Changing patterns of clausal complementation in Latin: a parametric approach to 'constructional' changes
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to offer a unified account of two (at first blush independent) instances of syntactic change in Latin in terms of a single parametric change. The two developments that I will look at are both related to the system of clausal complementation. First, whereas Classical Latin typically uses infinitival clauses (so-called AcIs) to express embedded declaratives, these structures are later replaced by finite clauses, usually introduced by a complementizer. The opposite happens in the case of causatives, where a non-finite (infinitival) strategy is innovated. I will develop a proposal which reduces the key aspects of these two changes to a more general change in Latin clause structure, pertaining to the way in which the clausal EPP-requirement is satisfied (along lines of Danckaert 2017). Throughout, I will assume that the main mechanism needed to account for the observed facts is syntactic reanalysis of the PLD by the language acquiring child. 1 The research reported on in this paper was funded by the Research Foundation-Flanders (postdoctoral grant number FWO13/PDO/024). Parts of this paper were presented at DiGS 16 in Budapest, LVLT 11 in Oviedo and at a research seminar at the University of Geneva. I would like to thank the audiences at these events as well as Liliane Haegeman and Luigi Rizzi for valuable feedback. Finally, I am grateful to two anonymous reviewers for some very constructive comments and suggestions.
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