The Internal Structure of Causal Subordinators and the Attachment Site of Causal Clauses in the History of Italian

This paper investigates the syntax and diachrony of Italian causal clauses introduced by perché, siccome, and poiché. Although often treated as near-synonyms in Contemporary Italian, these subordinators differ systematically in their syntactic distribution, interpretive properties, and diachronic development. We argue that the contrasting behaviors follow from the structural composition of the subordinators.