John Benjamins Publishing Company
Indefinite articles and licensing of nominals in two Slavic varieties
Abstract
I address the status of an indefinite article in two understudied Slavic varieties spoken in Italy, Resian and Molise Croatian. By applying standard diagnostics, I show that both varieties have grammaticalized an indefinite article. I further compare the distribution of nouns in these two varieties, which allow bare nominals in argument position, on a par with other Slavic articleless languages, and conclude that Resian, but not Molise Croatian, has also developed a definite article. Considering that the distribution of the definite article in Resian is restricted to nouns with prenominal modifiers, I argue that the rise of the definite article is related to adjectival syntax – if adjectives are placed prenominally, which is the case in Resian but not in Molise Croatian, they prevent the noun from being in a local relation with a definite D(eterminer). I also claim that the development of an indefinite article is completely independent of the emergence of a definite article, which explains the similarities between the two varieties.
Abstract
I address the status of an indefinite article in two understudied Slavic varieties spoken in Italy, Resian and Molise Croatian. By applying standard diagnostics, I show that both varieties have grammaticalized an indefinite article. I further compare the distribution of nouns in these two varieties, which allow bare nominals in argument position, on a par with other Slavic articleless languages, and conclude that Resian, but not Molise Croatian, has also developed a definite article. Considering that the distribution of the definite article in Resian is restricted to nouns with prenominal modifiers, I argue that the rise of the definite article is related to adjectival syntax – if adjectives are placed prenominally, which is the case in Resian but not in Molise Croatian, they prevent the noun from being in a local relation with a definite D(eterminer). I also claim that the development of an indefinite article is completely independent of the emergence of a definite article, which explains the similarities between the two varieties.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- The dialects of Italy at the interfaces 1
- Inflectional uniformity in the present subjunctive in the dialects of central Friuli 41
- The Inflected Construction in the dialects of Sicily 63
- Mixed paradigms in Italo-Romance 79
- Selection and morphology of expletive subject clitics in northern Italian dialects 101
- Can structural deficiency be parametrized? 113
- The morphosyntax-semantics interface and the Sicilian Doubly Inflected Construction 131
- Matrix complementizers in Italo-Romance 155
- On the syntactic encoding of lexical interjections in Italo-Romance 185
- A person split analysis of the progressive forms in some southern Italian varieties 203
- Contact-induced phenomena in the Alps 237
- N morphology and its interpretation 257
- Indefinite articles and licensing of nominals in two Slavic varieties 295
- Syntactic variation across Greek dialects 319
- Author index 357
- Language and place index 361
- Subject index 365
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- The dialects of Italy at the interfaces 1
- Inflectional uniformity in the present subjunctive in the dialects of central Friuli 41
- The Inflected Construction in the dialects of Sicily 63
- Mixed paradigms in Italo-Romance 79
- Selection and morphology of expletive subject clitics in northern Italian dialects 101
- Can structural deficiency be parametrized? 113
- The morphosyntax-semantics interface and the Sicilian Doubly Inflected Construction 131
- Matrix complementizers in Italo-Romance 155
- On the syntactic encoding of lexical interjections in Italo-Romance 185
- A person split analysis of the progressive forms in some southern Italian varieties 203
- Contact-induced phenomena in the Alps 237
- N morphology and its interpretation 257
- Indefinite articles and licensing of nominals in two Slavic varieties 295
- Syntactic variation across Greek dialects 319
- Author index 357
- Language and place index 361
- Subject index 365
