Extended doubling and the VP periphery

A family of 'doubling' structures is presented based, on one side, on analyses from the literature on 'clitic doubling' of the Spanish type (Jaeggli 1982, Torrego 1995, Uriagereka 1995, Belletti 1999, Sportiche 1998, Kayne 1994, Rouveret 1989), and, on the other, on the classical analysis of the Floated quantifier phenomenology (Sportiche (1988)). A further kind of structure implementing doubling is identified in Italian, involving strong pronouns. It is claimed that doubling characteristically exploits the clause internal VP periphery (Belletti 2001, 2004) and is thus typically associated with particular discourse related interpretations and constraints. It is also claimed that doubling can be assumed to be at work in more structures than meet the eye; its role is particularly investigated in the crucial domains of subject inversion and nominative Case assignment. Finally, the status of doubling structures is addressed with respect to economy considerations; some speculative remarks concerning the comparative side of the analysis are briefly sketched out.