Towards a Typology of Zero Aboutness: Expletive <i>A</i> in Fornese and <i>Chiru</i> in Cilentano
This paper investigates the syntactic–pragmatic behavior of two expletive-like elements, namely <i>a</i> and <i>chiru</i>, in Fornese and Cilentano, two Romance varieties spoken in Northern and Southern Italy, respectively. We argue that <i>a</i> and <i>chir...
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| Format: | Article |
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MDPI AG
2024-02-01
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/9/2/60 |
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| author | Simone De Cia Mariangela Cerullo |
| author_facet | Simone De Cia Mariangela Cerullo |
| author_sort | Simone De Cia |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This paper investigates the syntactic–pragmatic behavior of two expletive-like elements, namely <i>a</i> and <i>chiru</i>, in Fornese and Cilentano, two Romance varieties spoken in Northern and Southern Italy, respectively. We argue that <i>a</i> and <i>chiru</i> are not <i>bona fide</i> expletive subjects but discourse-pragmatic expletives, which mark <i>zero aboutness</i> or the absence of an aboutness referent in an utterance. The investigation of Fornese and Cilentano points towards the existence of a sub-class of null-subject languages where aboutness as a discourse feature must be structurally satisfied by merging an overt or null topic in the syntactic spine of the clause. In the absence of such an element—for example, in thetic clauses—a discourse-pragmatic expletive is externally merged as a last-resort strategy to satisfy [uAboutness]. We argue that, in these null-subject languages, the satisfaction of the discourse feature [uAboutness] is an LF requirement, which is subject to a parametric choice. We show that, in Fornese, “default” [aboutness] is satisfied in SubjP, which is the canonical syntactic position for overt subjects within a cartographic approach. In Cilentano, on the other hand, [aboutness] is satisfied in a higher position within the C-domain, namely ShiftP, the canonical syntactic position that hosts overt aboutness/shift topics. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T22:24:26Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-18a3e7c5992f49d285ae22da6f59c55c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2226-471X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T22:24:26Z |
| publishDate | 2024-02-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Languages |
| spelling | doaj.art-18a3e7c5992f49d285ae22da6f59c55c2024-02-23T15:24:26ZengMDPI AGLanguages2226-471X2024-02-01926010.3390/languages9020060Towards a Typology of Zero Aboutness: Expletive <i>A</i> in Fornese and <i>Chiru</i> in CilentanoSimone De Cia0Mariangela Cerullo1Department of Linguistics and English Language, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UKDepartment of Humanities, University of Naples Federico II, 80138 Napoli, NA, ItalyThis paper investigates the syntactic–pragmatic behavior of two expletive-like elements, namely <i>a</i> and <i>chiru</i>, in Fornese and Cilentano, two Romance varieties spoken in Northern and Southern Italy, respectively. We argue that <i>a</i> and <i>chiru</i> are not <i>bona fide</i> expletive subjects but discourse-pragmatic expletives, which mark <i>zero aboutness</i> or the absence of an aboutness referent in an utterance. The investigation of Fornese and Cilentano points towards the existence of a sub-class of null-subject languages where aboutness as a discourse feature must be structurally satisfied by merging an overt or null topic in the syntactic spine of the clause. In the absence of such an element—for example, in thetic clauses—a discourse-pragmatic expletive is externally merged as a last-resort strategy to satisfy [uAboutness]. We argue that, in these null-subject languages, the satisfaction of the discourse feature [uAboutness] is an LF requirement, which is subject to a parametric choice. We show that, in Fornese, “default” [aboutness] is satisfied in SubjP, which is the canonical syntactic position for overt subjects within a cartographic approach. In Cilentano, on the other hand, [aboutness] is satisfied in a higher position within the C-domain, namely ShiftP, the canonical syntactic position that hosts overt aboutness/shift topics.https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/9/2/60aboutness/shiftexpletiveItalian Dialectsmorpho-syntaxtopic |
| spellingShingle | Simone De Cia Mariangela Cerullo Towards a Typology of Zero Aboutness: Expletive <i>A</i> in Fornese and <i>Chiru</i> in Cilentano Languages aboutness/shift expletive Italian Dialects morpho-syntax topic |
| title | Towards a Typology of Zero Aboutness: Expletive <i>A</i> in Fornese and <i>Chiru</i> in Cilentano |
| title_full | Towards a Typology of Zero Aboutness: Expletive <i>A</i> in Fornese and <i>Chiru</i> in Cilentano |
| title_fullStr | Towards a Typology of Zero Aboutness: Expletive <i>A</i> in Fornese and <i>Chiru</i> in Cilentano |
| title_full_unstemmed | Towards a Typology of Zero Aboutness: Expletive <i>A</i> in Fornese and <i>Chiru</i> in Cilentano |
| title_short | Towards a Typology of Zero Aboutness: Expletive <i>A</i> in Fornese and <i>Chiru</i> in Cilentano |
| title_sort | towards a typology of zero aboutness expletive i a i in fornese and i chiru i in cilentano |
| topic | aboutness/shift expletive Italian Dialects morpho-syntax topic |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/9/2/60 |
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