On the Syntax of Pronominal Arguments of Infinitive Verbs in Saurian

Abstract

This study investigates the syntactic positioning of object pronouns (personal and reflexive) in Saurian, a Southern-Bavarian variety spoken in Sauris/Zahre, Friuli, Italy. The focus is on complex predicate structures involving modal or functional verbs and non-finite clauses. A word order pattern is identified where pronominal arguments attach in enclisis to the infinitive verb. This configuration deviates from standard German and instead converges with Romance languages. Besides this pattern, Saurian also displays a word order where pronominal arguments occur after the inflected within a verbal complex. The article investigates the two structures with respect to different functional verbs. Drawing on historical attestations and contemporary fieldwork data, the article argues that despite the prima facie convergent patterns, contact has at most reinforced already existing structures in the receiving language in line with general norms that constrain crosslinguistic variation.