Crosslinguistic perspectives on syntactic change in the diachrony of Romance’

Appel à contributions pour un numéro thématique du Catalan Journal of Linguistics

 

Date finale de soumission : 1 mars 2025

Article : 20-25 pages

Site internet : https://revistes.uab.cat/catJL/announcement/view/8

Contact : Marc Olivier (University of Oxford) marc.olivier@ling-phil.ox.ac.uk

 

The syntax of Romance languages is one of the most thoroughly researched areas in both synchronic and diachronic linguistics. The generative enterprise provided a theoretical framework that was soon applied to canonical Romance languages, leading to studies that would significantly shape the field. As our understanding of Romance syntax deepened, the literature expanded to include minoritised varieties, thereby broadening the scope of the generative inquiry. Naturally, there has been a growing interest in exploring modern varieties through the lens of microvariation, while historical linguists adopted tools from this body of research to analyse the bridge from Latin to Romance and medieval varieties. Consequently, both diachronic change within single languages and synchronic variation in Romance languages are extensively studied, offering a thorough understanding of Romance syntax at several levels.

This special issue addresses the lack of diachronic studies focusing on variation. Submitted papers must feature: (i) a diachronic study of one or several syntactic phenomena, (ii) a comparison between at least two Medieval Romance varieties, including, for instance, the analysis of contact phenomena, shared linguistic innovations, and the emergence of linguistic splits in geographically contiguous varieties, as well as the comparison of more distant varieties that exhibit interesting parallelisms, (iii) a theoretical approach to the evolution of syntax anchored in the generative tradition, with the aim of testing and redefining formal hypotheses.