Alberto Valiera

RTG PhD student associate, member since 2024

Project ''W-connectors in the Diachrony of German''

The project deals with the diachronic investigation of w-elements in German. It assumes a development of w-elements that, in the earliest stages of the language, functioned as w-pronouns serving as interrogatives and indefinites. Over time, the function of these w-elements extended to free relative clauses and later to attributive relative clauses. In the case of w-adverbs (e.g., wie "how", wo "where", wenn "when") and w-prepositional adverbs (e.g., wobei "whereby", wohingegen "whereas"), this diachronic development also led, starting in the early modern period, to their use in introducing concessive and adversative adverbial clauses. The aim of the project is to systematically analyze the historical development of these elements, considering both qualitative and quantitative aspects as well as possible reasons for their spread at the expense of d-forms. A theoretical model will be developed that incorporates recent findings from generative approaches regarding the structure and properties of w-elements, and embeds the historical data into a restrictive theory of polyfunctional elements. The research project is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) for the period 2025-2028 and consists of two sub-projects. At the University of Göttingen, the focus is on w-elements in adverbial clauses. The University of Bochum is investigating w-elements in relative clauses.

Academic background:

2022 – 2024: MA in Linguistics and Cognitive Studies, Università degli Studi di Siena, italy

2019 – 2022: BA in Classics, Università degli Studi di Udine, italy

Research interests:

Syntax-Semantics Interface

Theory of Grammar

Diachronic Syntax

Adverbial Clauses

Relative Clauses