Jaume Solà i Pujols - Departament de Filologia Catalana ...

are not allowed as preverbal subject or clitic resumed elements in neutral sentences. But there is
a factor that can rescue them in this position: they are allowed when they are somehow construed
with a postverbal contrastive Focus: 158
(20) a. 1. ???Res ho ha fet EN JOAN
Nothing it-has done the J.
'Nothing has been done by Joan' (-> everything has been done by others')
2. ??Res li ha passat A EN JOAN
Nothing him-has happened to the J.
'(Many things happened to many people, but) nothing happened precisely to
Joan'
b. 1. ?Cap l'ha llegit EN JOAN
None it-has read the J.
'(We have read many of these books but) none was read precisely by Joan'
2. Cap ha arribat AVUI
None has arrived today
'(Many have arrived, but) none arrived precisely today'
158 To my ear, examples in each pair 1./2. (resp. clitic
resumed elements and subjects) are equally acceptable. Some
speakers prefer the examples with subjects. I assume this is due
to the fact that these speakers are assigning some fronting
analysis to these examples, which is impossible with the cliticresumed
elements, as far as fronting does not envolve clitics.
On the other hand, there are kinds of fronting which are not
Focus fronting, and do not envolve the typical phonological
pattern of Focus fronting:
(i) A mi, res m'han dit.
To me nothing me-have told
'Me, I was told nothing whatsoever'
It would be this 'intonation-flat' fronting which makes the
examples in 2. better for some speakers. In my dialect, this
kind of fronting is not used.
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