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Article published In: Italo-Romance Morphosyntax: Theoretical and empirical issues
Edited by Francesco Maria Ciconte and Michela Cennamo
[Linguistic Variation 26:1] 2026
► pp. 76–96

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Clitic climbing across Italy

Variation, optionality, and the role of bilectalism

 | Ca’ Foscari University of Venice
 | Ca’ Foscari University of Venice
ORCiD logo with link | Ca’ Foscari University of Venice
Published online: 19 September 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/lv.24065.car
Abstract
This study discusses clitic placement in restructuring contexts in Italian and the Italo-Romance dialects spoken in Italy. The data come from AIS map 1086 and a judgement task experiment conducted on bilectal speakers of Italian and the dialect at six representative points in the Italian territory. The variation between clitic climbing and enclisis turns out to be much more complex than previous literature has suggested. The two clitic positions are available to all varieties, but at different rates and with different degrees of optionality. Optionality can be analysed as a function of language dominance in an intricate fashion.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Background
    • 2.1The structural analysis of clitic climbing in Italian
    • 2.2Clitic climbing in Italo-Romance dialects
    • 2.3Bilectalism
  • 3.The current study
    • 3.1Research questions
    • 3.2Participants
    • 3.3Materials and procedure
    • 3.4Statistical analysis
    • 3.5Results
  • 4.Discussion
    • 4.1Research question 1: Variation in clitic placement
    • 4.2Research question 2: Optionality
    • 4.3Research question 3: Optionality and the DLP score
  • 5.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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