Double Complementizer Constructions (DCC)

As mentioned in Section 5.1., DCC, no longer found in Standard Italian, is still present in various Italian dialects as well as in Old Romance languages. This section focuses first on the characteristics of DCC in Old Italian, by considering data from the FF; FR and N corpora and Paoli’s (2003) discussion of DCC in Old Romance. Secondly, DCC

facts from the Non-standard Italian varieties of Turinese and Ligurian (as a Northern Italian Dialect, cf. Paoli 2003) and Salentino and Southern Calabrian (as Southern Italian Dialects; cf. Damonte 2008, and references therein) are compared and discussed. Finally some complementizer deletion facts from Standard Italian and Florentine (cf. Cocchi and Poletto 2000) are brought about as additional evidence. The main claim supported by the facts illustrated here is that the feature-checking requirement on Fin may depend also on the presence/absence of a mood feature on Fin. Following Damonte (2008); and Cocchi and Poletto (2000), it is argued that [Mood] on Fin can be either checked by local c-command on Fin onto the lower Mood head, or by internal/external Merge of a lexical item in Fin. The type of lexical realization of Fin is subject to crosslinguistic variation, namely specific grammars exhibit different strategies to satisfy the Mood-checking requirement on Fin.

5.3.1. DCC in Old Italian

In Old Italian, DCC surfaces as a linear string where a first occurrence of che is followed by some XP and a lower occurrence of che introducing the subordinate clause, as illustrated in (340), repeated here for convenience:

(361) [Che1…XP…Che2…

According to Paoli (2003), Old Italian DCC is slightly different from the same phenomenon attested in other Old Romance varieties. For instance, Paoli observes that:

“the majority of the examples of DCC have a hypothetical […]; a temporal […]; or a causal clause […] intervening between the two QUE (=che; n.d.)” p. 263.

Some instances from Paoli 2003 are given in (362) below:

(362) a.…giurovi che, [poichè io così la veggio disposta], che mai (Old Italian) swear.1s-2p.ACC.cl that since I so 3s.ACC.cl see.1s disposed, that never di questo voi non sentirete più parola

of this you.p not hear.2s.FUT more word

“I swear to you that you will never hear another word about this, since I see her under this light” [Dec, 3, 3] b. però vi priegho in lealtade e fede che, [sse ttue vuoli del mio avere],

but 2p.ACC.cl pray in loyalty and faith that if you want.2s of.the my have che ttu ne tolghi, e di ciò che mestiere ti sia

that you of.it take.2s.SUBJ and of it that necessary 2s.DAT.cl be.SUBJ

“But I pray you with loyalty and faith that, if you want my things, you take of them how much you need” [Distr Tr; XDIV 1; 155, 26-28]

c. … a lui era tutta via viso che [quando persona neuna to him was all way shown that when person no one la guardasse], che inmantenente iglile togliesse

her looked.SUBJ that immediately 3s.DAT+ACC.cj took.SUBJ “It was shown to him that, when nobody was watching her, he would

immediately take them off her” [Tr Ricc 149, 25-28] By contrast, Early Castillian presents also subjects; objects; and PPs between the two complementizers.

(Early Castillian)

(363)Onde dize Josepho que [en casa de so padre] que le llamaron primera mientre Ciro Where says Joseph that in house of his father that 3s.ACC.cl called.3p first Ciro “Where Joseph says that in his father’s house they first called him Ciro”

[Gen Est 177r2.6; in Paoli 2003] Both the Old Italian and the Early Castillian corpora excerpted by Paoli are from the 13th

century. Despite Paoli’s observation (cf. quote above), DCC in the N corpus also involves different types of XP. Examples (364)-(367) illustrate that the element between che1 and che2 is an adverbial clause; examples (368)-(370) that it is a subject; an indirect object or a prepositional phrase, respectively:

(364) convenia che, [s'elli si voleva affibbiare da mano], decided that if he REFL wanted buckle.up from hand ch'elli medesimo mettesse lo filo nella cruna

that he self put.SUBJ the yarn in.the eye.of.the.needle

“She decided that if he wanted to buckle up again, he himself had to put the yarn

into the eye of the needle” [N 62, 265, 6]

(365) Dirai […]che, [se tuo padre fu loro aspro], Say.2s.FUT that if your father was to.them harsh che tu sarai loro umile e benigno

that you be.2s.FUT to.them humble and good

“You will say that if your father was harsh to them, you’ll be humble and good” [N 6,140,10] (366) i savi strolagi providero che, [s'elli non stesse anni dieci

the wise astrologists foresaw that if he not stood.SUBJ years ten che non vedesse il sole], che perderebbe il vedere.

that not saw.SUBJ the sun, that lose.3s.COND the see

“The wise astrologists foresaw that if he spent ten years without seeing the sun,

(367) comandò che, [quando sua anima fosse partita dal corpo], ordered that when her soul were.SUBJ departed from.the body che fosse arredata una ricca navicella

that were.SUBJ equipped a rich vessel

“She ordered that when her soul is departed from the body, a rich vessel were

equipped” [N 82, 317, 5]

(368) trovò che, [chi continuo mangiasse nove dì Found that who continously ate.SUBJ nine days di petronciani], che diverrebbe matto

of eggplants that become.COND crazy

“He found out that whoever ate eggplants for nine days in a row would become

crazy” [N, 35, 208, 2]

(369) Lo 'mperadore donò una grazia a un suo barone: The emperor gave a favor to a his baron

che, [qualunque uomo passasse per sua terra], che lli togliesse

that any man passed.SUBJ through his land that 3s.DAT.cl took.SUBJ d'ogni magagna evidente uno danaro di passaggio.

of any phisical.fault visibile a coin of toll

“The emperor gave a favor to one of his barons (such) that he could toll one coin to any man who crossed his land for each one of his visible physical faults”

[N 53, 241, 1] (370) Farai così: che, [nella tua giovinezza], che tu usarai

do.2s.FUT so that in.the your youth that you use.2s.FUT tutte le belle et oneste cose

all the nice and honest things

“You shall do so: that in your youth you’ll do all nice and honest things”

[N 68, 285,1] It is my impression that the choice of the XP type in the DCC construction depends to some extent on the “register” of the text under examination. Indeed, cases of DCC are totally absent from the FF corpus: on 428 occurrences of che introducing different types of clauses (cf. the overview given in section 5.2.) there are no instances of DCC. Even in the contexts where DCC could be expected, che2 is silent. Indeed the subordinate clause has most often a basic che1- SVO order, without any preposed element. Even where preposed elements do occur, DCC is not attested as is shown in the paradigmatic examples in (371) below.

(371)a. Anche diceva Iscipio che [neuna otta] Ø era meno ozioso also said Scipio that no time was less otious