1 Asyndetic complementation in Neapolitan dialect Adam Ledgeway 1 Introduction In the present article we shall discuss the syntax and origin of a highly constrained and marked complementation pattern of Neapolitan, that we shall term asyndetic complementation. The latter differs from the core complementation types of Neapolitan, 1 insofar as asyndetic structures instantiate the loose combination of two independent clauses or nuclei, to borrow Longacre's terminology. 2 Moreover, such complementation structures are particularly conspicuous in that they lack any overt morphosyntactic form of clause linkage. Rather, the two clauses are simply juxtaposed. It would appear therefore that the asyndetic structures in question instance a case of parataxis. It should be noted, however, that the structures under investigation cannot be considered instances of verb serialisation, although the latter is generally recognised as having much in common with paratactic complementation. For instance, Noonan (page 55) observes that parataxis and serialisation share the following four syntactic properties: 3 1. Both consist of a subject NP followed by a series of verb phrases. 2. Each verb phrase contains a fully inflected verb. 3. No marker of co-ordination or subordination links the two verb phrases. 4. No special verb forms are used: if the first verb in the series is indicative, all the rest will be too. However, there is one major semantic criterion which distinguishes paratactic constructions from their serialisation counterparts, namely the former contains as many