2025/02/04 by Bernstein, Judy, Ordóñez, Francisco, Roca, Francesc
#DP structure #Latin #Romance languages #accusative clitics #definite articles #isomorphism
paper · doi:10.18148/hs/2025.v9i2-10.220
The observed isomorphism of Romance definite articles and 3rd person clitic pronouns, both typically l-forms descended from Latin ILLE, suggests a shared syntactic structure (Uriagereka 1995, Roca 1996). Less-studied Romance varieties such as Balearic Catalan, which displays s-articles descended from Latin IPSE as well as ILLE-derived 3rd person clitics, invite further consideration. The historical development, distribution, and function of the forms are accommodated via a multilayered structure for DP, one that encodes different features in a higher DP projection (for IPSE-derived s-articles) than in a lower one (for ILLE-derived l-clitics). Properties of these forms in the modern languages can be traced back to their Latin ancestors (Vincent 1997, Ledgeway 2012). In the uniform Romance languages (l-forms for articles and clitics), the same multilayered approach applies, though the evidence is masked.