Sede Amministrativa: Università degli Studi di Padova Dipartimento di Studi Linguistici e Letterari SCUOLA DI DOTTORATO DI RICERCA IN: Scienze Linguistiche, Filologiche e Letterarie INDIRIZZO: Linguistica CICLO XXIV P in Old English. P-Stranding, Postpositions, and Particles in a Cartographic Perspective Direttore della Scuola: Ch.ma Prof. Rosanna Benacchio Coordinatore d’indirizzo: Ch.mo Prof. GianLuigi Borgato Supervisore: Ch.ma Prof. Cecilia Poletto Dottoranda: Silvia Rossi Abstract This thesis investigates two peculiar phenomena affecting the prepositional phrase in Old English: (i) preposition stranding, obligatory with the relative particle þe and the R-elements (þær > ModE. there, her > ModE. here, hwær > ModE. where), and optional with the personal pronouns; (ii) the system of particles (and prevebs) of prepositional/adverbial origin. In his Old English Syntax (1985), B. Mitchell considered all these phenomena under a single section, remarking how difficult it was to draw a clear-cut distinction in Old English between prepositions, adverbs. separable and inseparable prefixes. This difficulty originates from the fact that in each of these phenomena the complement of the preposition either remains unexpressed or precedes its preposition. The preposition seems thus to occur alone and its syntactic status appears ambiguous between a preposition, an adverb and a preverb. Clearly, the problem is primarily terminological, yet it has also significant syntactic and theoretical implications. By adopting the recently developed accounts on the internal and external Cartography of PPs (Koopman 2000 den Dikken 2006, Tortora 2008, Cinque 2010, Svenonius 2010; Schweikert 2005, Cinque 2006), and the most recent developments on the structural representation of verb-particle/prefix combinations (Svenonius 2003, 2004a,b 2007, 2010; Damonte & Padovan 2011), the abovementioned phenomena can be given a unitary account. A qualitative analysis of the cases found in Ælfric's Lives of Saints (996-997 AD) shows that the syntactic nature of both stranded Ps with the relative þe, with R-elements and with personal pronouns, and verbal particles/prefixes depends on the different projections of the fine PP-structure they lexicalise and on the syntactic nature of their Ground. More specifically, stranded Ps are to be considered “prepositional” adverbs. Structurally, this derives from the fact that a nominal part of their complement remains within the PP. In particular, in the case of the relative þe and of personal pronouns, these are deficient prononimal elements (Cardinaletti & Starke 1999), which are originated as a full DP in the Ground of the PP, consisting of a higher functional part and a lower nominal part. By a process of “feature stripping” (Poletto 2006c), their nominal part moves to the higher functional heads of the PP in order to check the strong feature of PPdir/PPstat (stativity or directionality), while the functional part of the DP is left behind. At this point, this functional part, lexicalised as þe and as a weak pronoun moves to dedicated projections: to the Left Periphery in the case of the relative, or to a projection dedicated to weak elements within the Left Periphery of the PP (WP), in the case of weak pronouns. By contrast, R-elements are not weak elements, but I adopt Koopman's (2000) analysis of their Dutch counterparts and propose that they scramble withinn their PP, while leaving a pro in the Ground. As regards particles (or separable prefixes), I claim that their distribution indicates that they are again to be viewed as adverbial elements with both a weak and a strong nature (Cardinaletti & Starke 1999). In particular, I argue that particles, which have a directional nature, originate within a PP, and, as already put forward by Koopman (2000), have the possibilty to move to CPplace. Subsequently, if any other type of material is moved out of the PP, particles have the possibility to move as weak elements into a specific projection in the Low Periphery (Jayalaasen 2001; Belletti 2004). The assumption that particles have syntactically determined weak and strong forms accounts for the variation attested in the order of constituents and for the fact that, with non-finite verbs, their incorporation onto the verb is not obligatory (univerbation is then structural adjacency). In this last characteristic, particles differ substantially from inseparable preverbs, which in Old English convey actional/aspectual or even idiosyncratic values and as such, always incorporate. Preverbs are functional elements base-generated in a PP, which in turn is hosted in one of the projections dedicated to the lower aspects within the VP in Cinque's hierarchy (1999). These projections are structurally lower than the projections in which particles are generated (cf. the analysis of i Damonte & Padovan 2011 for the variable prefixes of Modern German). The analysis here presented for the syntactic behaviour of the Old English PP has allowed me to test, further confirm and partly refine the most recent proposals on the internal architecture of the PP and on the structural represenations of the different types of verb- particle combinations. A significant result concerns the presence of a Left Periphery in the PP, parallel to the one already argued for the DP, in which Old English presents resudual evidence of a property loosely definable as V2, which is manifested through the presence of a position for weak pronominal elements like the one in the clause. A further important result concerns the variation attested in the distribution of both personal pronouns and particles, which can be both explained by assuming that these grammatical elements persent weak and strong forms, phonologically identical but morpho-syntactically distinct. Lastly, even though not less importantly, the present thesis intended to show how the high degree of structural variation in the constituent orders of Old English can be derived by a single, cross-lingusitically shared, basis, upon which very few and motivated phrasal movements apply, movements which are attested also in other languags (like the presence of a strong feature in the Left Periphery causing V2, OV, antepositions in the DP and PP, cf. the hypothesis of parallel phases as proposed by Poletto 2011a for these very phenomena of Old Italian). ii Riassunto Questa tesi prende in esame due fenomeni specifici che riguardano la sintassi del sintagma preposizionale dell'inglese antico: (i) lo stranding della preposizione, obbligatorio con la particella relativa þe e con gli elementi-R (þær > ing. mod. there “là, lì”, her > ing. mod. here “qua, qui”, hwær >ing. mod. where “dove”), e opzionale con i pronomi personali; (ii) il sistema di particelle (e di prefissi) verbali di origine preposizionale/avverbiale. Nella sua Old English Syntax (1985), B. Mitchell aveva trattato questi fenomeni in un'unica sezione, ribadendo quanto fosse difficile distinguere in inglese antico tra preposizioni, avverbi, prefissi separabili e prefissi inseparabili. La difficoltà nasce infatti dal fatto che in entrambi questi fenomeni, il complemento retto dalla preposizione o rimane implicito o precede la preposizione, che appare così da sola e risulta sintatticamente ambigua tra una posposizione, un avverbio e un preverbo. Il problema, chiaramente di natura prettamente terminologica, ha però dei risvolti sintattici e, più generalmente, teorici di notevole interesse. Adottando come punto di partenza dell'analisi i più recenti sviluppi sulla cartografia interna ed esterna dei sintagmi preposizionali (Koopman 2000 den Dikken 2006, Tortora 2008, Cinque 2010, Svenonius 2010; Schweikert 2005, Cinque 2006), e le recenti proposte sulla rappresentazione strutturale dei costrutti verbo- particella/prefisso (Svenonius 2003, 2004a,b 2007, 2010; Damonte & Padovan 2011), è possibile dare un'analisi unitaria ai fenomeni sopra citati. Da un'analisi qualitativa dei casi presenti nelle Lives of Saints di Ælfric (996-997 d.C.), mostrerò che la natura sintattica sia delle P che appaiono posposte con il relativo þe, con gli elementi-R e con i pronomi, sia delle particelle (ed i prefissi) verbali dipende dalle proiezioni che esse lessicalizzano nella struttura fine del PP e dalla rappresentazione sintattica del loro Ground. In particolare, le P che hanno subito stranding (posposte) sono da considerarsi degli avverbi preposizionali pieni. Strutturalmente ciò deriva dal fatto che il loro complemento (o parte di esso) si muove per questioni di feature-checking nella Periferia Sinistra del PP e da lì, nella sintassi di frase. Nel caso del relativo þe e dei pronomi personali, questi sarebbero degli elementi pronominali deficitari (Cardinaletti & Starke 1999), natura confermata dal loro comportamento morfo-sintattico, che sono legittimati in punti determinati della Periferia Sinistra (di frase e del PP), ma che, per un processo di “feature stripping” (Poletto 2008) lasciano una parte nominale all'interno del PP, “marcando” così la P come avverbio. Nel caso degli elementi-R, questi non sarebbero elementi deficitari ma condivido l'analisi che Koopman (2000) aveva già proposto per il medesimo tipo di elementi nell'olandese moderno, e propongo che anch'essi si spostano al CPplace, dando origine a posposizioni. Per quanto riguarda le particelle, propongo che la loro distribuzione indichi nuovamente che si tratti di elementi avverbiali con una natura sia forte, sia deficitaria (Cardinaletti & Starke 1999). In particolare, propongo che le particelle, di natura sostanzialmente