On the decline of edge-fronting from Latin to Romance

Abstract

Discontinuous structures produced by edge-fronting represent one distinctive feature of Latin regarding Romance. This difference follows from the head parameter: whereas Romance is consistently head-initial, Latin fluctuates between different settings as a result of its occupying an intermediate position in the gradual shift from head-finality to head-initiality. In turn, this difference in the head parameter is responsible for the observed variation in edge-fronting, since its setting determines the application of antilocality in constraining movement. Concretely, if head-finality is the output of a roll-up operation raising the complement to the specifier to the left of its head, suspension of antilocality constitutes a sine qua non for head-final languages like Latin. In Romance, by contrast, the head parameter is aligned with the head-initial setting such that roll-up (hence antilocal) movement never arises. This investigation thus derives from the different settings of the head parameter a concomitant parametrization in the role of antilocality.