Article published in:
Romance Linguistics 2007: Selected papers from the 37th Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages (LSRL), Pittsburgh, 15–18 March 2007Edited by Pascual José Masullo, Erin O'Rourke and Chia-Hui Huang
[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 304] 2009
► pp. 19–36
On the Existence of Null Complementizers in Old French
Deborah Arteaga | University of Nevada, Las Vegas
This paper considers apparent null complementizers in Old French, a phenomenon typically considered by philologists to be parataxis, or a juxtaposition of two main clauses (cf. Foulet 1982, Jensen 1990, Moignet 1988); recent studies within the Minimalist framework (e.g., Bošković & Lasnik 2003, Epstein et al. 2005 and Kishimoto 2006) argue for the existence of null complementizers. This paper proposes that subordinate phrases apparently headed by a null complementizer in Old French are in fact lexically selected CPs with an EPP feature in C. We argue that subordinate clauses in the subjunctive provide evidence against the traditional parataxis analysis, as the mood is clearly lexically selected for by the main verb. Our analysis accounts not only for the distribution of complementizer phrases not headed by a complementizer in OF, but also for their loss diachronically, as the EPP feature of subordinate C was lost in the evolution from OF to MF.
Published online: 01 April 2009
https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.304.03art
https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.304.03art
Cited by
Cited by 2 other publications
Arteaga, Deborah
Arteaga, Deborah L.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 14 april 2022. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.