Change in Root Conditions in Basque Allocutivity
Résumé
This paper examines variation and change in embedding restrictions on Basque allocutive morphemes-person clitics marking non-thematic addressees. Recent work has described cross-speaker variation in whether allocutive morphemes are restricted to root clauses or may appear in embeddings. This paper reports on a recent survey that suggests change in progress toward loss of the root restriction. The results, moreover, indicate no cross-speaker correlation in acceptance of embedded vocatives with acceptance or use of embedded allocutives. We take the different cross-speaker distribution of allocutive morphemes and vocatives to reflect partially different representations for these forms, with vocative morphemes bearing richer functional structure and different licensing conditions.
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