The Left-periphery of V2 and non V-2 Rhaetoromance Dialects and Focus Particles |
Cecilia Poletto |
| Universita di Padova, Italy |
| Abstract: In this work I will analyze Rhaetoromance V2 in a split CP perspective, showing that the layering of the FPs inside CP is the same in V2 and non V2 dialects modulo the difference in verb movement. I will provide new arguments which confirm Benincàžs (1998) idea that the CP layer can be split into two "fields" one containing Topics and one containing Focus phrases, both fields contain more than one FP and there is no Topic field lower than Focus (contra Rizzi (1997)). I will then concentrate on the Focus field and examine a) the distribution of focus particles in V2 and non V2 dialects: in V2 dialects the particle pa expresses new information Focus, in non V2 dialects it marks contrastive Focus; b) the distribution of subjects with respect to the element in first position in V2 contexts; c) the distribution of embedded V2 according to the class of the selecting verb. All data show that Focus in not a single projection and that it contains different projections for contrastive and new information Focus and for different types of adverbials. |
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| Syntactic Atlas of the Dutch Dialects (SAND) |