Superlatives and definiteness : Lessons from Romance
Giurgea, Ion (Institute of Linguistics of the Romanian Academy (Rumania))

Date:	2024
Abstract:	Previous research on superlatives in Romance languages has established three major types: (i) in Italian and Ibero-Romance, the definite article does not form part of the superlative, except for modal superlatives; (ii) in French, a definite article form functions as a superlative marker in some positions (DP-external, quantity and postnominal superlatives) but not in prenominal superlatives; (iii) in Romanian, the marker cel, historically identical to the strong definite article form, has been generalized as a superlative marker. I investigate the distributional and semantic correlates of this threefold distinction. I argue that in Romanian prenominal superlatives may sit in SpecDP, which explains the availability of relative readings, whereas in types (i) and (ii) they sit in a dedicated SpecSupP position, which is a scope position. Moreover, the existence of an overt marker allows Romanian prenominal superlatives to combine with determiners other than the definite D. The restrictions on the distribution of DP-external and quantity superlatives in type (i) are analyzed using a specific version of Heim's (1999) raising analysis. Finally, I discuss the consequences of the data of Romance for the general debate concerning relative superlatives.
Note:	This work was supported by a grant of the Romanian Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitization, CNCS -UEFISCDI, project number PN-III-P4-PCE-2021-0042, within PNCDI III
Rights:	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.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Superlatives ; Relative vs absolute ; Definiteness ; Romance
Published in:	Isogloss, Vol. 10 Núm. 3 (2024) , p. 1-32 (Articles) , ISSN 2385-4138

Adreça original: https://revistes.uab.cat/isogloss/article/view/v10-n3-giurgea
Adreça alternativa: https://raco.cat/index.php/isogloss/article/view/v10-n3-giurgea
DOI: 10.5565/rev/isogloss.337

32 p, 614.7 KB

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