Italian Syntax

In the course of our everyday lives, we generally take our knowledge of language for granted. Occasionally, we may become aware of its great practical importance, but we rarely pay any attention to the formal properties that language has. Yet these properties are remarkably complex. So complex that the question immediately arises as to how we could know so much. The facts that will be considered in this book should serve well to illustrate this point. We will see for example that verbs like arrivare 'arrive' and others like telefonare 'telephone', which are superficially similar, actually differ in a large number of respects, some fairly well known, others not. Why should there be such differencces. we may ask. And why should it be that if a verb behaves like arrivare and unlike tetefonare in one respect. it will do so in all others consistently, and how could everyone know it? To take another case, Italian has two series of pronouns: stressed and unstressed. Thus, for example, alongside of reflexive se stesso 'himself which is the stressed form. one finds si which is unstressed but otherwise synonymous. Yet we will see that the differences between the two could not simply be stress versus lack of stress, as their behavior is radically different under a variety of syntactic conditions.

Contenu

I: Verb Classes.- I: Intransitive Verbs and Auxiliaries.- 1.0. Introduction.- 1.1. Free Inversion.- 1.2. The Distribution of ne.- 1.3. Ergative Verbs.- 1.4. On the Syntax of ne.- 1.5. Reflexive, Ergative and Inherent-reflexive si.- 1.6. Impersonal si.- 1.6.0. Introduction.- 1.6.1. SI as a Subject Argument.- 1.6.2. Object Preposing.- 1.7. Auxiliary Assignment.- 1.8. Linear Order.- 1.9. Conclusion.- Notes.- 2: The Syntax of Inversion.- 2.0. Introduction.- 2.1. Null Subjects and Cliticization.- 2.2. Null Subjects and Free Inversion.- 2.3. Inversion Relations and Emphatic Pronouns.- 2.4. Residual Questions.- 2.5. Piedmontese ye.- 2.5.0. Introduction.- 2.5.1. Inflectional Clitics.- 2.5.2. Inversion.- 2.5.3. Italian ci.- 2.5.4. Verb Agreement.- 2.5.5. Conclusion.- 2.6. French il.- 2.6.1. Subject Pronouns.- 2.6.2. Il-inversion and Auxiliary Assignment.- 2.6.3. Se moyen.- 2.7. English there.- 2.7.0. Introduction.- 2.7.1. 'Be' as a Raising Verb.- 2.7.2. Inversion with 'be'.- 2.7.3. Presentational there.- 2.8. Conclusion.- Notes.- 3: on Reconstruction and Other Matters.- 3.0. Introduction.- 3.1. Subject ?-role and Case.- 3.1.1. Minus Accusative.- 3.1.2. Double Objects.- 3.1.3. By-phrases.- 3.2. Past Participial Clauses.- 3.2.0. Introduction.- 3.2.1. English.- 3.2.2. Impersonal Passives.- 3.2.3. Italian sc Relatives.- 3.3. Reconstruction.- 3.3.0. Introduction.- 3.3.1. Each Interpretation.- 3.3.2. Quantifier Scope.- 3.3.3. Reconstruction and the Projection Principle.- Notes.- II: Complex Predicates.- 4: Causative Constructions.- 4.0. Introduction.- 4.1. Faire-Infinitive.- 4.1.0. Introduction.- 4.1.1. Syntactic Derivation.- 4.1.2. Sentential Complement.- 4.1.3. Exceptional Case Marking.- 4.1.4. Cliticization.- 4.1.5. VP-movement.- 4.2. Faire-par.- 4.2.0. Introduction.- 4.2.1. Base-generation.- 4.2.2. Thematic Subject.- 4.2.3. On the 'Transformational' Approach.- 4.3. Similarities between FI and FP.- 4.4. Syntactic Subject.- 4.5. Ergative Complements of fare.- 4.5.0. Introduction.- 4.5.1. Dative and Reflexive Objects.- 4.5.2. Dativized Subjects.- 4.5.3. Further Remarks and Conclusions.- 4.6. FI versus Reconstruction.- 4.7. On Perception Verbs.- 4.8. Conclusion.- Notes.- 5: Restructuring Constructions.- 5.0. Introduction.- 5.1. Syntactic Derivation.- 5.2. Restructuring with andare, venire.- 5.3. Embedded Subject.- 5.4. Similarities between Restructuring and Causative Constructions.- 5.5 Auxiliaries and Past Participle Agreement.- 5.6. Subject Substitution.- 5.7. Auxiliaries in Some Special Cases.- 5.8. More on the Differences between Causative and Restructuring Constructions.- 5.8.0. Introduction.- 5.8.1. Subject Substitution versus VP-Complements.- 5.8.2. Matrix Passives.- 5.8.3. Prepositional Infinitives.- 5.8.4. Summary.- 5.9. Conclusion.- Notes.- 6: Reflexives.- 6.0. Introduction.- 6.1. Reflexives and Auxiliary Assignment.- 6.2. Reflexives in Complex Predicates.- 6.3. Reflexives as Lexical Affixes.- 6.3.0. Introduction.- 6.3.1. Ergative and Inherent-reflexive si.- 6.3.2. Inversion and sc Relatives.- 6.3.3. Reflexives under faire.- 6.4. Conclusion 427 Notes.- Closing Remarks.- Index of Names.- Analytical Index.