ABSTRACT
Although in standard Italian and in many Italian dialects auxiliary selection is governed by the class of the embedded participle, the alternance between essere (to be) and avere (to have) can also be governed by different principles. In this chapter in particular, we shall examine auxiliary selection according to person in central and southern Italian dialects. Besides the pattern known in the theoretical literature (Kayne 1993; Cocchi 1995) whereby first and second person are associated with essere, while third person is associated with avere, a highly articulated picture of person splits emerges from our data. Furthermore splits may be determined by verbal tense/aspect and mood. Before considering these facts, we shall however analyze systems which always present essere and systems which always present avere, since they provide a simpler case in which either auxiliary is compatible with all verbal classes. The implications of the various splits for the classical typological question of ergativity will also be discussed.
