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Focus constructions, verb types and the SV/VS order in Italian: An acquisitional study from a syntax–prosody perspective
No full textThis paper investigates the realization of subjects in Broad and Narrow Focus constructions, from both an acquisitional and a
theoretical perspective. Specifically, NF structures include Information (IF) and Corrective (CF) subjects and the study concerns Italian children (4--9 y.o.). Data are collected through an original experiment, based on spontaneous answers to (recorded) questions associated to scene settings. It is shown that the SV strategy is the most frequently used, independent of either Focus or verb type (considering transitive, unaccusative and unergartive verbs). Importantly, however, prosodic analysis shows that the SV order is systematically associated to distinct contours according to Focus types. As for the VS order, it appears as a late acquisition (around 7 y.o.) for both NF and BF constructions and is always associated with a downgrading contour. In a cartographic approach, these results lead to the
conclusion that focus-related discourse and p-features are merged in dedicated projections and trigger movement to be valued and interpreted at Spell-Out. Consequently, p-features are uninterpretable at PF in the VS order. Finally, since the realization of postverbal subjects is part of the Null Subject Parameter, VS late emergence supports the hypothesis that the discourse-related competences connected with its acquisition are managed after 7 y.o
Subjects, topics and the accusative case alternation in Finnish. A discourse-related ‘‘split’’ account of the Subject function
No full textThis article investigates the morpho-syntactic and discourse properties of preverbal constituents in Finnish, providing a new
interpretation of the distinction between Subjects and Topics, as well as an explanation for the Case forms that characterize the Object realization in this language. Based on a cartographic approach to Finnish clause structure, evidence is provided for a functional ‘separation’ between the evaluation of the EPP feature and the domain of Nominative Case assignment. Specifically, a functional ‘split’ is proposed in the high IP-zone between the TP projection, where Nominative Case is checked by the sentential Subject triggering verb agreement, and the SubjP position, dedicated to the EPP requirement and hosting the Subject of predication. Based on this distinction, preverbal constituents only qualify as ‘full Subjects’ if they pass through both Spec positions. Specific consequences apply to Subject agreement and the realization of Accusative Case when these projections host different constituents (e.g., necessive, existential and passive clauses). This split account can also provide a distinction between the Subject of predication (in the IP-zone) and a Topic (in the C-domain), showing that not any preverbal constituent can be a Subject, while any constituent can be topicalized, with specific discourse functions and language-specific restrictions
The Interpretation of Null Subjects in a Radical Pro-drop Language: Topic Chains and Discourse-semantic Requirements in Chinese
No full textBased on original data collected through an online experiment, evidence is provided in this paper that the interpretation of null subjects in a radical pro-drop language like Chinese relies on the topic criterion proposed for consistent and partial pro-drop languages (Frascarelli 2007 and Frascarelli 2018), thereby supporting the theory that the null subject parameter implies an information-structural strategy for interpretation. Nevertheless, radical Chinese shows specificities that must be integrated in this theory for a comprehensive account. In particular, even though silent topic can start chains (consistent with the topic criterion), data show a significant preference for overt and local topics as antecedents. This locality requirement thus integrates phonological visibility in a general syntactic condition (minimal overt link condition), proposing an interesting parallel with the properties shown by partial pro-drop languages (Frascarelli and Jimenez-Fernandez in press). The present investigation also contributes to outline the structural differences existing between adverbial clauses in Chinese, supporting a distinction between central and peripheral adverbial clauses (Haegeman 2012). Specifically, while temporal and conditional clauses show the properties of nonrestrictive relative clauses, this is not the case for concessive clauses, which merged as subordinate clauses in either the C-domain or the high split-TP area. Differences between temporal and conditional clauses are attributed to the presence of an overt operator in the latter, and the pre-matrix position of adverbial clauses is explained in the light of their discourse role as frame-setters (Krifka 2007)
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