Chapter 18
Adverbs and the left periphery of non-finite clauses in Old Spanish
Infinitival clauses in Modern Spanish lack a left periphery on their own. Nevertheless, in Old Spanish, non-finite clauses with infinitives, gerunds and participles allow preverbal elements like subjects, objects and adverbial elements. It seems that the latter occupied a preverbal position of a modal nature within a left periphery, which was not always projected and it was defective compared to the left periphery of finite clauses. Furthermore, the complexity of this left periphery depended on the degree of independence regarding the main clause. The changes in the preverbal area of non-finite verb forms would demonstrate how the left periphery was fundamentally restructured in Spanish through its history, as in other Romance languages.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.The description of the left periphery in non-finite clauses
- 3.Discussion
- 4.Concluding remarks
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Notes
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Abbreviations
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Corpus
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References