In this paper I demonstrate that in Mòcheno, a German dialect spoken in Northern Italy, scrambling, i.e. the movement of any constituent above sentential adverbs and below the finite verb, is permitted like in Continental Germanic languages. Unlike in these languages, however, leftward movement is not triggered by specificity or scope-fixing (A-scrambling) or by the need to check any topic or contrastive/new-information focus discourse-features (A’-scrambling). By relying on information structure, the syntax of modal particles and the distribution of scrambling in sentences with fronted operators, I provide evidence that scrambling in Mòcheno triggers a verum focus reading on the truth value of the sentence and involves a type of focus movement to a FocusP in CP. That scrambling can be associated with verum focus is a unicum among Continental Germanic languages, which I show follows from a reanalyis of the properties of Germanic focus scrambling under the influence of Romance anaphoric anteposition.

Scrambling as verum focus: German scrambling meets Romance anaphoric anteposition / Cognola, Federica. - In: ANNALI DI CA' FOSCARI. SERIE OCCIDENTALE. - ISSN 2499-1562. - ELETTRONICO. - 51:(2017), pp. 217-244. [10.14277/2499-1562/AnnOc-51-17-12]

Scrambling as verum focus: German scrambling meets Romance anaphoric anteposition.

COGNOLA, FEDERICA
2017

Abstract

In this paper I demonstrate that in Mòcheno, a German dialect spoken in Northern Italy, scrambling, i.e. the movement of any constituent above sentential adverbs and below the finite verb, is permitted like in Continental Germanic languages. Unlike in these languages, however, leftward movement is not triggered by specificity or scope-fixing (A-scrambling) or by the need to check any topic or contrastive/new-information focus discourse-features (A’-scrambling). By relying on information structure, the syntax of modal particles and the distribution of scrambling in sentences with fronted operators, I provide evidence that scrambling in Mòcheno triggers a verum focus reading on the truth value of the sentence and involves a type of focus movement to a FocusP in CP. That scrambling can be associated with verum focus is a unicum among Continental Germanic languages, which I show follows from a reanalyis of the properties of Germanic focus scrambling under the influence of Romance anaphoric anteposition.
2017
Emphatic focus; Modal particles; Verb Second; Information structure.
01 Pubblicazione su rivista::01a Articolo in rivista
Scrambling as verum focus: German scrambling meets Romance anaphoric anteposition / Cognola, Federica. - In: ANNALI DI CA' FOSCARI. SERIE OCCIDENTALE. - ISSN 2499-1562. - ELETTRONICO. - 51:(2017), pp. 217-244. [10.14277/2499-1562/AnnOc-51-17-12]
File allegati a questo prodotto
File Dimensione Formato  
Cognola_Scrambling_2017.pdf

accesso aperto

Tipologia: Versione editoriale (versione pubblicata con il layout dell'editore)
Licenza: Creative commons
Dimensione 199.82 kB
Formato Adobe PDF
199.82 kB Adobe PDF

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11573/1015158
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus ND
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? ND
social impact