Clitic climbing across Italy. Variation, optionality, and the role of bilectalism

This study discusses clitic placement in restructuring contexts in Italian and the Italo-Romance dialects spoken in Italy. The data come from AIS map 1086 and a judgement task experiment conducted on bilectal speakers of Italian and the dialect at six representative points in the Italian territory. The variation between clitic climbing and enclisis turns out to be much more complex than previous literature has suggested. The two clitic positions are available to all varieties, but at different rates and with different degrees of optionality. Optionality can be analysed as a function of language dominance in an intricate fashion.