Clitic positions and Restructuring in Italian. Anna Cardinaletti & Ur Shlonsky

Transcription

1 Clitic positions and Restructuring in Italian Anna Cardinaletti & Ur Shlonsky University of Venice University of Geneva Abstract Verbs can be introduced (merged) either in a lexical VP or in a functional head, the latter giving rise to restructuring contexts. This paper argues that there are two clitic positions in Italian restructured clauses. One position is associated with the (restructured) lexical verb and the other position is a clausal clitic position located in the functional domain. While restructuring can be recursive, clitics appear either on the restructured infinitive (no clitic climbing) or in the functional domain of the highest verb (full clitic climbing). There is no clitic climbing to an intermediate restructuring verb. We argue that only the lowest restructured verb makes a position for clitics available. We then discuss the distribution of the infinitive-final [e] and argue that its position should be identified with the lexical clitic position. Finally, it is shown that the functional ~ lexical dichotomy is too sharp and that a variety of verb classes must be admitted, including one which we call quasi-functional (causative, perception, and motion verbs.) The properties exhibited by each class of verbs correlates with the point in the structure in which they are merged. Keywords: restructuring, clitic, lexical verb, functional verb, Italian, clitic climbing

2 Introduction The major goal of this paper * is to provide a descriptively-adequate account of Italian restructuring. In particular, we are interested in the relationship between clitic climbing and the distribution of the word-final [e] of Italian infinitival verbs. We argue that restructuring takes place within a single CP and that restructuring verbs are functional verbs, namely verbs that fill positions in the functional hierarchy of a clause. In this, we follow Cinque 2004, 2001, 2003 (see also Wurmbrand 2004, 2001.) Verbs in a clause are hierarchically arrayed according to their lexical or functional status. Lexical verbs appear in the lowest part of the tree, while functional verbs pile up above the lexical verb. Despite their being verbs morphologically, functional verbs should be taken to be the realization of functional heads, expressing such semantic features as modality, aspect, etc. Our investigation of restructuring leads us to believe that the split between lexical and functional verbs is not a binary one. Between the lexical verb and the functional domain, one finds a group of what we call quasi-functional verbs. These include causative, motion, and perception verbs. We show that lexical verbs are associated with a position for clitic pronouns and a head realized by an infinitive-final [e] in Italian, as in, e.g., leggere. At the opposite end of the spectrum, functional verbs are devoid of the infinitival [e] and cannot host clitics. Pronouns which appear as (pro)clitics on a modal verb, e.g., lo in lo voglio leggere (I) it want to read, occupy a designated position for clitics in what might be called the high region of IP. There are thus two types of position for clitics in the clause: The first is a high position, 2

3 licensed independently of the choice of verb, and forming part of the essential skeleton of IP. The second type of clitic position is lower in the structure since it is contributed by a lexical or by a quasi-functional verb. The phenomenon known as clitic climbing boils down to the appearance of the clitic pronoun in the clausal clitic position (as opposed to the position associated with the lexical or quasi-functional verb.) The empirical generalization explained by our approach is that clitics can appear either on a lexical / quasi-functional verb or on the highest restructuring predicate and nowhere else. Whenever it seems that a clitic is manifested on an intermediate verb in a series, this is an illusion: The intermediate verb is in reality the highest functional verb in CP; the verb appearing on its left is in a higher clause. In our view, the optionality of restructuring is to be understood as follows: one and the same verb can be used either as a lexical or as a functional verb. In the former case, we have restructuring, namely a monoclausal structure; in the latter, we have a biclausal structure with no transparency effects. It can be shown, we believe, that lexical verbs are endowed with more structure (enabling the projection of arguments, the association with a clitic position, and the realization of the infinitive-final [e]) than verbs merged in functional heads. Finally, we show that the difference between lexical and functional verbs is reflected in the clausal architecture. 1. The Problem The following sentences are representative of a typical restructuring pattern, Rizzi 1976, 3

4 1982. The pronoun ci (there) can appear as a clitic either on the infinitival lexical verb andare (go) by which it is selected, as in (1a), or on the inflected matrix verb volere (want), as in (1b). The latter sentence illustrates the phenomenon of clitic climbing. 1 (1) a. Vorrei andarci con Maria. (I) would-want (to) go.there with Maria. b. Ci vorrei andare con Maria. Clitic climbing is possible only with restructuring verbs and impossible, therefore, in (2b), which contains the non-restructuring verb detestare. (2) a. Detesterei andarci con Maria. (I) would-detest (to) go.there with Maria. b. *Ci detesterei andare con Maria. Another well-known property of restructuring is the auxiliary switch illustrated in (3a). Although a modal verb such as volere want is associated with auxiliary avere have and not with essere be as shown in (4) with nominal complements and gapping (Rizzi 1976:23), it can inherit the auxiliary of an embedded unaccusative verb if it restructures with it. ((3a) with essere is somewhat degraded as compared to the same example with avere. (3b) with essere is uniformly excluded.) 2 (3) a. Avrei /?Sarei voluto andarci con Maria. (I) would-have /(I) would-be wanted (to) go.there with Maria. b. Avrei / *Sarei detestato andarci con Maria. 4

5 (I) would-have / (I) would-be hated (to) go.there with Maria. (4) a. Ho / *Sono voluto questo. (I) have / (I) am wanted this I wanted this. b. Non ho / *sono voluto! Not (I) have / (I) am wanted I didn t want (to)! The possibility of the auxiliary essere showing up in (3a) is due to the restructuring that has taken place between the volitional verb and the motion verb, the latter transmitting upwards, in some sense, its own auxiliary, namely essere. This is not possible in (3b), which contains a non-restructuring verb. Only the auxiliary avere is possible here, since it is required by the matrix verb detestare. (3a) shows that auxiliary switch and clitic climbing are partially independent in that the former can take place without the latter, although there is a preference for clitic climbing when essere is selected (viz. the marginal status of (3a) with sarei). Compare the following with (3a) with sarei. (5)Ci sarei voluto andare con Maria. (I) there would-be wanted (to) go with Maria I would have wanted to go there with Maria. 5

6 As Rizzi (1976:48, note 18), (1982:44, note 26), Longobardi (1978:200, note 5), and Cinque 2004 point out, restructuring is a necessary condition for clitic climbing, but not a sufficient one. In other words, the occurrence of restructuring, as manifested by auxiliary switch, merely gives rise to the formal configuration permitting clitic climbing. Whether clitic climbing applies or not depends on other factors, which we do not treat in this paper (see note 1). If clitic climbing has applied, however, we know that restructuring has taken place. In this case, auxiliary switch is obligatory. Compare (5) with *Ci avrei voluto andare con Maria (I) there would-have wanted (to) go with Maria. Examples such as (3a) lead one to expect optionality in Italian clitic climbing. This is indeed the case in relatively simple configurations containing two verbs, e.g., in (1). A more complex case is illustrated by the pattern in (6). When there is more than one restructuring verb in the clause, the clitic pronoun can appear on the infinitival lexical verb andare go as in (6a), on the infinitival modal verb potere can in (6b) or on the inflected modal verb volere want, (6c). 3 (6) a. (?)Vorrei poter andarci con Maria. (I) would want (to) be able (to) go.there with Maria b. Vorrei poterci andare con Maria. c. Ci vorrei poter andare con Maria. The pattern illustrated in (6) suggests that clitic climbing is not only optional, but that modulo note 3, there are as many options of clitic climbing as there are restructuring predicates. 6

7 Suppose, now, that an auxiliary is added to (6) and that auxiliary switch applies. If climbing were possible to every restructuring verb in a chain of restructuring predicates, we would expect all three options in (6) to yield acceptable results when embedded under an auxiliary. This is not the case, however. What we find is that the non-climbing and the full climbing options are substantially better than the partial climbing one (with full climbing perhaps better than non-climbing). This contrast is illustrated in (7) and (8) in which partial climbing to potere yields an ungrammatical result. (7) a.?sarei voluto poter andarci con Maria. (I) would be wanted (to) be able (to) go.there with Maria b. *Sarei voluto poterci andare con Maria. c. Ci sarei voluto poter andare con Maria. (8) a.?sarei dovuto poter uscirne prima. (I) would-be had (to) be able (to) exit.from-there sooner b. *Sarei dovuto poterne uscire prima. c. Ne sarei dovuto poter uscire prima. I should have exited from there sooner. One cannot argue that potere does not allow clitic climbing, since it clearly does attract the clitic in (6b). The paradox displayed by the combination of (6b) and (7b)/(8b) is an illustration of the following descriptive generalization. 7

8 (9) Clitic pronouns can appear attached either to the lexical verb or to the highest verb that has restructured and nowhere else. In (6b), restructuring does not go as high as volere, but stops with potere. Given the occurrence of essere in (7b), as opposed to avere, we know that auxiliary switch has applied. Hence in (7b), restructuring goes up to volere. This difference is schematized in (10). (The square brackets here and henceforth indicate the restructured material). (10) a. Vorrei [poterci andare con Maria]. (= (6b)) (I) would-want (to) be-able (to) go.there with Maria b. *[Sarei voluto poterci andare con Maria]. (= (7b)) In (6c) and trivially in (7c), restructuring has occured all the way up, whence the high position of the clitic. Sentence (7a) reaffirms the optionality of clitic climbing, as does (6a), which is potentially ambiguous between the partial restructuring structure underlying (6b) - viz note 3 - and the full restructuring configuration underlying (6c). In order to better explain and develop the generalization in (9), we need to present our view of restructuring and clitic placement, placing them in the context of previous work on the subject. 2. Restructuring The process by which the scope of operations associated with a lower predicate (cliticization, auxiliary selection) is extended to the domain of a higher predicate, namely restructuring, has 8

9 received substantial treatment in the literature. In what follows, we present the skeleton of two influential accounts of restructuring and show that they do not satisfactorily explain the generalization in (9). We then present our own view, which draws on Cinque 2001, Previous approaches One approach to restructuring holds that this process creates a complex predicate and a monoclausal structure out of a biclausal sentence (see Rizzi (1976, 1982).) Under the second approach to restructuring, there is no clausal conflation but rather, properties of the inflectional system render the CP boundary transparent to clitics, so that these can literally climb out of one clause into a superordinate one (see in particular Kayne 1989a, 1991, Roberts 1998 and Rouveret 1997.) Neither one of the two approaches to restructuring provides an immediate explanation for the central observation made in the previous section, concerning the unacceptability of intermediate clitic positions or of partial climbing. In Rizzi s account, restructuring is a cyclic operation, so that the clitic pronoun appears on the second or intermediate verb when restructuring has taken place on the second cycle (Rizzi 1982:42, note 11). If restructuring then takes place on the third cycle, the clitic is placed on the highest verb. However, since clitic climbing is optional, third cycle application of restructuring cannot force the clitic to climb from the intermediate position to the high position. Thus, the cyclic nature of restructuring combined with the optional character of clitic climbing incorrectly predicts that (7b) should be grammatical. Kayne s and Roberts analyses of clitic climbing in terms of long distance movement are also 9

10 incapable of expressing (9). This is so because - as in Rizzi s approach - intermediate climbing is a derivational stage in long climbing. In other words, (7b) is an intermediate step in the derivation of (7c). Our account of clitic climbing, developed below, gets around the problem faced by previous approaches by questioning the view that restructuring is a cyclic syntactic rule. 2.2 Restructuring: A modified view Assuming a rather uncontroversial clause structure like the following, where a VP is associated with functional heads projecting FPs, (11) [ FP3 [ FP2 [ FP1 [ VP ]]]]. verbs can be inserted either in V or in one of the Fs. The verbs inserted in V are lexical, and those inserted under F are functional. To characterize a verb as a restructuring verb is to suppose that it is inserted in F. From this perspective, which we share with Cinque 2004, 2001, 2003, there is no restructuring rule, pace Rizzi (1976, 1982). The often observed optionality of restructuring is expressed, in Rizzi s system, by a property of the restructuring rule itself. On the present account, it is handled in terms of a choice of the position in which a verb is merged. When a verb is inserted in F, a restructuring context is obtained. The very same verb can be inserted in V, in which case it takes a full clausal or CP complement and gives rise to a non-restructuring configuration. Assuming a monoclausal structure like (11), the generalization in (9) can be captured as 10

11 follows. One and the same clause contains two clitic positions. In addition to the clausal clitic position situated in the high portion of the IP (adjoined to I, as in Kayne (1989b), or heading a unique clitic projection, as in Kayne (1994) and Sportiche (1996), among others), a lexical clitic position must be assumed. This clitic position is associated with the lexical verb as part of the lexical or VP domain. Being part of the lexical domain means being either a feature on V or an independent maximal projection above V but related to it in much the same way as vp is related to VP. Incorporating the latter option, (12) schematizes the two clitic positions. 4 (12) [ FP [ FP clitic [ FP [ FP [ FP clitic [ vp [ VP ]]]]]. functional domain lexical domain The clausal clitic position differs from the lexical clitic position in that it interacts with functional elements, such as negation (cf. Zanuttini 1997 and Poletto 2000). 5 Given (12), clitic climbing means that the clitic pronoun appears in the clausal clitic position. When the clitic pronoun appears in the lexical clitic position, we obtain a restructuring context without clitic climbing. Partial climbing, as in (7b), is not an available option because there simply is no third clitic position in the clause. 6 The approach developed here entails that there is no clitic climbing in the sense of stepwise head-to-head movement of the clitic. We can, however, remain neutral as to how clitic climbing should be derived: whether via actual movement of the clitic pronoun (A-movement of a maximal projection followed by local head-to-head movement, as proposed in e.g., Belletti 1999 or Sportiche 1996), or via merging of the clitic pronoun in either the lexical or the clausal clitic position. 11

12 Our analysis eliminates the need for a restructuring rule and a clitic climbing rule. It also permits us to construe auxiliary switch in a way that obviates the need for an avere essere rule (of the sort proposed in Rizzi (1976), (1982).) Notice that the avere essere rule is at odds with the hypothesis that essere is the basic auxiliary and that avere is derived from essere (perhaps by the incorporation of a preposition, as per Kayne 1993.) Rizzi s view of auxiliary switch requires a rule shifting avere back to essere. However, if there is no switch in auxiliaries, as we suggest, this problem simply does not arise. The clausal auxiliary is the auxiliary associated with the lexical verb, the choice between avere and essere being determined by properties of the lexical verb itself such as its argument structure and/or by properties of its related functional field (agreement and tense). The important point is that the choice of the auxiliary is independent of the presence of modal, volitional, or other functional verbs. With these assumptions in mind, consider (6b) once again and take the square brackets in its associated structure (10a) to indicate that the embedded constituent is a CP selected by the main verb volere. Note that the bracketed CP complement in (10a) consists of a restructured clause. The possibility of auxiliary switch in (13) is evidence that potere is a functional verb combining with the lexical verb andare. 7 (13) Vorrei [esserci potuto andare con Maria.] (I) would-want (to) be.there been-able (to) go with Maria Another test for the presence of a full CP complement to a verb like volere, which we adapt from Rizzi (1976:12-13) and Kayne 1989b:243, 253, concerns the licit occurrence of clausal negation. Non can appear in an embedded CP in (14), (15a,b) and (16a), but not in the restructuring contexts in (15c) and (16b). 12

13 (14) Vorrei [non doverci andare con Maria] (I) would-want not (to) have.there (to) go with Maria 'I would want to not to have to go with Maria.' (15) a. Vorrei [non dover mai farlo] (I) would-want not (to) have ever (to) do.it 'I would want to not to have to ever do.it b. Vorrei [non doverlo mai fare] (I) would-want not (to) have.it ever (to) do c. *[Lo vorrei non dover mai fare] (I) would-want not (to) have ever (to) do (16) a. Avrei voluto [non andare da nessuna parte] (I) would-have wanted not (to) go to any where 'I would have wanted not to go anywhere.' b. *[Sarei voluta non andare da nessuna parte] (I) would be wanted not (to) go to any where Kayne attributes to negation a blocking effect on clitic climbing, which is why lo cannot climb in (15c). The blocking-effect analysis, however, does not explain why auxiliary switch is blocked in (16b). We reinterpret the incompatibility of clitic climbing and auxiliary switch with negation in structural terms (cf. Rizzi (1976:13).) We propose that the presence of 13

14 clausal negation implies the projection of a full CP, which is incompatible with the phenomenology of restructuring (but see Cinque 2004 for a different view and a different appraisal of the data.) The presence of the negative adverb mai in (15) and the negative quantifier nessuna in (16) guarantees that non is the head of the (CP-dependent) clausal negation. This is so because negative adverbs and quantifiers must be licensed by association with a clausal NegP (Haegeman & Zanuttini 1991.) In the presence of negation, clitic climbing and auxiliary switch are acceptable without the negative quantifier, as shown in (17a,b). In these examples, however, non is an instance of lexical or lower negation with scope only over the lexical verb and unable to license a negative quantifier. (17) a. [Ci vorrei non andare] (I) there would-want not (to) go 'I would want not to go there.' b. [Sarei voluta non andare a Roma]. (I) would-be wanted not (to) go to Rome The distribution of negation in (18) shows that potere in (6a) can also take a CP complement. (18) Vorrei poter [non andarci con nessuno]. (I) would-want (to) be-able not (to) go.there with anybody 'I would want to be able to not to go there with anybody.' 14

15 Clitic climbing to the domain of potere or volere is blocked in the sentences in (19), when the negation appearing on andare signals the presence of a CP. This is the expected result since clitic 'climbing' takes place within a single CP. (19) a. *Vorrei poterci [non andare con nessuno]. (I) would-want (to) be-able.there not (to) go with anybody b. *Ci vorrei poter [non andare con nessuno]. (I) it.would-want (to) be-able not (to) go with anybody Note that the sentences in (20) are acceptable in the absence of a negative quantifier, which we interpret to imply the absence of clausal negation (see the discussion surrounding (17).) (20) a. Vorrei [poterci non andare]. (I) would-want (to) be-able.there not (to) go I would like to be able not to go there. b. [Ci vorrei poter non andare] (I) it.would-want (to) be-able not (to) go I would like to be able not to go there. Lexical or lower negation on the modal verb potere yields a much less acceptable output. (20b) contrasts with (21). (21) *[Ci vorrei non poter andare]. The question arises why non in (21) cannot be used as a lexical/lower negation and hence not interfere with clitic climbing. It appears that lexical/lower negation is systematically 15

16 unavailable to modal verbs such as potere, so that non in (21) can only be analysed as the high negative head in spite of the absence of a negative quantifier. 8 In conclusion, our approach to restructuring eliminates the need for a restructuring rule, a clitic climbing rule, and an avere essere rule. 9 3 The infinitival [e] and the two clitic positions In this section we study the distribution of the word-final [e] of Italian infinitives, arguing that its presence signals the availability of a lexical clitic position with which it is in complementary distribution. 10 The first observation to make is that when a pronoun appears as an enclitic to an infinitive, [e] is obligatorily absent. This extremely robust fact is illustrated in the contrast in (22). (22) a. Lo vorrei vedere. (I) it would-want (to) see b. Vorrei veder(*e)lo. The sentences in (23) illustrate another context in which [e] is absent, namely from modal and volitional predicates in their restructuring guise. 11 (23) a. Lo vorrei poter(*e) leggere. (I) it would-want (to) be-able (to) read b. Lo vorrei poter(*e) far leggere a Maria. 16

17 (I) it would-want (to) be-able (to) make read to Maria c. Ci vorrei poter(*e) andare con Maria. (I) there would-want (to) be-able (to) go with Maria d. Li potrei saper(*e) guidare. (I) them could-want (to) be-able (to) drive e. Lo devo poter(*e) fare in giornata. (adapted from Longobardi 1978:180) (I) it must be-able (to) do today f. Ne potrei saper(*e) guidare un paio di modelli fra qualche mese. (idem) (I) of-them could be-able (to) drive a couple of models in some months In conclusion, there are two contexts in which the infinitive-final [e] fails to appear: (i) (ii) when there is an enclitic pronoun on the verb when the verb is functional. Some further observations are prompted by (22) and (23): (i) the two contexts where [e] cannot occur seem to be totally unrelated; (ii) no phonological constraint can account for the ungrammaticality of vederelo in (22) and of the impossibility of [e] on the modal verbs in (23). After all, vederelo is a wellformed Italian word, and modal verbs can have the [e], e.g. in their citation form; (iii) the obligatory absence of [e] on functional verbs such as modals cannot be attributed to Longobardi s (1978) Double Inf filter, which excludes sequences of two infinitivals such 17

18 as desiderare studiare in (24a). Such sequences are excluded independently of the presence of [e], as the ungrammaticality of (24b) confirms (see Longobardi (1978:199, note 1), and thus contrast with the cases in (22) and (23). (24) a.?*gianni dice di desiderare studiare. Gianni says to desire (to) study b.?*gianni dice di desiderar studiare. In the following sections, we show that the distribution of [e] cannot be accounted for phononogically and we provide a unified syntactic account for (22) and (23). 3.1 Against a phonological account The absence of [e] with enclitic pronouns has been accounted for by the phonological rule of Troncamento (Truncation). This rule optionally deletes infinitival [e] in front of consonantinitial words, as in (25) (cf. Vogel, Drigo et al. 1983, Nespor 1990 and Peperkamp 1995, (25) a. Dice di partir(e) presto. (he) says to leave early b. Potrei partir(e) presto. (I) could leave early The absence of [e] with enclitic pronouns, however, is obligatory and never optional, as shown in (22) above. To account for the difference between (22) and (25), Nespor (1990) 18

19 suggests that the Troncamento rule has a different behaviour in the two cases because they involve different prosodic domains. In (22), the rule applies inside a clitic group, in (25) it applies inside an intonational phrase. On a par with other prosodic rules, Troncamento applies obligatorily in the smaller domain, while it applies optionally in the bigger domain. We consider this an unsatisfactory analysis since it seems to merely restate the facts and conclude that the absence of [e] with enclitic pronouns is simply not accounted for by the rule of Troncamento. As for the absence of [e] on functional infinitives, it has not been, to the best of our knowledge, treated in the phonological literature. (This is perhaps not an accident since the distinction between lexical and functional verbs is not a phonological one.) 12 Like the [e]- drop in the presence of enclitic pronouns, the absence of [e] on functional verbs is not covered by the rule of Troncamento. This is so for two reasons. First, while Troncamento applies optionally, [e] is ungrammatical on restructuring modals. Compare (25) with (23). Second, Troncamento applies within the domain of an intonational phrase and cannot apply across a parenthetical, which constitutes an intonational phrase break, as shown in (26a) (from Nespor 1990:386). The sentence in (26b) shows that a modal verb lacks the [e] even before a parenthetical so that intonational or prosodic bracketing seems to be irrelevant to the absence of [e] on modal verbs. (26) a. *Vorrebbe raccontar come ti ho detto solo stupidaggini. (he) would-want (to) tell as (I) to-you have told only nonsense b. senza dover nello stesso tempo accusare anche gli altri. 19

20 without having (to) at-the same time accuse also the others We see that neither (23) nor (26b) can be accounted for by the rule of Troncamento. There is another context where the lack of [e] cannot be accounted for phonologically, namely when functional verbs are raised in the Aux-to-Comp construction (the example in (27) is adapted from Rizzi 1982:112, note 10). 13 (27) Ritengo [dover(*e) tuo fratello tornare a casa]. (I) believe (to) have your brother (to) come-back to home 3.2 The syntactic analysis of the absence of [e] We contend that the two contexts in which [e] fails to appear are one and the same. In a sense that we make precise below, the infinitive-final [e] occupies the lexical clitic position we have posited in our discussion of (9) above. Thus, [e] is an independent morpheme and not part of the non-finite inflection, which is [r]. The syntactic generalization that we wish to explain is that [e] s distribution is a subset of the distribution of clitic pronouns. Just like enclitic pronouns, [e] is possible on all lexical verbs: cf. vedere in (22). Conversely, [e], just like enclitic pronouns, is impossible on modal/volitional verbs, when these are merged as intermediate functional verbs, see (7b) and (23). In these two contexts, [e] and enclitics are either in complementary distribution or excluded, a fact that we can express by saying that they compete for the same position, when such a position is available. There is one context, however, in which clitics are found but from which [e] is barred. This 20

21 context is exhibited when the modal verb is the highest in a series of functional verbs. In this configuration, the verb can host a clitic pronoun, but it cannot display the infinitival [e]. In (28a), for example, a clitic is possible on dovere because it is the highest functional verb in the CP complement to volere. (28b) shows that [e] is not possible in the same context (recall that [e] cannot co-occur with the clitic). (28) a. Vorrei [non doverlo mai fare]. (I) would-want (to) not have.it (to) ever do b. Vorrei [non dover(*e) mai farlo]. Put succinctly, (28) shows that clitics and [e] are not in complementary distribution when the clausal clitic position is utilized. In this position, [e] is simply impossible. The infinitival [e] is a phonetic realization of the lexical clitic position and not of the independently available clausal clitic position. 3.3 [e] and the phonology of Italian clitics Consider the hypothesis that the phonemic form of the infinitive-final vowel is /i/ and that [e] is derived by a phonological rule lowering /i/ to [e] when preceded by a coronal sonorant. In infinitives, the nonfinite morpheme [-r] is responsible for the lowering of /i/ to [e]. A similar lowering process is attested in the pronominal system. The final vowels of the clitics mi me, ti you-sg, si self, ci us; there, vi you-pl; there, gli to-him, le to-her and ne of-it/them, from-there are realized as [e] when preceded by the coronal sonorants /l/ and /n/ (cf. le and ne) and as [i] otherwise. Assume then that /i/ is the phonemic vowel and [e] 21

22 an allophonic realization of /i/ when preceded by a coronal sonorant. 14 It is tempting to consider the [e] of infinitives and the final vowels of the clitics mi, ti etc. as one and the same morpheme. This is tantamount to saying that this vowel is not part of the clitic form itself, just as it is not part of the infinitival morpheme. From this perspective it is not an accident that the clitics subject to the [i] ~ [e] alternation are precisely those whose feature content is exhaustively expressed by the consonant. Let us call this series (mi, ti, si, ci, vi, gli, le and ne) the consonantal series. This series is to be distinguished from accusative lo him, it, la her, it, li them-masc and le them-fem, the final vowels of which bear morphosyntactic features such as gender and number. The idea, then, is to treat a clitic such as ne of it/them as composed of two morphemes, /n/ and /i/, and an infinitival verb like parlare speak as composed of /parl+a+r/+/i/. In both cases, /i/ realizes one and the same functional head associated with the lexical verb. In the case of parlare, the infinitival stem parlar adjoins to the functional head /i/, which is lowered to [e] in the phonology. In the presence of clitic pronouns, the clitic first adjoins to /i/, following which the infinitival verb is either adjoined to the clitic itself or to a higher head as in Kayne 1994, giving rise to e.g. parlarne (whose phonemic form is thus: /parl+a+r/+/n/+/i/). It transpires from the above discussion that the complementary distribution of enclitics and [e] is only apparent: The vowel is always present and follows either the verb or the enclitic pronoun (stricto sensu, low enclisis is an instance of mesoclisis, i.e., of word-internal, as opposed to word-marginal cliticization.) 15 22