The evolution of degree wh-exclamatives in catalan

Authors

  • Xavier Villalba Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7203/caplletra.60.8454

Keywords:

exclamatives, subject-verb inversion, conjunction, Force, focus

Abstract

Abstract: This article discusses the evolution of degree wh-exclamatives from Old Catalan to Modern and Contemporary Catalan. Two major changes can be identified which transformed these constructions from a general pattern common to most Romance languages without obligatory inversion or a complementizer in the 16th century, to a less common one with obligatory inversion already in the 18th century and a complementizer in the 19th century. To account for this process, we argue that obligatory inversion is a general phenomenon related to the checking of [wh]/[focus] features, affecting also interrogatives and focus preposing, whereas the emergence of the complementizer is a result of the lexicalization of the exclamative Force head, and hence a specific and restricted phenomenon.

Key words: exclamatives, subject-verb inversion, conjunction, Force, focus.

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Published

2016-07-20

How to Cite

Villalba, X. (2016). The evolution of degree wh-exclamatives in catalan. Caplletra. Revista Internacional De Filologia, (60), 211–226. https://doi.org/10.7203/caplletra.60.8454
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Issue

Caplletra 61 (Tardor 2016)

Section

ARTICLES MONOGRÀFIC

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