This work investigates the formal properties of interrogative clauses in standard Italian, in the framework of the cartographic approach (Cinque and Rizzi 2010). In chapter 2 “The syntax of Italian interrogatives” a novel account of interrogative inversion is proposed according to which Italian has T-to-C movement in matrix interrogatives, as originally proposed in Rizzi and Roberts (1989). The starting point is the observation that in Italian, and in other Romance languages as well, overt non-clitic subjects cannot occur in their canonical position (that is in between the wh-phrase and the tensed verb or immediately on the right of the auxiliary/modal verb) in matrix wh-interrogatives. This fact has been explained in different ways over the past thirty years, with the debate focussing on two major points: whether T moves to C or not, and whether Romance preverbal subjects have the same status and target the same position as their Germanic counterparts. Building on theoretical reasoning and empirical evidence, I endorse the idea that the Subject- Agreement field must be split into several layers. I also argue that th Subject criterion (the cartographic rendition of the EPP) involves the satisfaction of two requirements: (i) the licensing of subject-verb agreement, and (ii) the licensing of the referential properties of the subject. Each requirement involves a different position in the Subject-Agreement field, where the lowest node is devoted to subject-verb agreement and Nominative licensing and the highest ones expressing subjectrelated features. I argue that in Null Subject Languages, inversion, independently motivated by the need of typing the clause as interrogative, might also satisfy the second requirement of the Subject Criterion. This fact, I argue, has the effect of allowing the projection of a reduced structure which doesn’t contain the layers usually targeted by preverbal subjects. Chapter 3 “The distribution of wh-items and the path of non criterial movement” investigates how the featural specialization of different left peripheral positions plays a role in wh-movement. Discussing dta involving clefted questions I propose that whenever different wh-items target different left peripheral positions in criterial wh-movement, they also target different positions in non criterial (that is, cyclic) wh-movement. This proposal prompts a novel view of “criterial positions” according to which a position should not be seen as criterial in an absolute sense. Only when the criterial feature projects, a cartographic position gives rise to the usual “criterial” effects. Chapter 4 “Focus and Ellipsis in questions and answers: the case of split questions” deals with so called split questions, that is interrogative structures formed by two parts: a wh-part which corresponds to a standard wh-question and a tag which constitutes a possible answer for that question. Building on previous work by Arregi (2010) I will adopt an ellipsis-based account according to which Split Questions are in fact biclausal structures. In chapter 5 “Rhetorical and «non canonical» questions” I discuss several instances of non standard questions, that is interrogatives which do not, or do not only, inquire for new information but convey further meaning. A natural question is whether the form of non standard questions is exactly the same of true questions, that is whether their peculiar meaning is reflected in the syntax - the null hypothesis from a cartographic viewpoint – or not. In order to address this question I investigate whether rhetorical questions and their non-rhetorical counterparts involve the same layer in the left periphery of the clause or not. Building on Obenauer and Poletto (2000), I endorse the idea that there are structural differences between the left periphery of the two types of questions; in particular I argue that rhetorical questions involve an extra left peripheral position dedicated to the licensing of modal properties. In the second part of the chapter I take into account some properties of non standard interrogative structures in modern Fiorentino. Chapter 6 “Beyond interrogatives: exclamative clauses and the internal syntax of wh-phrases” extends the analysis to wh-exclamatives, which are related to their interrogative counterparts under several respects. After reviewing some recent influential analyses of exclamatives (Zanuttini and Portner 2003, Rett 2008), wh-exclamatives derived from copular structures are discussed. This analysis provides the basis to investigate two aspects of the internal structure of the extended adjectival projection: the distribution of silent fuctional nouns in the spirit of R. Kayne’s recent work and the distribution of modifiers within the extended AP which, perhaps unsurprisingly, seems to follow Cinque’s hierarchy.

Botteri, D. (2018). Aspects of the Italian interrogative system.

Aspects of the Italian interrogative system

Botteri Daniele
2018-01-01

Abstract

This work investigates the formal properties of interrogative clauses in standard Italian, in the framework of the cartographic approach (Cinque and Rizzi 2010). In chapter 2 “The syntax of Italian interrogatives” a novel account of interrogative inversion is proposed according to which Italian has T-to-C movement in matrix interrogatives, as originally proposed in Rizzi and Roberts (1989). The starting point is the observation that in Italian, and in other Romance languages as well, overt non-clitic subjects cannot occur in their canonical position (that is in between the wh-phrase and the tensed verb or immediately on the right of the auxiliary/modal verb) in matrix wh-interrogatives. This fact has been explained in different ways over the past thirty years, with the debate focussing on two major points: whether T moves to C or not, and whether Romance preverbal subjects have the same status and target the same position as their Germanic counterparts. Building on theoretical reasoning and empirical evidence, I endorse the idea that the Subject- Agreement field must be split into several layers. I also argue that th Subject criterion (the cartographic rendition of the EPP) involves the satisfaction of two requirements: (i) the licensing of subject-verb agreement, and (ii) the licensing of the referential properties of the subject. Each requirement involves a different position in the Subject-Agreement field, where the lowest node is devoted to subject-verb agreement and Nominative licensing and the highest ones expressing subjectrelated features. I argue that in Null Subject Languages, inversion, independently motivated by the need of typing the clause as interrogative, might also satisfy the second requirement of the Subject Criterion. This fact, I argue, has the effect of allowing the projection of a reduced structure which doesn’t contain the layers usually targeted by preverbal subjects. Chapter 3 “The distribution of wh-items and the path of non criterial movement” investigates how the featural specialization of different left peripheral positions plays a role in wh-movement. Discussing dta involving clefted questions I propose that whenever different wh-items target different left peripheral positions in criterial wh-movement, they also target different positions in non criterial (that is, cyclic) wh-movement. This proposal prompts a novel view of “criterial positions” according to which a position should not be seen as criterial in an absolute sense. Only when the criterial feature projects, a cartographic position gives rise to the usual “criterial” effects. Chapter 4 “Focus and Ellipsis in questions and answers: the case of split questions” deals with so called split questions, that is interrogative structures formed by two parts: a wh-part which corresponds to a standard wh-question and a tag which constitutes a possible answer for that question. Building on previous work by Arregi (2010) I will adopt an ellipsis-based account according to which Split Questions are in fact biclausal structures. In chapter 5 “Rhetorical and «non canonical» questions” I discuss several instances of non standard questions, that is interrogatives which do not, or do not only, inquire for new information but convey further meaning. A natural question is whether the form of non standard questions is exactly the same of true questions, that is whether their peculiar meaning is reflected in the syntax - the null hypothesis from a cartographic viewpoint – or not. In order to address this question I investigate whether rhetorical questions and their non-rhetorical counterparts involve the same layer in the left periphery of the clause or not. Building on Obenauer and Poletto (2000), I endorse the idea that there are structural differences between the left periphery of the two types of questions; in particular I argue that rhetorical questions involve an extra left peripheral position dedicated to the licensing of modal properties. In the second part of the chapter I take into account some properties of non standard interrogative structures in modern Fiorentino. Chapter 6 “Beyond interrogatives: exclamative clauses and the internal syntax of wh-phrases” extends the analysis to wh-exclamatives, which are related to their interrogative counterparts under several respects. After reviewing some recent influential analyses of exclamatives (Zanuttini and Portner 2003, Rett 2008), wh-exclamatives derived from copular structures are discussed. This analysis provides the basis to investigate two aspects of the internal structure of the extended adjectival projection: the distribution of silent fuctional nouns in the spirit of R. Kayne’s recent work and the distribution of modifiers within the extended AP which, perhaps unsurprisingly, seems to follow Cinque’s hierarchy.
2018
Botteri, D. (2018). Aspects of the Italian interrogative system.
Botteri, Daniele
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11365/1047476
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