Infinitive fronting as a transparency effect in Old and Middle French
In this article, we present a novel analysis of infinitive fronting in Old and Middle French (9th-16th century). We find that in sentences with modal verbs and clitic climbing, the infinitive may either follow the main verb or precede it. When the subject of the main verb is overt and the infinitive...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
2024-03-01
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| Series: | Isogloss |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://revistes.uab.cat/isogloss/article/view/314 |
| _version_ | 1797228941368360960 |
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| author | Marc Olivier Christina Sevdali Raffaella Folli |
| author_facet | Marc Olivier Christina Sevdali Raffaella Folli |
| author_sort | Marc Olivier |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In this article, we present a novel analysis of infinitive fronting in Old and Middle French (9th-16th century). We find that in sentences with modal verbs and clitic climbing, the infinitive may either follow the main verb or precede it. When the subject of the main verb is overt and the infinitive is fronted, the order is Subj-Vinf-Vfin. Moreover, we find that the object of the fronted infinitive either cliticises onto the main verb (i.e. clitic climbing) or moves as a full DP with the infinitive, in which case the order is Subj-Obj-Vinf-Vfin. We compare our data to Stylistic Fronting, and we show that infinitive fronting in Old and Middle French is a different mechanism. Our analysis takes infinitive fronting to be vP-movement to Spec,TP, an operation which patterns alongside other Transparency Effects. Therefore, infinitive fronting provides further evidence for monoclausal restructuring in earlier French.
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| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T14:13:05Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d85f008c15dd40a6ac240e25dbb174a6 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2385-4138 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T15:04:42Z |
| publishDate | 2024-03-01 |
| publisher | Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Isogloss |
| spelling | doaj.art-d85f008c15dd40a6ac240e25dbb174a62024-04-02T13:57:23ZengUniversitat Autònoma de BarcelonaIsogloss2385-41382024-03-0110410.5565/rev/isogloss.314Infinitive fronting as a transparency effect in Old and Middle French Marc Olivier0Christina Sevdali1Raffaella Folli2University of OxfordUlster UniversityUlster UniversityIn this article, we present a novel analysis of infinitive fronting in Old and Middle French (9th-16th century). We find that in sentences with modal verbs and clitic climbing, the infinitive may either follow the main verb or precede it. When the subject of the main verb is overt and the infinitive is fronted, the order is Subj-Vinf-Vfin. Moreover, we find that the object of the fronted infinitive either cliticises onto the main verb (i.e. clitic climbing) or moves as a full DP with the infinitive, in which case the order is Subj-Obj-Vinf-Vfin. We compare our data to Stylistic Fronting, and we show that infinitive fronting in Old and Middle French is a different mechanism. Our analysis takes infinitive fronting to be vP-movement to Spec,TP, an operation which patterns alongside other Transparency Effects. Therefore, infinitive fronting provides further evidence for monoclausal restructuring in earlier French. https://revistes.uab.cat/isogloss/article/view/314infinitivesclitic placementOld FrenchrestructuringStylistic Fronting |
| spellingShingle | Marc Olivier Christina Sevdali Raffaella Folli Infinitive fronting as a transparency effect in Old and Middle French Isogloss infinitives clitic placement Old French restructuring Stylistic Fronting |
| title | Infinitive fronting as a transparency effect in Old and Middle French |
| title_full | Infinitive fronting as a transparency effect in Old and Middle French |
| title_fullStr | Infinitive fronting as a transparency effect in Old and Middle French |
| title_full_unstemmed | Infinitive fronting as a transparency effect in Old and Middle French |
| title_short | Infinitive fronting as a transparency effect in Old and Middle French |
| title_sort | infinitive fronting as a transparency effect in old and middle french |
| topic | infinitives clitic placement Old French restructuring Stylistic Fronting |
| url | https://revistes.uab.cat/isogloss/article/view/314 |
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