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Media type:
E-Article
Title:
On asymmetric pro-drop in Mòcheno. Pinning down the role of contact in the maintenance of a root-embedded asymmetry
Contributor:
Cognola, Federica
Published:
Walter de Gruyter GmbH, 2014
Published in:
STUF - Language Typology and Universals, 67 (2014) 4, Seite 511-532
Language:
English
DOI:
10.1515/stuf-2014-0027
ISSN:
2196-7148;
1867-8319
Origination:
Footnote:
Description:
Abstract In this article I demonstrate that in two varieties of Mòcheno, a German dialect spoken by about 600 people in the Fersina valley (Trentino, Northern Italy), referential null subjects can be licensed in main, but not in embedded clauses. This particular root-embedded asymmetry, known as “asymmetric pro-drop” (Benincà 1984), had until now been considered to be fully absent from modern Romance (Benincà 2006) and German varieties (cf. Volodina & Weiß 2012). Through an examination of Old High German, Old Italian and modern Romance varieties, I show that asymmetric pro-drop is not an innovation introduced by contact with modern Romance varieties, but must be considered a conservative feature of older German varieties that has probably been maintained because it is shared with older Romance varieties (cf. Benincà 1994).