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Word-initial rhotics from Latin to Sardinian
No full textThis chapter focuses on the syllabic status of word-initial rothics in Sardinian, with emphasis on the changes undergone by word-initial rhotics from Latin to Medieval and Modern Sardinian. In some Southern Sardinian varieties, rhotics display a complex pattern. Those originated from Latin R- appear geminated and display an [a]-prosthesis, e.g., Lat. RANA > [arˈrana] ‘frog’. On the other hand, word-initial rhotics from loanwords are well tolerated in the general case, but in specific structural conditions, for example, if they are preceded by a final coda, a different kind of prosthesis emerges compared to the past: in this case, the inserted vowel is [i], e.g., /is ristorantis/ → [izi rristoˈrantis] ‘the restaurants. In this case, one can observe the gemination of the rhotic. In this chapter we aim to define the structural reasons for gemination and the further development of the two types of prosthesis. The main purpose will be to understand why rhotic gemination is related to prosthesis. To this end, we will review medieval documents looking for clues as to whether [a]-prosthesis, attested since the Middle Ages and now lexicalized, arose under structural conditions similar to those determining [i]-prosthesis in loanwords today
Negative doubling: in favor of a big NegP analysis
No full textIn this work, I reformulate Pollock’s (1989) analysis of French discontinuous
negation and argue in favour of a cartographic approach to the category
called NegP. I propose that it is a complex category which contains at least
four different projections and I will show that the various types of discontinuous
negation found in several Northern Italian dialects can be analysed in the sameway
as DP doubling has been analysed by Kayne (1975) and Belletti (2005), i. e. as
independent movement of structural portions of an originally unitary constituent
containing all negativemarkers firstmerged inside the VP. This proposal explains
the numerous exceptions to Zanuttini’s (1997) analysis noted by Manzini &
Savoia (2011) without rejecting the core of her proposal. Furthermore, this view is
potentially interesting in awider perspective if we assume that each of the elements
identified here expresses structural projections relevant to semantics and could
ultimately lead to a different way of conceiving negation as something different
from the operation of formal logic which negates propositions
Syntactic variation across Greek dialects. The case of demonstratives
No full textThe syntax of demonstratives in the Greek varieties of southern Italy and more broadly in diaspora Greek can serve as a case study of how long-term unbalanced contact can give rise to syntactic borrowing, shedding light on both necessary and sufficient formal conditions of contact-induced reanalysis and change. Diachronically, Greek features adjective-like demonstratives. In southern Italy and Asia Minor, the adjectival syntax of demonstratives is being and has been lost under pressure from Italo-Romance dialects and Turkish respectively. This radical departure from the traditional Greek pattern is, arguably, impossible in the absence of contact. Crucially, however, a new grammatical rule can only be borrowed if its most characteristic outputs are already possible in the target language, or are made possible through language-internal dynamics
On the syntactic encoding of lexical interjections in Italo-Romance
No full textBased on evidence from Italo-Romance, in this article I argue that lexical interjections can be split into three categories, depending on whether they must, they can or they cannot be integrated with the associated clause; the degree of integration with the co-occurring clause depends on the merge position of the interjection. Only interjections lexicalizing the functional head SpeechAct° represent autonomous linguistic acts and are therefore prosodically and syntactically independent from the associated clause; from this position they can attract the associated clause to the corresponding specifier position or raise to the adjacent head Speaker° in order to provide the necessary contextual anchoring. Interjections lexicalizing the lower projection EvalSP do not have these properties and are intrinsically discourse-linked
Can structural deficiency be parametrized? Oblique pronouns in old Tuscan varieties
No full textThis paper discusses the microvariation in the distribution of deficient pronouns (Cardinaletti and Starke 1999) in old Tuscan texts, in particular of the 3pl dative forms derived from Lat. illorum ‘of those ones’, with the intent to understand if structural deficiency is subject to a predictable parametric variation. The form loro in old Florentine has many properties of the ‘weak’ class, while old Sienese lo’ generally behaves as a clitic; however, both display many other properties which do not fit well into the ‘weak’/’clitic’ categories. It will be argued that the strong/weak/clitic divide is not regulated by specific parameters, but is instead a by-product of changes affecting more general word order properties of sentence structure, as the loss of V2
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
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