Syntactic constructions with motion verbs in some Sicilian dialects: a comparative analysis

Abstract

Most Sicilian dialects share a typical syntactic construction which features three elements: 1) a verb taken from a restricted class of motion verbs; 2) the connecting element a; 3) an inflected lexical verb. This work aims at exploring the behaviour of this construction as used in the dialect spoken in Delia, a small centre in the province of Caltanissetta, as well as in some other Sicilian dialects. I will start from a detailed description of the cases in which the examined structure can occur, providing some remarks on related phonological phenomena. In my analysis I will also take into account the syntactic features that Cardinaletti & Giusti (2003) have singled out about Marsalese verifying them on Deliano, and I will describe the range of variability that such constructions display among some Sicilian dialects and some unrelated languages. My conclusion will be that motion verbs in the relevant construction can feature most of the characteristics of functional verbs.