Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 2006 (review)

The present work is a further contribution to the series published by Benjamins containing conference papers that address diverse topics of Romance linguistics, synchronic and diachronic, using analytical tools developed from recent advances in theoretical linguistics (cf. FS, 62 (2008), 249–50; 64 (2010), 385–86). It contains twelve papers that range, as in previous volumes, over the gamut of Romance languages from Portuguese to Romanian. Here, however, I shall pay particular attention to those contributions that incorporate material drawn from French. Four papers deal with phonological topics, but of these just one considers French data, that by Haike Jacobs and Robbie van Gerwen (pp. 111–26). This examines the phenomenon of Romance lenition, diachronically for Castilian Spanish and French and synchronically for Gran Canarian Spanish and one variety each of Corsican and Sardinian. Previous structuralist and generative accounts are reviewed before two Optimality Theory (OT) analyses are presented. The first was proposed by Jacobs (1996) herself using an early version of OT, but this is shown to have formal shortcomings, while the second, which is advanced here, ingeniously exploits the evaluating procedure known as Comparative Markedness to arrive at an analysis that can account more revealingly for the diachronic and synchronic data. The remaining eight papers consider morpho-syntactic topics, and three of these draw directly on French material. Denis Delfitto and Paola Paradisi (pp. 53–72) study the structure of N + N compounding in Italian (as in trasporto passeggieri, 'transporting of passengers') and compare it with the similar 'juxtaposition genitive' construction found in Old French, as in la fille le rei, as well asin medieval Tuscan. Important differences are noted between all three and these are explored to yield interesting insights into the development of the expression of possession in N + N compounds after the loss of the Latin genitive. The two other papers offer purely synchronic studies of modern usage. Cilene Rodrigues, Andrew Ira Nevins, and Luis Vicente (pp. 175–98) consider a recent syntactic claim that a language will only allow preposition stranding under sluicing if it also allows preposition stranding under wh-movement, sluicing referring to the phenomenon whereby in indirect questions there is deletion of the clausal unit following the interrogative particle (for example, quelqu'un est venu mais je ne sais pas qui [est venu]). Apparent counter-examples are noted from Portuguese and Spanish, but a rationale for these is proposed, thus allowing the original claim to stand. Although there is an Iberian focus in the paper, some interesting illustrative French data also appear in an appendix at the end. Finally, Cecilia Poletto and Jean-Yves Pollock (pp. 199–258) undertake a close examination of wh-questions in Romance, using the Swiss-Italian Mendrisiotto dialect and French for primary data. The analysis reveals the existence of three types of wh-item in the former, while for both the presence of a highly split left periphery is postulated to account for the data. Overall, the volume, which is very nicely produced, offers a good deal of thought-provoking material for the specialist. The only regret, perhaps, is the absence of papers on lexical, semantic, or pragmatic topics.