Article published in:
Clitic Doubling in the Balkan LanguagesEdited by Dalina Kallulli and Liliane Tasmowski
[Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 130] 2008
► pp. 135–163
5. Romanian clitic doubling: A view from pragmatics-semantics and diachrony
Virginia Hill | University of New Brunswick
Liliane Tasmowski | University of Antwerp & KVAB
This paper argues that an approach to the Romanian C(litic) D(oubling) from a pragmatics-semantics perspective produces a systematic account for three peculiarities of this construction; namely, the obligatory particle pe preceding the D(irect) O(bject) dp, the interaction between this type of marking and the insertion of a doubling clitic, and the DO/I(ndirect) O(bject) asymmetry in the conditions for CD. In particular, speech act effects emerging from the presence versus absence of pe lead us to define this element as a pragmatic marker forprominence in these configurations. Its interaction with the doubling clitic depends on the semantics of reference: only an acceptable degree of stable reference of the dp allows for the coocurrence with a clitic (i.e., for the CD of DOs). These constraints do not extend to the CD of IOs. We consider that an acceptable degree of stable reference is intrinsically ensured in Romanian CD with IOs because of the matching morphological endings for Oblique Case on both the clitic and the dp; prominence, on the other hand, emerges from the high location of IOs on the topicality scale (i.e., close to Agent-like theta-roles), in contrast to the low location of DOs (i.e., close to Theme-like theta-roles). Thus, IOs meet the pragmatic prominence conditions for CD due to their morpho-semantics, whereas DOs need categorial marking (i.e., pe) to qualify for this process. An overview of the CD in three texts of Old Romanian attests a gradual emergence of the modern CD that supports our analysis.
Published online: 12 November 2008
https://doi.org/10.1075/la.130.10hil
https://doi.org/10.1075/la.130.10hil
Cited by
Cited by other publications
Alboiu, Gabriela & Virginia Hill
Hill, Virginia
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 19 december 2020. 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.