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Italian Dialectology at the Interfaces
Edited by Silvio Cruschina, Adam Ledgeway and Eva-Maria Remberger
[Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 251] 2019
► pp. 63–78

The Inflected Construction in the dialects of Sicily

Parameters of microvariation

| Ca’ Foscari University of Venice

Sicilian dialects display an instance of verbal Pseudo-Coordination (V1[TAM.Agr] a V2[TAM.Agr]), here referred to as the Inflected Construction or IC (cf. Cardinaletti and Giusti 2001, 2003), that can occur in very different configurations. Aim of this paper is to discuss the following parameters of microvariation, by providing new data from recent fieldwork: (i) the restriction of the IC to some V2s; (ii) the possibility for the IC to occur across moods and tenses and to display complete paradigms for person features; (iii) the reduction of go as V1, and of other possible V1s, to a prefix-like invariable form. In the paper, three major types of IC are identified: Type 1 IC is only possible in some persons of the indicative present and in the 2sg of the imperative; Type 2 IC features the extension of the paradigm to other simple tenses of the indicative; Type 3 IC displays a full-fledged paradigm in the indicative (3 simple tenses), subjunctive and imperative.

Keywords: Inflected Construction, Pseudo-Coordination, Sicilian dialects, motion verbs, restructuring verbs
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Type 1: The IC in Marsalese
  • 3.Restrictions on V2 in the dialect spoken in Palermo
  • 4.Type 2: The indicative preterite IC in Deliano
  • 5.Type 3: The IC in the dialects of eastern Sicily
  • 6.Other configurations of Inflected Construction
  • 7.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgement
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 5 February 2019
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https://doi.org/10.1075/la.251.03dic
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