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Article published In: Linguistic Variation
Vol. 22:1 (2022) ► pp.78–122

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The relative order of foci and polarity complementizers

A Slavic perspective

ORCiD logo with link | University of Iceland
Published online: 10 June 2021
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/lv.19007.cal
Abstract
According to Rizzi, Luigi & Giuliano Bocci. 2017. Left Periphery of the Clause: Primarily Illustrated for Italian. The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Syntax, Second Edition, 1–30. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar suggested hierarchy of the left periphery, fronted foci (FOC) can never precede polarity complementizers (PolC); yet languages like Bulgarian and Macedonian appear to display precisely such an ordering configuration. On the basis of a cross-linguistic comparison of ten Slavic languages, I argue that in the Slavic subgroup the possibility of having a focus precede PolC is dependent on the morphological properties of the complementizer itself: in languages where the order FOC < PolC is acceptable, PolC is a complex morpheme derived through the incorporation of a lower functional head with a higher one. The order FOC < PolC is then derived by giving overt spell-out to the intermediate copy of PolC rather than to the topmost one. In turn, this option is linked to the possibility, recorded in all languages which allow for FOC < PolC, to also realize the morpheme expressing interrogative polarity as an enclitic particle attaching to fronted foci.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Polarity questions are not Islands for focalization
  • 3.Focus and PolC in Slavic Languages
    • 3.1Overview
  • 4.Enclitics & complex complementizers
  • 5.Da Meets –li, polarity ensues
    • 5.1The derivation
      • 5.1.1Where does -li go?
    • 5.2Optionality
    • 5.3The reasons behind alternative spell-out
  • 6.Dali da, *dali li and other sequences of clausal markers
  • 7.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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