/modo/manera/suerte} que, which can introduce a consecutive (resultative) subordinate clause included in the predicate verb phrase of the main clause or a consecutive clause modifying the entire matrix clause; and the phrasal preposition de {forma/modo/manera/suerte} de, which generally has an infinitive clause as its complement. This paper explores the analyzability of these sequences and their evolution towards the current state of Spanish, where all three variants coexist. As will be demonstrated, the latter two variants, which emerged from the first, are the result of a grammaticalization process. This process, operating through reanalysis and analogy, has led to two distinct lexical splits. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Romance Historical Syntax: Special Issue on Syntactic Analyzability in Diachrony)
20 pages, 513 KB  
Article
Between Lexicon and Grammar: Grammaticalization and Lexicalization in the Diachrony of the Phrasal Preposition por vía de in Spanish
by Cristina Buenafuentes De La Mata
Languages 2026, 11(6), 114; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages11060114 - 3 Jun 2026
Viewed by 512
Abstract
Every new phrasal preposition results from a process of grammaticalization, through which elements originally considered lexical acquire grammatical functions. At the same time, their complex status also entails a process of lexicalization, given that these constructions lose their syntactic analyzability. To address this [...] Read more.
Every new phrasal preposition results from a process of grammaticalization, through which elements originally considered lexical acquire grammatical functions. At the same time, their complex status also entails a process of lexicalization, given that these constructions lose their syntactic analyzability. To address this apparent contradiction, the aim of this article is to provide a theoretical account within the theories of grammaticalization and lexicalization. Based on new empirical evidence taken from the historical analysis of the Spanish complex preposition por vía de ‘by way of’, as documented in the Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), this research demonstrates the relationship between grammaticalization and lexicalization. The diachronic data show that the locative noun vía undergoes grammaticalization. This process involves semantic bleaching (locative-perlative, perlative-figurative intermediation, perlative-figurative mediation, cause, purpose; e.g., por vía de Francia ‘by way of France’, por vía de intérprete ‘through an interpreter’, por vía de matrimonio ‘by means of marriage’, por vía de padre ‘on my father’s side’), recategorization, loss of morphological properties, external fixation, and condensation. However, this development is conditioned by lexicalization, as the noun is grammaticalized only when it becomes fixed in combination with the two prepositions (por and de). Nonetheless, the diachronic evidence also shows that the degree of syntactic analyzability varies according to meaning, indicating that analyzability does not necessarily entail semantic compositionality. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Romance Historical Syntax: Special Issue on Syntactic Analyzability in Diachrony)
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28 pages, 925 KB  
Article
Analyzability and Multiverbal Constructions in Diachrony: The Case of Latin i nunc et Vimp
by Laura Cabré Lunas and Esther Artigas Álvarez
Languages 2026, 11(5), 105; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages11050105 - 19 May 2026
Viewed by 646
Abstract
This article examines the Latin construction i nunc et Vimp from the perspective of diachronic analyzability. The expression consists of two imperative forms with identical morphological marking—the first a motion verb (V1), the second a lexical verb—linked by the conjunction et. [...] Read more.
This article examines the Latin construction i nunc et Vimp from the perspective of diachronic analyzability. The expression consists of two imperative forms with identical morphological marking—the first a motion verb (V1), the second a lexical verb—linked by the conjunction et. Rather than encoding a literal directive sequence, the construction conveys a rhetorical exhortative value that systematically guides discourse interpretation in a direction different from that suggested by its surface form. Although attested from the Imperial period onward, the construction is analyzed against the background of serial imperatives with a motion verb in initial position and verbal pseudocoordination, patterns documented not only in Archaic Latin but also in other historical Indo-European languages. On the basis of an exhaustive corpus, the study assesses the contribution of each constituent in order to account for the construction’s global value. The analysis shows that i nunc et Vimp displays an uneven degree of analyzability: while its components remain formally and syntactically transparent, its semantic and pragmatic analyzability is reduced, as the elements do not contribute compositionally to propositional content but function as a pragmatically unitized block. Overall, the article highlights the central role of analyzability in diachronic change, including processes of unitization and constructional de/recategorization. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Romance Historical Syntax: Special Issue on Syntactic Analyzability in Diachrony)
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17 pages, 337 KB  
Article
General Extenders and Syntactic Analyzability: Sp. y todo eso vs. y todo
by Margarita N. Borreguero Zuloaga
Languages 2026, 11(5), 103; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages11050103 - 14 May 2026
Viewed by 1154
Abstract
This study examines the historical and functional divergence between two Spanish general extenders, y todo eso and y todo, in order to determine whether the loss of syntactic analyzability can serve as a criterion for distinguishing stages of grammaticalization and identifying pragmatic [...] Read more.
This study examines the historical and functional divergence between two Spanish general extenders, y todo eso and y todo, in order to determine whether the loss of syntactic analyzability can serve as a criterion for distinguishing stages of grammaticalization and identifying pragmatic shifts. Drawing on extensive diachronic and synchronic corpus data, the analysis compares the formal evolution, semantic properties and pragmatic functions of both constructions. The results show that y todo eso follows a prototypical grammaticalization path marked by a progressive reduction in its internal structure, the weakening of referential meaning, and increasing freedom from syntactic constraints, while preserving analyzability through alternation with the simpler form y eso. In contrast, y todo displays an earlier and more advanced process of grammaticalization, dating back to medieval Spanish, in which the construction undergoes semantic bleaching, loss of additive value, and reanalysis as a scalar focus marker. These findings support the view that y todo no longer functions as a general extender in contemporary Spanish, whereas y todo eso retains this status, illustrating how syntactic analyzability correlates with shifts between pragmatic categories. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Romance Historical Syntax: Special Issue on Syntactic Analyzability in Diachrony)
27 pages, 14062 KB  
Article
Again on the Existence of Causative Periphrases in Spanish: The Case of “enviar/mandar a + Infinitive”
by Carlos I. Echeverría
Languages 2026, 11(5), 90; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages11050090 - 6 May 2026
Viewed by 769
Abstract
The concept of verbal periphrasis has historically been a controversial one in Romance linguistics, especially in the Hispanic context, where there has been disagreement as to what multiverbal constructions should be considered periphrastic. One of the points of contention has been the class [...] Read more.
The concept of verbal periphrasis has historically been a controversial one in Romance linguistics, especially in the Hispanic context, where there has been disagreement as to what multiverbal constructions should be considered periphrastic. One of the points of contention has been the class of infinitive causatives. This article revisits the controversy by focusing on Spanish “enviar/mandar a + infinitive” structures and drawing on historical corpus data. The analysis of various examples leads to the conclusion that strictly periphrastic instances of this constructional class are present across all main stages of the history of Spanish. Additionally, a series of quantitative analyses reveals what appear to be two distinct grammaticalization processes and a degrammaticalization process. These findings are discussed in connection with broader themes in the field, such as syntactic ambiguity and the concept of analyzability. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Romance Historical Syntax: Special Issue on Syntactic Analyzability in Diachrony)
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42 pages, 3547 KB  
Article
Light Verbs and Syntactic Analyzability in the History of the Galician Language
by Alexandre Rodríguez Guerra
Languages 2026, 11(4), 78; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages11040078 - 15 Apr 2026
Viewed by 1018
Abstract
This contribution studies the behavior of the four main general light verbs (LVs) in the history of Galician (dar, facer and haber/ter). The research is structured around the following three fundamental axes: first, we study the evolution, comparison [...] Read more.
This contribution studies the behavior of the four main general light verbs (LVs) in the history of Galician (dar, facer and haber/ter). The research is structured around the following three fundamental axes: first, we study the evolution, comparison with equivalent full verbs and the morphosyntactic behavior of 26 different LV constructions (with examples that the literature identifies with different degrees of fixation) from medieval to contemporary Galician, all of which form a corpus with 8728 occurrences. Next, we discuss the results of a survey distributed to 162 respondents, which allows an assessment of these LVs from several perspectives, especially syntactic. Finally, we offer an original proposal to measure the degree of syntactic analyzability, based on the quantified review of the various parameters analyzed (of which we also provide a scale, applied synchronically and diachronically) and the results in the specific survey question. We call it Syntactic Analyzability Index (SAI) and, thanks to this index, we obtain an objective scale that projects each example on a gradation that explains the greater or lesser distance or proximity of a construction with LV from freely combined elements or from the most fixed of phrasemes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Romance Historical Syntax: Special Issue on Syntactic Analyzability in Diachrony)
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25 pages, 498 KB  
Article
Different Degrees of Analyzability—The Case of the Spanish Verbal Periphrasis [Tardar en + Infinitive]
by Dorien Nieuwenhuijsen
Languages 2026, 11(4), 74; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages11040074 - 9 Apr 2026
Viewed by 560
Abstract
In research on verbal periphrases, analyzability constitutes a central parameter, both for describing the grammaticalization processes to which these constructions are subject and for defining their categorical status. This paper focuses on a specific verbal periphrasis: [tardar en + infinitive]. Its historical [...] Read more.
In research on verbal periphrases, analyzability constitutes a central parameter, both for describing the grammaticalization processes to which these constructions are subject and for defining their categorical status. This paper focuses on a specific verbal periphrasis: [tardar en + infinitive]. Its historical development is examined, along with the recent emergence of a dative of interest in this construction, drawing on quantitative data from various digital corpora. The findings show that over time en became the predominant linking element between the auxiliary and the infinitive and that the order of the components of the periphrasis gradually became fixed. The data also reveal that the new pattern with the dative of interest occurs more frequently in informal written language and colloquial registers, where the object pronoun contributes to clarifying the construction’s potentially opaque meaning. We argue that grammaticalization has reduced the syntactic analyzability of the construction, whereas the incorporation of the dative of interest points to speakers’ perception of tardar as an independent verb, thereby reflecting increased analyzability. This case study illustrates that the analyzability of a construction is not necessarily unidirectional, but may fluctuate over time, shifting in different directions at distinct historical stages. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Romance Historical Syntax: Special Issue on Syntactic Analyzability in Diachrony)
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31 pages, 1839 KB  
Article
The Back-and-Forth of assim que in the History of Portuguese
by Aroldo Leal de Andrade and Glayson Martins Oliveira
Languages 2026, 11(3), 57; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages11030057 - 16 Mar 2026
Viewed by 1095
Abstract
This paper investigates the diachronic development of the sequence assim que (lit. ‘such that’) in the history of Portuguese, with a comparative perspective on the parallel construction así que in Spanish. A corpus-based approach was employed, analyzing approximately 1800 tokens from the Corpus [...] Read more.
This paper investigates the diachronic development of the sequence assim que (lit. ‘such that’) in the history of Portuguese, with a comparative perspective on the parallel construction así que in Spanish. A corpus-based approach was employed, analyzing approximately 1800 tokens from the Corpus do Português: Historical Genres, spanning eight centuries of written European Portuguese. The results show that assim que remained highly analyzable until the end of the Old Portuguese period, with the adverb assim often followed by a complement or result clause. The grammaticalization of assim que appears to have evolved partly independently from standalone assim. While Portuguese and Spanish share many uses of the construction, modern European Portuguese has diverged, with assim que losing its status as a discourse marker. This change is best explained by the frequent use of cleft constructions (e.g., foi assim que), which reanalyzed que as a subordinating connector, undoing the earlier single-unit interpretation. These findings suggest that even deeply entrenched grammaticalization processes may undergo retraction when the semantic analyzability of component elements allows it. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Romance Historical Syntax: Special Issue on Syntactic Analyzability in Diachrony)
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21 pages, 404 KB  
Article
Psych Light Verb Constructions in Old Catalan: Patterns and Contrasts with Present-Day Catalan
by Jordi Ginebra Serrabou
Languages 2026, 11(3), 55; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages11030055 - 16 Mar 2026
Viewed by 917
Abstract
This study aims, first, to contribute to our understanding of the regularities of light verb constructions (LVCs) by identifying syntactic–semantic patterns and, secondly, to provide data and reflections on how syntactic analyzability and semantic compositionality interact to shape the diachronic evolution of LVCs. [...] Read more.
This study aims, first, to contribute to our understanding of the regularities of light verb constructions (LVCs) by identifying syntactic–semantic patterns and, secondly, to provide data and reflections on how syntactic analyzability and semantic compositionality interact to shape the diachronic evolution of LVCs. To this end, the paper analyzes and describes, through corpus research, a subset of LVCs from Old Catalan—psych LVC or those denoting emotional states—and compares them with those from Contemporary Catalan. The main contrast between Old Catalan and Contemporary Catalan in this domain is that Contemporary Catalan tends to place the Experiencer in non-localist positions. Localist metaphors no longer structure the form–meaning pairing of Catalan psych LVCs. Once these metaphorical extensions no longer link P(sych)LVCs to their dominating construction, what remains can be described as a situation of vacuous analyzability: linguistic chains that are syntactically analyzable but lack semantic pairing. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Romance Historical Syntax: Special Issue on Syntactic Analyzability in Diachrony)
25 pages, 687 KB  
Article
Anchoring Meaning: Relational Nouns and Language Change in Italian
by Ludovico Franco and Federico Schirato
Languages 2026, 11(3), 44; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages11030044 - 4 Mar 2026
Viewed by 1176
Abstract
This study examines the structure and use of Axial Parts and Relational Nouns in Italian from both a syntactic and diachronic perspective. In the first part, we argue that these elements function as nouns and establish an elementary predicate relation of inclusion with [...] Read more.
This study examines the structure and use of Axial Parts and Relational Nouns in Italian from both a syntactic and diachronic perspective. In the first part, we argue that these elements function as nouns and establish an elementary predicate relation of inclusion with an adjacent noun. This relation can be analyzed in terms of Ground and Figure: the Axial Part acts as a possessum of the Ground linked, in turn, to a nominal phrase functioning as possessor/Figure. The interpretation of Axial Parts depends on the context, and while the predicative relation is marked by an adpositional relator, its lexical shape varies, precluding a fixed argumental or complemental relation. This Double-Relator Model contrasts with hierarchical functional projections in the PP structure. The second part supports this view with data from early Italian texts. Focusing on common nouns (e.g., front, head, foot, etc.) used as Relational Nouns or Axial Parts, we show that the Double-Relator Model captures the variability in terms of phonological realization and grammatical function of Old Italian complex PPs, at the same time making it possible to clearly analyze each component of these structures from the syntactic point of view. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Romance Historical Syntax: Special Issue on Syntactic Analyzability in Diachrony)
21 pages, 351 KB  
Article
The Internal Structure of Causal Subordinators and the Attachment Site of Causal Clauses in the History of Italian
by Jacopo Garzonio and Emanuela Sanfelici
Languages 2026, 11(3), 37; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages11030037 - 26 Feb 2026
Viewed by 758
Abstract
This paper investigates the syntax and diachrony of Italian causal clauses introduced by perché, siccome, and poiché. Although often treated as near-synonyms in Contemporary Italian, these subordinators differ systematically in their syntactic distribution, interpretive properties, and diachronic development. We show [...] Read more.
This paper investigates the syntax and diachrony of Italian causal clauses introduced by perché, siccome, and poiché. Although often treated as near-synonyms in Contemporary Italian, these subordinators differ systematically in their syntactic distribution, interpretive properties, and diachronic development. We show that perché introduces central adverbial clauses, merged within the vP/TP domain, whereas siccome and poiché introduce peripheral adverbial clauses, merged in the left periphery. This structural split correlates with a cluster of diagnostics: only perché-clauses can occur within the scope of matrix focus, negation, or epistemic operators, and only they can function as fragment answers. Conversely, siccome- and poiché-clauses consistently outscope matrix operators and encode non-at-issue content. A diachronic study reveals that the internal and external syntax of causal clauses introduced by each subordinator has remained stable from Old Italian to the present. However, siccome- and poiché-clauses display different semantics, as they derive from non-causal constructions (they originate from comparative and temporal clauses, respectively). We argue that the contrasting behaviors follow from the structural composition of the subordinators. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Romance Historical Syntax: Special Issue on Syntactic Analyzability in Diachrony)
24 pages, 578 KB  
Article
The Evolution of Spanish Ver ‘to See’ in Constructions with a Predicate Participle or Adjective
by Chantal Melis, María Isabel Jiménez Martínez and Milagros Alfonso Vega
Languages 2026, 11(1), 13; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages11010013 - 31 Dec 2025
Viewed by 1179
Abstract
The focus in this corpus-based study is on a set of Spanish constructions formed with the verb of visual perception, ver ‘to See’, and a predicate adjective or participle. In addition to a clearly recognizable transitive schema, the set includes various instances featuring [...] Read more.
The focus in this corpus-based study is on a set of Spanish constructions formed with the verb of visual perception, ver ‘to See’, and a predicate adjective or participle. In addition to a clearly recognizable transitive schema, the set includes various instances featuring a reflexive clitic pronoun coreferential with the subject, some of which have been argued to evidence the grammaticalization of lexical ver into a univerbated semicopular verb (pronominal verse), meaning little more than ‘be’ in some examples, and proximate to the intransitive sense of English look in other cases. We trace the evolution of these constructions in data spanning the history of the Spanish language, from its recorded beginnings to the present. We establish the need to distinguish two constructional sources of change, namely, an old middle-reflexive and a younger reflexive passive. We draw attention to the “renewal” of the Latin deponent videri ‘appear, look, seem’, which can be said to have taken place in Spanish as a product of the passive-derived process of grammaticalization undergone by ver. And throughout the paper we address problems of analyzability, attributable to the superficially identical strings of words that characterize the constructional patterns with a reflexive morpheme. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Romance Historical Syntax: Special Issue on Syntactic Analyzability in Diachrony)
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28 pages, 576 KB  
Article
Romanian DOM and Loss of Analyzability
by Virginia Hill and Monica Alexandrina Irimia
Languages 2026, 11(1), 8; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages11010008 - 30 Dec 2025
Viewed by 819
Abstract
This paper revisits the diachronic changes to Romanian DOM by focusing on the emergence of the DOM particle pe: the prenominal preposition pe is shown to undergo loss of analyzability when (i) the adjacent noun phrase is the direct object of the [...] Read more.
This paper revisits the diachronic changes to Romanian DOM by focusing on the emergence of the DOM particle pe: the prenominal preposition pe is shown to undergo loss of analyzability when (i) the adjacent noun phrase is the direct object of the verb; and (ii) pe-DP falls under a certain pragmatic treatment. In other contexts, pe continues as a preposition. Loss of analyzability entails modification of the feature bundle associated with pe, as well as chunking and sensitivity of pe-noun phrases to discourse related priming factors. Briefly, the chunk consisting of two segments (i.e., prepositional phrase and nominal phrase: PP > DP) is gradually reduced to one segment (i.e., DP). This transition is context dependent; that is, it intensifies when the DPs receive a reading that involves discourse salience and animacy. The loss of analyzability regarding the properties of pe and the structural consequences it implied provide the basis for assessing the advent of animacy and definiteness/specificity as priming factors for DOM in Modern Romanian. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Romance Historical Syntax: Special Issue on Syntactic Analyzability in Diachrony)
23 pages, 546 KB  
Article
On the Evolution of Old Portuguese Indefinite jamais ‘Never’—Syntactic Analyzability and Polarity
by Clara Pinto
Languages 2026, 11(1), 2; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages11010002 - 24 Dec 2025
Viewed by 996
Abstract
In Contemporary Portuguese, jamais ‘never’ is a negative indefinite that encodes temporal semantics and belongs to the set of strong Negative Polarity Items, being able to express negation on its own, in preverbal position. However, it originates from the merger of two non-negative [...] Read more.
In Contemporary Portuguese, jamais ‘never’ is a negative indefinite that encodes temporal semantics and belongs to the set of strong Negative Polarity Items, being able to express negation on its own, in preverbal position. However, it originates from the merger of two non-negative Latin adverbs—iam ‘now/already’ and magis ‘more’—starting as a construction and later becoming an independent lexical unit, with different features. Data from the 13th century onwards shows that, in early attestations, jamais still preserved some level of internal syntactic analyzability, with the possibility of inverse word order and interpolation. The meaning of the construction could be obtained through the sum of its parts, but its occurrence in negative and modal contexts shows that its interpretation became context-sensitive. This independence was eventually lost, with the emergence of an intrinsic negative reading, favoured in negative contexts through the combination of inchoative and comparative strategies in no-longer expressions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Romance Historical Syntax: Special Issue on Syntactic Analyzability in Diachrony)
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