Syntactic Variation and Verb Second
Subtitle: A German dialect in Northern Italy
By: Federica Cognola, University of Trento
Series: Linguistik aktuell/linguistics today -- Volume 201
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company; Benjamins Publishing Company, John
Published: 2013
Place of publication: Amsterdam; Philadelphia
Language: eng
Number of pages: 325
ISBN-13: 9789027255846; 9789027272447
Subjects: Dialects; German language; Grammar; Verb; Syntax
Description: This monograph investigates the syntax of the finite verb in Mòcheno, a minority language spoken in a German speech island of Northern Italy. Basing her study on detailed new data collected during extensive fieldwork, and focusing on finite verb movement; on multiple access to the left periphery; on pro licensing mechanism and on the distribution of OV/VO word orders, the author refutes the traditional view that the syntactic variation found in Mòcheno is due to the presence of two competing grammars as a consequence of contact with Romance varieties and accounts for the peculiarities of Mòcheno syntax within a theory couched in the framework of Generative Grammar. This book contributes to our understanding of the verb-second phenomenon and sheds new light on the asymmetries between Old Romance and Germanic verb-second languages. A useful tool for all linguists working on both theoretical and comparative syntax and to anyone interested in language variation, dialectology and typology.
Notes: "This monograph is a fully revised version of my PhD dissertation defended in March 2010 at the University of Padua."

Includes bibliographical references (pages 221-233) and index.