RoLinC talk: Alberto Frasson

Tomorrow ​(25^th November)! at 2-3pm, Alberto Frasson (University of Wroclaw) will be giving a talk entitled, The diachrony of progressives in Venetan: a syntactic analysis

Abstract:

This talk investigates the historical development of the progressive construction in Venetan, focusing on the syntax and grammaticalization of the prepositional construction drio (“behind”) + infinitive. The study traces the evolution of this construction from its earliest attestations in medieval and early modern texts to contemporary Venetan varieties. The analysis shows that drio, originally a locative preposition, underwent a process of reanalysis and reinterpretation, eventually becoming a dedicated progressive aspectual marker. This change is closely linked to the loss of nominalized infinitive structures and the disappearance of overt determiners, which together reshaped the underlying syntactic configuration. The Venetan data provide a case of syntactic change in a minoritized language, where reduced standardization enables diachronic developments to emerge more transparently. By examining the interaction between nominalization, the syntax of prepositional infinitives and aspectual marking, this work aims at a better understanding of grammaticalization paths in Romance and highlights the relevance of smaller Romance varieties for broader theoretical discussions on syntactic change.

Link: Please register here. You will receive the relevant Zoom link shortly.