Anna Cardinaletti (Venice) and Ur Shlonsky

GLOW 27, Thessaloniki April 18–21, 2004
Clitic Positions, Restructuring and Verbal Representations in Italian
Anna Cardinaletti – University of Venice
Ur Shlonsky – University of Geneva
We argue that there are two clitic positions in Italian ‘restructured’ clauses, (§1). One position
is associated with the (restructured) lexical verb and the other 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 climbing). Climbing to an intermediate restructuring verb is impossible. We claim that
only the lowest in a series of restructured verbs makes available a position for clitics. We then
discuss the distribution of the infinitive-final [e] (as in amare) and argue that its position
should be identified with the lexical clitic position, (§2). In (§3&4), we show that the
functional ~ lexical dichotomy is too sharp and that different functional verb classes must be
admitted, manifesting different subsets of restructuring properties. The properties exhibited by
each class of verbs correlate with their position in the functional hierarchy. §5 attempts to
provide a rudimentary structural representation of the domains projected by lexical and
functional verbs.
1. The following sentences are representative of a typical restructuring pattern, Rizzi 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 clitic climbing.
(1) a. Vorrei andarci con Maria.
(I) would-want (to) go.there with Maria.
b. Ci vorrei andare con Maria.
When there is more than one restructuring verb in the clause, the clitic can appear on the
infinitival lexical verb andare ‘go’ as in (2a), on the infinitival modal verb potere ‘can’ in
(2b) or on the inflected modal verb volere ‘want’, (2c).
(2) 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.
Clitic climbing is, however, subject to a hitherto unnoticed restriction. If an auxiliary is
added to (2) and auxiliary switch applies (an independent diagnostic for restructuring), not all
three options in (2) yield acceptable results. 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 (3): Partial climbing
to potere in (3b) is ungrammatical.
(3) 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.
The following generalization thus emerges.
(4) Clitic pronouns can appear attached either to the lexical verb or to the highest verb that
has restructured and nowhere else.
(2b) is grammatical because, in the absence of an auxiliary, restructuring applies only up to
poter so that vorrei is actually in a higher clause. Thus, clitic climbing in (2b) is consistent
with (4), while climbing in (3b) is not.
Assuming a monoclausal approach to restructuring, as in Cinque 2004, the generalization
in (4) can be captured by saying that the clause contains two clitic positions. In addition to the
clausal clitic position situated in the high portion of the IP (cf. Kayne 1989, 1994) a lexical
clitic position must also be assumed. This clitic position is associated with the lexical verb as
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Main Session Abstracts
part of the lexical or VP domain (vP or a like projection). (5) schematizes the two clitic
positions.
(5) [FP … [FP clitic [FP … [FP … [FP clitic [vP [VP ]]]]].
|______________________| |_____________|
functional domain lexical domain
2. Italian lexical infinitives invariably display a word-final [e]. [e] is obligatorily absent in the
presence of an enclitic pronoun, as in (6b).
(6) a. Le vorrei parlare b. Vorrei parlar(*e)le
(I) to her would want (to) speak (I) would want (to) speak to her
There is no phonological motivation for this apparent truncation. The rule of Troncamento
- which deletes a word-final /e/ or /o/ before a consonant-initial word if the target vowel is
preceded by a sonorant consonant, (Peperkamp 1997) – is optional. The absence of [e] in (6b)
is obligatory. We argue that the infinitive-final [e] is a morpheme. Indeed, it is the realization
of the same low position which clitics target in e.g. (1a), (2a), and (3a). Although it appears
that the final [e] is deleted in (6b), we argue that it is actually there, as the final vowel of the
clitic le. The morphological makeup of parlarle is thus parlar-l-e. The clitic adjoins to the [e],
which realizes the lexical clitic position. In fact, the underlying form of the infinitive-final
vowel is /i/, as is the final vowel of the clitics mi, ci, vi etc. The [i]~[e] alternation is
phonologically conditioned: /i/ [e] following a coronal sonorant. This rule lowers /e/ to [i]
following the stem-final /r/ in infinitives.
Although [e] may be absent on clitic-less lexical infinitives in Troncamento contexts, it
must be absent on modal and volitional predicates in their restructuring guise.
(7) *Sarei voluto potere partire con Maria.
Again, no phonological explanation is available for the absence of [e] in this context. We
argue that [e] is absent from intermediate restructuring verbs for exactly the same reason that
clitics cannot attach to them (as we saw in (4)). Compare (7) with (3b).
3. Restructuring verbs are not a homogeneous class (see also Wurmbrand (forthcoming)). For
example, causative and perception verbs (as well as motion verbs) are restructuring verbs that
do not trigger auxiliary switch, (8b), can host a clitic, (8c), and display the infinitival [e], (8d).
(8) a. L’ho fatto/visto partire. b. *Lo sono fatto/visto partire.
(I) him have made/seen leave (I) him am made/seen leave
c. Vorrei farlo leggere a Maria. d. Lo vorrei fare leggere a Maria.
(I) would-want (to) make.it read to Maria
4. There is a correlation between the properties displayed by restructuring verbs and their
position in the functional hierarchy in (9) (cf. Cinque(forthcoming2004).) Modal and
volitional verbs appear highest in the hierarchy. The class of causative, perception and motion
verbs - underlined in (9) - appear in the lower part of this hierarchy, below Voice and above
the domain of “VP-adverbs”.
(9) > Modvolition > … > Modobligation …> Mod permission …> Voice > Perception >
Causative > … > Andative > Completive > … VP
5. The difference between lexical verbs and the verbs underlined in (9), on the one hand, and
between these and the other restructuring verbs, on the other, is that they project shells of
different sizes. Lexical verbs are endowed with a full shell, including vP and the lexical clitic
or [e] position. In addition, lexical verbs select an auxiliary, the choice of which depends on
the way the arguments are aligned in the shell. The verbs underlined in (9) are associated with
a reduced shell, a fact which we relate to the limitations on their argument structure. Finally,
the other restructuring verbs lack a shell altogether. These are simply merged in functional
heads. To put it concisely, lexical verbs and the verbs underlined in (9) are associated with a
richer structure than fully functional verbs. However, the split between lexical and functional
verbs is not clear-cut. Rather, there is a gradation from structurally rich to structurally poor
verbal representations.
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GLOW 27, Thessaloniki April 18–21, 2004
Reference List
Cinque, Guglielmo. forthcoming. "Restructuring" and functional structure. In The structure of
CP and IP, ed. by Luigi Rizzi. New York: Oxford University Press.
Kayne, Richard S. 1989. Null Subjects and clitic climbing. In The Null Subject Parameter, ed.
by Osvaldo A. Jaeggli and Ken Safir, 239-261. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Kayne, Richard S. 1994. The Antisymmetry of Syntax. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Peperkamp, Sharon. 1997. Prosodic Words. The Hague: Holland Institute of Generative
Linguistics.
Rizzi, Luigi. 1982. A restructuring rule. In Issues in Italian syntax, ed. by Luigi Rizzi, 1-76.
Dordrecht: Foris.
Wurmbrand, Susi. forthcoming. Two types of restructuring: Lexical vs. functional. Lingua.
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