Micro-variation in subject agreement: The case of existential pivots with split focus in Romance

In the light of the findings of extensive fieldwork on existential constructions, we provide an account of the micro-variation in finite (number)
agreement in Italo-Romance and Sardinian. Starting from the assumption
that this type of agreement is a subjecthood diagnostic, we claim that the
said micro-variation is the result of the interaction of a structural constraint
promoting agreement, which is sensitive to the markedness of the potential
controller as a subject, and a principle of structural economy (Samek-Lodovici
2002). An important role in our analysis is played by existential pivots with
inde-cliticisation, which fail to control agreement in a number of dialects. We
capture this tendency in terms of the combined effect of the markedness of
these pivots as subjects (Beaver et al. 2005, Bentley 2010, in press, Mikkelsen
2002) and their split focus structure.*