Presented to you through Paradigm Publishing Services

John Benjamins Publishing Company

Visit our Partner Page See all our books
Chapter
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Chapter 10. On certain distributional gaps of Spanish possessives

A “Phrasal Spell-Out” account

Abstract

In this paper I focus on the odd distribution of Spanish prepositional possessives inside nominals, and offer an explanation of those facts on the basis of a “Phrasal Spell-Out” approach to lexical insertion (cf. Caha 2009; Fábregas 2007a, 2007b, 2010). The core of the proposal is that certain contrasts much emphasized in previous accounts, like the one between weak and strong pronouns, are irrelevant for the problem at issue. Instead, I derive the distributional pattern of Spanish possessives by relying on feature contrasts like Oblique/Genitive, [±participant] and [±number], which provide the right natural classes for those elements.

Abstract

In this paper I focus on the odd distribution of Spanish prepositional possessives inside nominals, and offer an explanation of those facts on the basis of a “Phrasal Spell-Out” approach to lexical insertion (cf. Caha 2009; Fábregas 2007a, 2007b, 2010). The core of the proposal is that certain contrasts much emphasized in previous accounts, like the one between weak and strong pronouns, are irrelevant for the problem at issue. Instead, I derive the distributional pattern of Spanish possessives by relying on feature contrasts like Oblique/Genitive, [±participant] and [±number], which provide the right natural classes for those elements.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgments vii
  4. Contributors ix
  5. Introduction 1
  6. Chapter 1. Structure at the bottom 5
  7. Chapter 2. The absent, the silent, and the audible 19
  8. Chapter 3. Lexical change and the architecture of the Lexicon 41
  9. Chapter 4. Dylan Thomas’s meters 67
  10. Chapter 5. The metrical system of William Carlos Williams 87
  11. Chapter 6. Linearization preferences given “Free Word Order”; subject preferences given ergativity 115
  12. Chapter 7. On the fronting of non-contrastive topics in Germanic 143
  13. Chapter 8. Blackjack! 171
  14. Chapter 9. Connectivity and definiteness in an English equative construction 201
  15. Chapter 10. On certain distributional gaps of Spanish possessives 217
  16. Chapter 11. Variability in the case patterns of causative formation in Romance and its implications 237
  17. Index 269
Of Grammar, Words, and Verses
This chapter is in the book Of Grammar, Words, and Verses
https://doi.org/10.1075/lfab.8.13sae

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgments vii
  4. Contributors ix
  5. Introduction 1
  6. Chapter 1. Structure at the bottom 5
  7. Chapter 2. The absent, the silent, and the audible 19
  8. Chapter 3. Lexical change and the architecture of the Lexicon 41
  9. Chapter 4. Dylan Thomas’s meters 67
  10. Chapter 5. The metrical system of William Carlos Williams 87
  11. Chapter 6. Linearization preferences given “Free Word Order”; subject preferences given ergativity 115
  12. Chapter 7. On the fronting of non-contrastive topics in Germanic 143
  13. Chapter 8. Blackjack! 171
  14. Chapter 9. Connectivity and definiteness in an English equative construction 201
  15. Chapter 10. On certain distributional gaps of Spanish possessives 217
  16. Chapter 11. Variability in the case patterns of causative formation in Romance and its implications 237
  17. Index 269
Downloaded on 8.4.2026 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1075/lfab.8.13sae/html
Scroll to top button