Linguistic theory and the romance languages

Chiefly updated versions of papers presented at a conference on Romance linguistics held at the Manoir de Brion in Dragey, Manche, May 1989. This volume contains revised versions of papers given at a conference at the Manoir de Brion, in Normandy. They deal with phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics, and cover a wide range of Romance languages, including many lesser-known varieties. The contributors to the volume are committed to the view that Romance Linguistics is not narrowly philological, but is rather General Linguistics practised with reference to particular data. The point has been made many times, but is worth reiterating, that Latin and the Romance languages offer an unrivalled wealth of synchronic and historical documentation, and provide both a stimulus and a test-bed for ideas about language structure, language change, and language variation. Many of the papers in this volume can be interpreted simultaneously as using the analytical tools of linguistic theory to illuminate the structure of individual Romance languages or of the family as a whole, and as using Romance data to throw light on general problems in linguistic theory, or on the structure of languages beyond Romance. Specific areas covered include: prosodic domains; quantification; agreement; the prepositional accusative; clitic pronouns; voice and aspect