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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. 153–168

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The grammaticalization path of Latin post across the Dolomitic region

 | Ca’ Foscari University of Venice
Published online: 8 August 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/lv.24068.mun
Abstract
This article offers a comparative survey of the distributional and interpretive properties of the adverbial particles po/pa across the Dolomitic region. By comparing the syntactic behaviour and the semantic contribution of this lexical item in different but closely related dialects, I try to better characterize the diachronic process of grammaticalization the Latin adverb post has undergone in the relevant geographic area, showing that it amounts essentially to a successive upward reanalysis along the functional spine of the clausal hierarchy. In this particular case, an erstwhile temporal and locative adverb takes up a discourse-related functional value, turning eventually into a marker of (canonical or non-canonical) interrogative force. The structural portion involved in the process seems to correspond to the highest functional projections identified by Cinque, Guglielmo. 1999. Adverbs and Functional Heads: A Crosslinguistic Perspective. New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The usage of the particle in the Northern Veneto area
    • 2.1Clause final pa/po in Fodom and Pagotto interrogatives
    • 2.2Non interrogative contexts in Pagotto and Ampezzano
    • 2.3Other interrogative contexts
  • 3.The particle pa in Central Rhaetoromance interrogatives
    • 3.1Fassano interrogatives
    • 3.2Badiotto interrogatives
    • 3.3Gardenese interrogatives
  • 4.Reinterpreting the grammaticalization path of Latin post
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (30)
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