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oai:www.repository.cam.ac.uk:1810/3900202025-12-19T19:36:39Zcom_1810_219478com_1810_256061col_1810_219487

The left-periphery of the Romance dialects of Italy: Towards a parametric-based classification https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.121721 Isolani, Elena Roberts, Ian My dissertation investigates the Romance dialects of Italy (RDI) from a novel comparative perspective, focusing exclusively on the left-peripheral domain within the split-CP framework. This research is inspired by the Parametric Comparison Method (PCM) and adopts some of its tools and principles, while developing a dedicated parametric system tailored to the CP. Specifically, a database of 104 left-peripheral parameters was constructed and applied to thirty dialect evenly distributed across the Italian peninsula, offering the first large-scale parametric investigation of this domain in RDI. Through a manual analysis of the distribution of parametric values, the study identifies previously undocumented correlations between syntactic properties across dialects. While broad dialectal groupings (Southern, Central, Northern, Tuscan, and Sardinian) are broadly confirmed, significant internal variation emerges, revealing unexpected similarities and differences that sometimes cut across traditional boundaries. These findings underscore the potential of syntactic data to contribute to dialectological research, while also pointing to the need for future quantitative validation before any classificatory claims can be made. This dissertation also includes two case studies, each referring to a phenomenon attested in the Romance dialects of Italy. These case studies, on the one hand, bring to light the richness of variation in embedded declarative contexts, and on the other, shows the validity of a well-structured parametric model in categorising syntactic properties. The first case study focuses on complementizer deletion, analysed in Italian, Florentine and Pisano, demonstrating how this property is differentially distributed across these three varieties, while still reducible to a common structural building operation, namely the movement of the verb. The second case study investigates embedded mirative focus fronting, a phenomenon often missed in the existing literature but robustly attested in the Romance dialects of Italy. The occurrence of this phenomenon complies with a featural-licensing mechanism that activates the relevant feature in the embedded contexts. Both phenomena are accordingly parametrized, giving rise to a series of parametric implications that capture their occurrence cross-linguistically. University of Cambridge 2025-04-09 Thesis Doctoral Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) eng Cambridge Commonwealth European and International Trust https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/390020 embargo 2026-09-30 https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/472281fb-42cc-4b9b-91fd-89582e6f8701/download 6b8ea5c3aff2e113cf1bb43eeb424356 https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/456e5334-61dc-4515-8453-f59f3a2ec4f4/download b8dfb3985822d76a47054e273449178f https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/70d6486e-f16f-4eb6-b192-c80589ec0168/download 87eda9de84448d1f82354d60eee3eb5f http://purl.org/NET/rdflicense/allrightsreserved Left-periphery Romance dialects of Italy Parametric syntax Syntactic distance Complementizer Phrase Dialectal classification