Séminaire de Recherche en Linguistique

The aim of this paper is to offer a unified account of two (at first blush independent) changes in the grammar of Latin, both related to the system of clausal complementation. First, whereas classical Latin typically uses infinitival clauses (so-called AcI’s) to express embedded declaratives, these structures are later replaced by finite clauses. The opposite happens in the case of causatives, which change from finite to non-finite. I will develop a proposal which reduces these two changes to a more general parametric change in Latin clause structure, namely the way in which the clausal EPP-requirement is met. Building on proposals by among others Biberauer (2003) and Biberauer & Roberts (2006), I will propose that in Classical Latin the EPP is satisfied by means of VP movement to the spec of a functional projection in the TP-layer, whereas in Late Latin (as well as in early Romance varieties), the same is achieved through verb (X°) movement. As I will show, only the earlier grammar is compatible with AcIs, and only the later can generate infinitival causatives.