Variation in the Romance infinitive: the case of the southern Calabrian inflected infinitive

Abstract

In the present article we shall reconsider the category infinitive in Romance and, in particular, examine the variation in function and form exhibited by the various species of Romance infinitive. Despite a number of differences, the range of variation exhibited by such infinitival forms is not unconstrained. Rather, basing ourselves on a proper understanding of the formal properties of such infinitival forms, it is possible to define a macrocategory of infinitive, within which all the various species of Romance infinitive may be felicitously subsumed. In the light of such a definition of the category of Romance infinitive, we shall propose a new candidate for infinitival status from the dialects spoken in southern Calabria, which are traditionally described as making very little use of the infinitive, regularly using in its place finite clauses on a par with the indigenous Greek dialects of this region. It is these same finite clauses that we shall argue are, in fact, inflected infinitival constructions. Though a controversial hypothesis, departing considerably from standard accounts, it will be demonstrated that traditional analyses like those of Rohlfs (1969: 717; 1972) have long obscured the real facts behind such constructions. Instead, it emerges from the analysis presented here that such clauses are, at least in synchronic terms, most definitely Romance in character, thereby confuting traditional claims (see Joseph 1983) that continue to characterise the modern dialects of southern Calabria as partaking in the widespread Balkan feature of infinitive‐loss.

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