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Keywords = Cimbrian

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20 pages, 777 KiB  
Article
Fortune and Decay of Lexical Expletives in Germanic and Romance along the Adige River
by Alessandra Tomaselli and Ermenegildo Bidese
Languages 2023, 8(1), 44; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages8010044 - 1 Feb 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2227
Abstract
Lexical expletives can be divided into two main classes: (i) CP expletives required by the V2 constraint and, hence, by the necessity to lexicalize the position on the left of the inflected verb and (ii) TP expletives connected with the negative value of [...] Read more.
Lexical expletives can be divided into two main classes: (i) CP expletives required by the V2 constraint and, hence, by the necessity to lexicalize the position on the left of the inflected verb and (ii) TP expletives connected with the negative value of the pro-drop parameter and, therefore, with the necessity to lexicalize the ’structural‘ subject position, specifically, [Spec, TP]. The latter can, in turn, be divided into two subclasses: impersonal subjects and positional expletives, which occur with postverbal/low subjects and extraposed subject clauses. While CP expletives only appear in Germanic varieties that maintain V2, the subclassification of TP expletives yields interesting results when comparing Cimbrian and the Venetan varieties in Nord-East Italy, where the gradual disappearance of the positional expletive in free inversion structures and the residual maintenance of impersonal subjects from North to South along the Adige River confirms the distinction between two classes of subject expletives; furthermore, the resilience of impersonal subjects and their distribution in the northwestern part of the area under consideration sheds light on the role of language contact which is confirmed along the same axis—but crucially in the opposite direction—by the increasing employment of cleft constructions in WH-clauses replacing enclisis (i.e.,: pronominal subject inversion with the finite verb). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Perspectives on Italian Dialects)
10 pages, 1214 KiB  
Article
Feature Borrowing in Language Contact
by Alessandra Tomaselli, Ermenegildo Bidese and Andrea Padovan
Languages 2022, 7(4), 288; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages7040288 - 9 Nov 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3045
Abstract
In this paper, we consider mood selection in embedded clauses by focusing on a German-based minority language, Cimbrian, which is spoken in a northern Italian enclave. Mood selection in Cimbrian relies on the presence of two different complementizers, az and ke (the latter [...] Read more.
In this paper, we consider mood selection in embedded clauses by focusing on a German-based minority language, Cimbrian, which is spoken in a northern Italian enclave. Mood selection in Cimbrian relies on the presence of two different complementizers, az and ke (the latter being borrowed from Romance varieties), each of which selectively require a specific mood. Az selects the mood subjunctive in modal sentences introduced by non-factive verbs, whereas ke co-occurs with the indicative in purely declarative clauses introduced by factive and semi-factive verbs. However, this binary distribution is challenged in the two following contexts, and it is precisely at this point that feature borrowing comes into play: (i) with the verb gloam ‘to believe/to think’, the expected binary pattern appears (irrealis az + subjunctive and the realis ke + indicative), but, crucially, a third construction emerges, namely ke + subj.; (ii) surprisingly, az + subj. displays some ‘gaps’ in its paradigm, specifically in the first person, which appeared in the data we collected via translation tasks from Italian into Cimbrian. Both phenomena shed light on how language contact works, not in terms of structural borrowing but rather in terms of the transfer of the specific features of a given lexical item. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Syntactic Variation and Change of Heritage Languages)
13 pages, 367 KiB  
Article
Resilient Subject Agreement Morpho-Syntax in the Germanic Romance Contact Area
by Cecilia Poletto and Alessandra Tomaselli
Languages 2021, 6(3), 119; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages6030119 - 12 Jul 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2667
Abstract
In this work, we intend to investigate one fundamental aspect of language contact by comparing the distribution of subjects in German, Northern Italian dialects and Cimbrian. Here, we show that purely syntactic order phenomena are more prone to convergence, i.e., less resilient, while [...] Read more.
In this work, we intend to investigate one fundamental aspect of language contact by comparing the distribution of subjects in German, Northern Italian dialects and Cimbrian. Here, we show that purely syntactic order phenomena are more prone to convergence, i.e., less resilient, while phenomena that have a clearly identifiable morphological counterpart are more resilient. The empirical domain of investigation for our analysis is the morphosyntax of both nominal and pronominal subjects, the agreement pattern and their position in Cimbrian grammar. While agreement patterns display a highly conservative paradigm, the syntax of nominal (vP-peripheral and topicalized) subjects is innovative and mimics the Italian linear word order. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Syntactic Variation in Language Contact Situations.The view from an I-Language Perspective)
13 pages, 671 KiB  
Article
Circumventing the ‘That-Trace’ Effect: Different Strategies between Germanic and Romance
by Andrea Padovan, Ermenegildo Bidese and Alessandra Tomaselli
Languages 2021, 6(2), 84; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages6020084 - 11 May 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3230
Abstract
In our paper, we deal with the Germanic–Romance language contact, focusing on Cimbrian, a Germanic minority language spoken in Northern Italy. Specifically, we focus on the violation of the well-known that-trace filter, as it appears to be an interesting case of the superficial [...] Read more.
In our paper, we deal with the Germanic–Romance language contact, focusing on Cimbrian, a Germanic minority language spoken in Northern Italy. Specifically, we focus on the violation of the well-known that-trace filter, as it appears to be an interesting case of the superficial convergence that we ascribe to the status of T, which is either too rich (model language) or too weak (replica language) to represent a viable landing site for subject extraction. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Syntactic Variation in Language Contact Situations.The view from an I-Language Perspective)
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