Covert Nouns and Definiteness in Superlatives
Hallman, Peter (Austrian Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence, Vienna (Austria))
Pallottino, Margherita (University of Geneva (Itàlia))

Fecha:	2024
Resumen:	The Italian definite superlative phrase la/il più found in predicate superlative constructions is analyzed in the light of parallels to Syrian Arabic superlative constructions. The counterpart phrase in Arabic has an overt noun that shows a three-way morphological contrast: aktar waħd-e 'most one-fem', aktar wāħid 'most oneMASC', and aktar ʃi 'most thing'. We postulate an analogous distinction in Italian involving a covert noun: la più ONEFEM, il più ONEMASC, and il più THING, and show that the choice of noun regulates the scope possibilities for the degree quantifier so formed in the same ways in the two languages. Morphological co-variation between the noun and the target of comparison indicates that the noun identifies the contrast set with respect to which the superlative is evaluated. We claim that Italian and Arabic are identical modulo the distinct lexicalization pattern above and a parameter of variation dictating that più may enter into a licensing configuration at LF that must hold in the surface structure in Arabic.
Nota:	This research was funded in part by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) P35672-G and the Swiss National Science Foundation 211169
Derechos:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Lengua:	Anglès
Documento:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Materia:	Superlative constructions ; Italian ; Arabic ; Degree quantifiers ; Parameters
Publicado en:	Isogloss, Vol. 10 Núm. 3 (2024) , p. 1-24 (Articles) , ISSN 2385-4138

Adreça original: https://revistes.uab.cat/isogloss/article/view/v10-n3-hallman-pallottino
Adreça alternativa: https://raco.cat/index.php/isogloss/article/view/v10-n3-hallman-pallottino
DOI: 10.5565/rev/isogloss.328

24 p, 368.3 KB

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