A reduplicated form in Venetan: An analysis at the semantics-pragmatics and syntax interface

This paper investigates the syntax and semantics of the expression e anca anca – literally ‘and also also’ – attested in various Venetan dialects spoken in NorthEastern Italy. Treated as a fixed phrase, it consists of the conjunction e (‘and’) and a reduplicated form of the additive adverb anca (‘also’). Depending on the context, it conveys either an emphatic increase (‘and even more’) or decrease (‘and even less’). We argue that e anca anca expresses the speaker’s epistemic attitude and functions as an instance of even-focus, a type of scalar, focus-sensitive expression. Our proposal is that e anca anca has undergone grammaticalization and behaves as a discourse marker. By ‘grammaticalized’ we mean, for instance, that the conjunction e no longer functions as a canonical coordinator, and the reduplication of anca is not interpreted compositionally. Instead, the expression occupies a dedicated position in the left periphery, specifically associated with corrective focus.