Numberless indefinite definites in Italian : Structure and meaning
Morosi, Paolo (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)

Data:	2025
Resum:	This paper investigates Numberless Indefinite Definites (NIDs) in Italian, an understudied class of nominal expressions that, despite their morphologically definite and singular form, convey an indefinite and number-neutral interpretation (e. g. , L'hotel ha la piscina lit. 'the hotel has the pool'). The study addresses two main questions: (i) what grammatical factors license NIDs in Italian? And (ii) how can their indefinite and number-neutral readings be compositionally derived? First, I argue that NIDs are exclusively licensed in the object position of have-predicates, provided that the resulting V+NID combination expresses a characterizing property of the subject. Second, I propose a novel compositional analysis of NIDs. To account for number-neutrality, I argue that these constructions lack Number specification and do not project a Number Phrase. As a result, they denote definite kinds, which receive an existential interpretation via Derived Kind Predication when combining with the selecting have-predicate. Besides providing a compositional account of the existential and number-neutral interpretation of NIDs, this analysis also explains their obligatory narrow scope behavior and their restriction to taxonomic modification.
Ajuts:	Agencia Estatal de Investigación PID2020-112801GB-I00 Agencia Estatal de Investigación PID2023-150347NB-I00 Generalitat de Catalunya 2021SGR00787 Generalitat de Catalunya 2021FI_B 00096
Drets:	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.
Llengua:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Matèria:	Numberless indefinite definites ; Italian ; (in)definiteness ; Have-predicates ; Derived kind predication
Publicat a:	Isogloss, Vol. 11, Num. 7 (2025) , p. 1-35 (Articles) , ISSN 2385-4138

Adreça original: https://revistes.uab.cat/isogloss/article/view/v11-n7-morosi
Adreça alternativa: https://raco.cat/index.php/isogloss/article/view/v11-n7-morosi
DOI: 10.5565/rev/isogloss.566

35 p, 527.7 KB

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