Spanish adjectives are PathPs
-
Antonio Fábregas
Abstract
The goal of this contribution is to explore the hypothesis that not all languages that have a lexical open class of adjectives project them syntactically as the same kind of object. Specifically, we will argue that Spanish adjectives syntactically project their scales as PathPs, while English adjectives are PlacePs of sorts which do not encode the potential syntactic differences between types of scales. We contend that three previously unrelated contrasts between English and Spanish can be elegantly explained through this hypothesis: (i) the availability of adjectives as strong result complements, (ii) the availability of positive degree adjectives as the base of degree achievements and (iii) the availability of comparison class PPs with semantically absolute adjectives. The proposal that adjectives can be projected differently in two languages is coherent with the claim that adjectives are not defined by UG, which is supported by the existence of languages that lack this category.
Abstract
The goal of this contribution is to explore the hypothesis that not all languages that have a lexical open class of adjectives project them syntactically as the same kind of object. Specifically, we will argue that Spanish adjectives syntactically project their scales as PathPs, while English adjectives are PlacePs of sorts which do not encode the potential syntactic differences between types of scales. We contend that three previously unrelated contrasts between English and Spanish can be elegantly explained through this hypothesis: (i) the availability of adjectives as strong result complements, (ii) the availability of positive degree adjectives as the base of degree achievements and (iii) the availability of comparison class PPs with semantically absolute adjectives. The proposal that adjectives can be projected differently in two languages is coherent with the claim that adjectives are not defined by UG, which is supported by the existence of languages that lack this category.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
- The spurious vs. dative problem 5
- Givenness and the difference between wh -fronted and wh -in-situ questions in Spanish 21
- The building blocks of Catalan ‘at least’ 41
- On ben in Trentino regional Italian 55
- Matrix complementisers and ‘speech act’ syntax 75
- External possession in Brazilian Portuguese 95
- Spanish adjectives are PathPs 111
- Additive and aspectual anche in Old Italian 127
- The acquisition of variation 143
- Exploring sociolinguistic discontinuity in a minority variety of French 159
- (And yet) another proposal for ser/estar 177
- Spanish estarse is not only agentive, but also inchoative 209
- From completely free to complete freedom 225
- Romanian dependent numerals as ratios 245
- For an overt movement analysis of comparison at a distance in French 259
- The role of L2 exposure in L3A 279
- European Portuguese focalizing SER ‘to be’ 297
- Occitan, verb second and the Medieval Romance word order debate 315
- Language index 337
- Subject index 339
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
- The spurious vs. dative problem 5
- Givenness and the difference between wh -fronted and wh -in-situ questions in Spanish 21
- The building blocks of Catalan ‘at least’ 41
- On ben in Trentino regional Italian 55
- Matrix complementisers and ‘speech act’ syntax 75
- External possession in Brazilian Portuguese 95
- Spanish adjectives are PathPs 111
- Additive and aspectual anche in Old Italian 127
- The acquisition of variation 143
- Exploring sociolinguistic discontinuity in a minority variety of French 159
- (And yet) another proposal for ser/estar 177
- Spanish estarse is not only agentive, but also inchoative 209
- From completely free to complete freedom 225
- Romanian dependent numerals as ratios 245
- For an overt movement analysis of comparison at a distance in French 259
- The role of L2 exposure in L3A 279
- European Portuguese focalizing SER ‘to be’ 297
- Occitan, verb second and the Medieval Romance word order debate 315
- Language index 337
- Subject index 339
