Datives, prepositions, and argument structure in Spanish
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Héctor Fernández-Alcalde
Abstract
Dative structures in Spanish cover a great variety of meanings, and several attempts have been made to provide a unified explanation of these constructions. In this paper, I review some of these proposals and present a new analysis overcoming some of their limitations. The paper concentrates on the idea of “transfer of possession” as the key notion responsible for the contrasts between dative structures, and explores the relation between dative and prepositional constructions. The analysis hinges on the idea that the dative clitic heads an aspectual projection responsible for both structural dative assignment and the affected interpretation associated to the dative argument. Semantic and syntactic tests, such as nominalisation and passivisation results, contribute to support the proposal.
Abstract
Dative structures in Spanish cover a great variety of meanings, and several attempts have been made to provide a unified explanation of these constructions. In this paper, I review some of these proposals and present a new analysis overcoming some of their limitations. The paper concentrates on the idea of “transfer of possession” as the key notion responsible for the contrasts between dative structures, and explores the relation between dative and prepositional constructions. The analysis hinges on the idea that the dative clitic heads an aspectual projection responsible for both structural dative assignment and the affected interpretation associated to the dative argument. Semantic and syntactic tests, such as nominalisation and passivisation results, contribute to support the proposal.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction vii
- A’-dependencies in French 1
- The irregular forms of the Italian “Passato Remoto” 17
- On the lack of stranded negated quantifiers and inverse scope of negation in Romance 59
- Evidence for the competition-based analysis of subjunctive obviation from relative and adverbial clauses in Italian 75
- Quotative expansions 93
- Datives, prepositions, and argument structure in Spanish 125
- A typology of agreement processes and its implications for language development 143
- On the syntax of focalizers in some Italo-Romance dialects 157
- The phonotactics of word-initial clusters in Romance 175
- Double object constructions in Spanish (and Catalan) revisited 193
- Cognitive economy, non-redundancy and typological primacy in L3 acquisition 217
- L1 acquisition of noun ellipsis in French and in Dutch 249
- Index 267
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction vii
- A’-dependencies in French 1
- The irregular forms of the Italian “Passato Remoto” 17
- On the lack of stranded negated quantifiers and inverse scope of negation in Romance 59
- Evidence for the competition-based analysis of subjunctive obviation from relative and adverbial clauses in Italian 75
- Quotative expansions 93
- Datives, prepositions, and argument structure in Spanish 125
- A typology of agreement processes and its implications for language development 143
- On the syntax of focalizers in some Italo-Romance dialects 157
- The phonotactics of word-initial clusters in Romance 175
- Double object constructions in Spanish (and Catalan) revisited 193
- Cognitive economy, non-redundancy and typological primacy in L3 acquisition 217
- L1 acquisition of noun ellipsis in French and in Dutch 249
- Index 267
