Elementi correlativi negativi nella diacronia dell’italiano

In contemporary Italian, the particle né has the function of introducing the elements of negative correlative constructions. A diachronic survey of its distribution shows, however, that in old Italian varieties it had multiple functions, which continued, with different degrees of productivity, the properties of the Latin ancestor nec. This study argues that the particle was targeted by a process of semantic weakening, which led it to specialize for the correlative uses, and that this process was triggered by the changes that affected the syntax of negation from Latin to Old Italian.