Microvariation in Verbal and Nominal Agreement: An Analysis of Two Lombard Alpine Dialects

Abstract

In Bregagliotto and Mesolcinese, two Lombard Alpine dialects, feminine plural agreement/concord is marked by the formative -n, a reflex of the third person plural verbal ending. In Bregagliotto, plural -n triggers mesoclisis of the feminine subject clitic in contexts of inversion, whereas in the noun phrase -n behaves as a second-position element marking plural feminine concord. Mesolcinese exhibits verbal gender agreement as the formative -n occurs on the inflected verb whenever a feminine plural subject or the feminine plural object clitic occurs; in feminine plural DPs, -n is attached to any element except the definite article. I argue that the Bregagliotto system emerged when -n was reanalysed as an adjunct pluraliser, whereas in Mesolcinese -n has been turned into a marker of morphophonological concord/agreement.