Pleonastic tet in the lapscheure dialect

Abstract

The paper explores the semantic value and the distributional and formal properties of the element tet in West Flemish and assesses its main properties in both aspects. It is also shown that a proper analysis of tet shed further light on other apparently unrelated properties of German Languages, such as the properties of the Vorfeld and the position of the subject. After revising the possibilities of analysing this element as a contrastive, evaluative, or Focus marker of the CP domain, the authors reject this possibility by taking into consideration the fact that it is dependent on facts related to Case licensing of the subject, and propose to merge it in a FP projection belonging to the TP domain. Furthermore, the distribution of tet can be used as a milestone that permits new insights onto the distribution of lexical material in the Germanic Vorfeld, specifically on the controversial issue about the movement of the subject out of TP, which the authors argue has not to move in all cases.