On postverbal subjects in Old Venetian

Bibliographic Data

ID4926113
AuthorsFrancesco Pinzin (0000-0002-3744-062X, Goethe University Frankfurt, corresponding author), Cecilia Poletto (0000-0002-4778-0812, Goethe University Frankfurt)
Year2025
Volume26
Issue1
Pages132-152
Publication date2025-07-17
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLinguistic Variation (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2211-6834 • E-ISSN: 2211-6842
PublisherJohn Benjamins Publishing Company (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1075/lv.24062.pin
OpenAlexW4413077420
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited22

Postverbal subjects occupy different positions across languages, as they can result from V-to-C movement (e.g., German) or from the subject remaining low (e.g., Italian), either in a thematic or low focus position. We test postverbal subjects in Old Venetian and show that their frequency increases in (i) main clauses, and (ii) unaccusative/predicative/passive verbs. Postverbal pronominal subjects exclusively increase under (i), postverbal non-pronominal subjects under (ii). This indicates that Old Venetian lacked an active low focus subject position and that postverbal pronominal and non-pronominal subjects are different: pronominal subjects are postverbal due to V-to-C movement, while non-pronominal subjects are postverbal due to their low thematic position. We model this by proposing that pronominal subjects must leave their low thematic position for checking their Ground features in the low CP area, a position not available for non-pronominal subjects, which either stay low or move to the high Topic layers in the CP

German · Linguistics · Physics · Predicative expression · Computer Science · Linguistics and language evolution · Philosophy · Phonetics and Phonology Research · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation

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