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In:Null or Nothing: Zero elements in Romance syntax and morphology
Edited by Peter Herbeck and Natascha Pomino
[Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 291] 2026
► pp. 308–333

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The inverse vocative in Sicilian regional Italian

Evidence for a null Vocative head

ORCiD logo with link | University of Siena
ORCiD logo with link | University of Siena
Published online: 27 February 2026
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/la.291.11gan
Abstract
This paper analyses the syntax of inverse vocatives (IV) in the Regional Italian variety spoken in Western Sicily, evaluating the possible presence of a null introductory element. IVs are a typologically rare phenomenon in which the speaker addresses the hearer by using an apparent vocative form referred to herself, and not to the hearer. From the perspective of Italian, the main challenge is whether to classify this construction as a vocative form or as some sort of indirect object with benefactive value.
In this paper, we review the proposals discussed in the literature, which in several cases involve the presence of a null element, and we discuss novel data from the Regional variety of Italian spoken in Western Sicily, which, we show, are incompatible with the previous approaches. Therefore, we propose a new analysis, which is based on the structure of so-called “fake vocatives”: IVs are VocPs, in which the introducing element a is merged in Voc° and carries a [+deixis] feature that represents a ‘flipped’ deixis, which represents the point of view of the addressee. The element a can be absent, and in this case its function is fulfilled by a null Voc head. Thus, while being different from those proposed in the previous literature, a null element is still required to describe the IVs in Western Sicilian Italian.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Inverse vocatives in central and southern Italy
    • 2.1Context, function, and origins of Inverse vocatives
    • 2.2Syntactic properties
    • 2.3Comparison: Inverse vocatives vs true vocatives
    • 2.4Previous accounts
  • 3.Inverse vocatives in Western Sicily Italian
    • 3.1Motivation for this investigation and research questions
    • 3.2Methods and participants
    • 3.3Results
    • 3.4Compatibility of the Palermo data with the previous analyses
  • 4.Discussion
    • 4.1Fake vocatives
    • 4.2From fake vocatives to inverse vocatives
    • 4.3Proposed analysis
  • 5.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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