Bare nominals, bare predicates
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M. Teresa Espinal
Abstract
In this paper I will address the topic of identifying the semantic types that can be associated with bare nominals (BNs) in Romance languages such as Catalan and Spanish. I will show that, even in argument position, BNs do not always have a referential index (Baker 2003) and may occur as syntactic objects without being semantic arguments. I will assume the hypotheses that (i) object BNs (i.e. bare count nominals unmarked for number and definiteness) denote properties of kinds (Espinal 2010a; Espinal & McNally 2007b, 2011), and (ii) bare nominal predicates (i.e. bare count nominals that agree in number with a copular verb and occur in predicate position) denote either properties of individual objects or gradable properties of sortal concepts. I will support the claim that BNs that denote capacities are not a subtype of entities (de Swart et al. 2007), but instead correspond to property-denoting expressions.
Abstract
In this paper I will address the topic of identifying the semantic types that can be associated with bare nominals (BNs) in Romance languages such as Catalan and Spanish. I will show that, even in argument position, BNs do not always have a referential index (Baker 2003) and may occur as syntactic objects without being semantic arguments. I will assume the hypotheses that (i) object BNs (i.e. bare count nominals unmarked for number and definiteness) denote properties of kinds (Espinal 2010a; Espinal & McNally 2007b, 2011), and (ii) bare nominal predicates (i.e. bare count nominals that agree in number with a copular verb and occur in predicate position) denote either properties of individual objects or gradable properties of sortal concepts. I will support the claim that BNs that denote capacities are not a subtype of entities (de Swart et al. 2007), but instead correspond to property-denoting expressions.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Laying bare nominal determination 1
- Some cross-linguistic aspects of bare NP distribution 35
- Bare nominals, bare predicates 63
- Spanish bare plurals and topicalization 95
- Information structure and the distribution of Spanish bare plurals 121
- Bare nominals in American-Spanish headlines 157
- Bare singular arguments in Brazilian Portuguese 189
- The distribution of specific and definite bare nominals in Brazilian Portuguese 223
- ‘Bare quantifiers’ and topics in Italian 255
- Coordinated bare nouns in French, Spanish and European Portuguese 283
- Bare vs. non-bare nouns 301
- Index 329
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Laying bare nominal determination 1
- Some cross-linguistic aspects of bare NP distribution 35
- Bare nominals, bare predicates 63
- Spanish bare plurals and topicalization 95
- Information structure and the distribution of Spanish bare plurals 121
- Bare nominals in American-Spanish headlines 157
- Bare singular arguments in Brazilian Portuguese 189
- The distribution of specific and definite bare nominals in Brazilian Portuguese 223
- ‘Bare quantifiers’ and topics in Italian 255
- Coordinated bare nouns in French, Spanish and European Portuguese 283
- Bare vs. non-bare nouns 301
- Index 329
