Discontiguous linearizations in the sentential core

Abstract

This chapter analyses two distinct phenomena found in old and modern Romance varieties, namely ‘interpolation’ and ‘scrambling’, against the data of old Romanian. Unified by the non-adjacency between higher functional elements (clitics and auxiliary verbs) and the lexical verb, interpolation and scrambling are discussed under the blanket term ‘discontiguous linearizations in the sentential core’ and are shown to be derived in old Romanian through lower verb movement along the clausal spine. The existence of lower verb movement in old Romanian supports an important aspect of the diachrony of V-raising in Romanian and in the Romance languages: generalized V-to-I movement is not attained only through the reanalysis of a relaxed V2 grammar (specific to matrix clauses), but also through a gradual process of V-raising to the left along the clausal spine (characterizing embedded clauses). Discontiguous linearizations involving higher functional elements and modal complex predicates bring evidence for the analysis of interpolation and scrambling.