The Inflected Infinitive in Romance Languages

by Scida; Emily

• ISBN13: 9780415971065
• ISBN10: 0415971063
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-11-20
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

This book investigates two prominent issues with regard to the inflected infinitive-the syntactic distribution of the Portuguese inflected infinitive, and its origin and development from Early Romance. The syntactic analysis offered here differs from traditional descriptions of the inflected infinitive in that it uses a theoretical approach to propose one concise condition which predicts all possible occurrences of the Portuguese inflected infinitive within the framework of relational grammar. While the first section of this book offers a synchronic study of the use of the inflected infinitive, the second section examines the theories previously posited to explain its origin and provides additional evidence from Latin and other Romance languages to support the proposal that the inflected infinitive was a historical development rooted in the Latin imperfect subjunctive. This study presents a detailed comparison of the syntactic environments common to both the imperfect subjunctive and the inflected infinitive,and examines the survival of an inflected infinitive in other Romance varieties as well as the existence of other inflected non-finite forms in these languages.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction	3	(6)
Chapter 2: The Syntactic Distribution of the Inflected Infinitive	9	(28)
2.1 An Overview of Relational Grammar	9	(8)
2.2 The Distribution of the Portuguese Inflected Infinitive	17	(9)
2.3 Biclausal Constructions	26	(3)
2.4 Verifiable Predictions for the Use of the Inflected Infinitive	29	(8)
Chapter 3: Previous Accounts of the Distribution of the Inflected Infinitive	37	(50)
3.1 Previous Accounts for Portuguese	37	(30)
3.2 Previous Accounts for Galician	67	(17)
3.3 Conclusion	84	(3)
Chapter 4: Theories of the Origin of the Portuguese Inflected Infinitive	87	(22)
4.1 The "Creative" Theory	88	(2)
4.2 The Analogy Theory	90	(2)
4.3 The Composite Theory	92	(1)
4.4 The Imperfect Subjunctive Theory	93	(14)
4.5 Conclusion	107	(2)
Chapter 5: The Imperfect Subjunctive in Latin	109	(20)
5.1 The Imperfect Subjunctive	109	(1)
5.2 A Comparison of the Imperfect Subjunctive and the Inflected Infinitive	110	(13)
5.2.1 Purpose Clauses	111	(5)
5.2.2 Complement Clauses	116	(2)
5.2.3 Adverbial Clauses	118	(4)
5.2.4 Relative Clauses	122	(1)
5.3 Conclusion	123	(1)
5.4 Appendix of Uses	124	(5)
5.4.1 Summary of the Uses of the Imperfect Subjunctive	124	(2)
5.4.2 Summary of the Uses of the Inflected Infinitive	126	(3)
Chapter 6: Distribution of the Inflected Infinitive in the Romance Languages	129	(16)
6.1 Sardinian	129	(4)
6.2 Old Neapolitan	133	(5)
6.3 Old Leonese and Mirandese	138	(2)
6.4 Inflected Gerunds and Participles	140	(4)
6.5 Conclusion	144	(1)
Chapter 7: Conclusion	145	(4)
References	149	(14)
Index	163