Bare plurals in object position

2006 ◽  
pp. 133-157
Author(s):  
Sheila Glasbey
Keyword(s):  
Object Position ◽  
Bare Plurals

scholarly journals Bare nominals and incorporating verbs in Spanish and Catalan

2010 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. TERESA ESPINAL ◽  
LOUISE McNALLY
Keyword(s):  
Prima Facie ◽  
Composition Rule ◽  
Bare Mass ◽  
Object Position ◽  
First Order ◽  
Bare Plurals ◽  
Property Type ◽  
Existential Sentences ◽  
Mass Terms ◽  
Bare Nominals

This paper presents an analysis of bare nominals unmarked for number (BNs) occurring in object position in Spanish and Catalan, on which the BN is a syntactic complement to the verb, but not a semantic argument. After describing the properties that distinguish BNs from other indefinite expressions (bare plurals, indefinite singulars preceded by un ‘a’, and bare mass terms), we argue that these BNs occur in a monadic syntactic configuration in the sense of Hale & Keyser (1998), that they denote first-order properties, and that they are combined with the verb via a modified version of Dayal's (2003) semantics for pseudo-incorporation. Specifically, the proposal consists of a lexical rule that generates the class of verbs that productively accept BN objects, plus a composition rule that treats the BN as modifier of the verb. We point out the advantages of this analysis over three other well-known semantic analyses for combining verbs with property-type nominals. Finally, we show how the analysis can be naturally extended to existential sentences, which combine with BNs although, prima facie, they do not appear to meet the lexical conditions for doing so.

scholarly journals Information structure and the referential status of bare plurals

2001 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 160-170
Author(s):  
Norberto Moreno ◽  
Isabel Pérez
Keyword(s):  
Information Structure ◽  
Object Position ◽  
Bare Plurals ◽  
Syntactic Constraints

The goal of this paper is to study the influence of information structure in the referential status of linguistic expressions such as bare plurals and indefinite NPs in Spanish. In particular, we will argue for the following claims: (a) Spanish bare plurals can receive a generic interpretation in object position and (b) Spanish bare plurals in object position can be topics in siru. We will focus on object position because of the well known semantic and syntactic constraints that affect preverbal subject bare plurals in Spanish.  

scholarly journals Breton a-marking of (internal) verbal arguments: A result of language contact?

Linguistics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 745-766
Author(s):  
Elisabeth Stark ◽  
Paul Widmer
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Object Position ◽  
Relative Chronology ◽  
Celtic Languages ◽  
Potential Case ◽  
Existential Constructions ◽  
History Of ◽  
Internal Change ◽  
Pronominal System ◽  
Verbal Arguments

AbstractWe discuss a potential case of borrowing in this paper: Breton a- ‘of’, ‘from’ marking of (internal) verbal arguments, unique in Insular Celtic languages, and reminiscent of Gallo-Romance de/du- (and en-) arguments. Looking at potential Gallo-Romance parallels of three Middle Breton constructions analyzed in some detail (a with indefinite mass nominals in direct object position, a-marking of internal arguments under the scope of negation, a [allomorphs an(ez)-/ahan-] with personal pronouns for internal arguments, subjects (mainly of predicative constructions) and as expletive subjects of existential constructions), we demonstrate that even if there are some semantic parallels and one strong structural overlap (a and de under the scope of negation), the amount of divergences in morphology, syntax and semantics and the only partially fitting relative chronology of the different constructions do not allow to conclude with certainty that language-contact is an explanation of the Breton facts, which might have come into being also because of internal change (bound to restructuring of the pronominal system in Breton). More research is necessary to complete our knowledge of a-marking in Middle Breton and Modern Breton varieties and on the precise history of French en, in order to decide for one or the other explanation.

scholarly journals Efeitos de animacidade do antecedente na resolução de pronomes sujeito

2018 ◽  
pp. 190-205
Author(s):  
Sara Morgado ◽  
Paula Luegi ◽  
Maria Lobo
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Information ◽  
Pronoun Resolution ◽  
Reading Task ◽  
Object Position ◽  
European Portuguese ◽  
Overt Pronoun ◽  
Syntactic Information ◽  
Subject Pronoun ◽  
Multifactorial Approach

We report two experiments, a self-paced reading task and an off-line questionnaire, that tested if the overt subject pronoun in European Portuguese was sensitive to the animacy (animate vs. inanimate) of the antecedent in object position. We found higher reading times when the overt pronoun was forced to retrieve an inanimate antecedent compared to retrieving an animate one (Experiment 1) and less object choices with inanimate antecedents (compared to animate ones). Our findings show that several factors are taken into account during the resolution of pronominal forms, including animacy features, favouring thus a multifactorial approach to pronoun retrieval (Kaiser & Trueswell, 2008). We propose that there is a hierarchy that considers both syntactic and semantic information in pronoun resolution and that within the syntactic information the prominence of entities varies according to their animacy features. Our results are neither explained by processing theories that only consider syntactic factors (Carminati, 2005), nor by theoretical accounts that associate strong pronouns with animacy features (Cardinaletti & Starke, 1999).

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