Description:
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title>
<jats:p>The object of study of this paper is a Romance construction characterized by the presence of the complementizer in
root clauses and by an evidential or epistemic meaning (i.e. <jats:italic>C-constructions</jats:italic>). In these structures, the
complementizer is preceded by a functional element that morphologically coincides with an adjective or an adverb. From a
morphosyntactic viewpoint, we show that these structures are monoclausal and that the epistemic or evidential item preceding the
complementizer has undergone a process of grammaticalization becoming a functional element. As for their use and interpretation,
we describe their primary semantic meaning, as well as their pragmatic extensions and functions, which involve subjectification and
intersubjectivity. We finally propose a syntactic configuration that can account for C-constructions and their properties in the
syntax representation. This configuration involves the assumption of a projection – in fact, a set of projections – above ForceP
which encode speaker-oriented and pragmatic features (e.g. evaluative, evidential, epistemic values).</jats:p>