Word order and clitics in causative constructions in Romance

FRANCISCO ORDÓÑEZ & ANDRÉS SAAB

Vitoria-Gasteiz

Workshop; 1st International Workshop on Linguistic Variation and Language Architecture; 2018

Universidad del País Vasco

We study the distribution of causee subjects in Cataluña and Río de La Plata Spanish and propose that the option of placing causees in pre-infinitive position (an option not attested in French, Catalan or Italian) is the direct result of movement by scrambling to a designated position in the matrix vP edge. The surface reflex of such a position is Differential Object Marking.