Because not all porque are similar: The causal environment in Asturian

Abstract

A distinguishing feature of Asturian is that it exhibits different positions for the clitic in matrix environments. This article moves a step forward and discusses a much less studied feature, which is the availability of these same clitic placement alternations in subordinate contexts introduced by «porque». Contrary to general assumptions, an intonation pause to account for enclisis in these environments is shown untenable, as no such pause is detected in data from oral corpora. Instead, it is argued that the enclisis in this environment arises as a result of the interpretation that the subordinate clause bears, as well as to its internal structure. We distinguish two types of causal subordinate environments introduced by «porque» in Asturian, «subordinadas del enunciado» and «subordinadas de la enunciación». However, rather than relying exclusively on their external differences to distinguish them, we concentrate on their differentiating internal structures. We claim that whereas one «porque» always conveys an assertion, whereby this element would be licensed in Forceº in the left-periphery, the other «porque» may or may not convey an assertion, and thus «porque» maybe licensed in Forceº or in Finitenessº. The different positions that «porque» occupies can naturally explain the enclisis/proclisis alternations we find. If «porque» is in Forceº and thus an assertion is conveyed by the subordinate clause, enclisis obtains in the absence of a proclisis trigger. When no assertion is encoded, «porque» would be licensed in Finitenessº in the left-periphery, blocking last-resort verb-movement and triggering exclusively proclisis. This analysis accounts for both the different interpretations of clauses introduced by «porque», and also for the position where the clitic surfaces. A brief overview of how these two «porque» were distinguished historically concludes this article, showing how relevant the Asturian language is for linguistics discussions, as both the data and the internal structures found in this language are unique and key to understand these subordinate environments.