Home Toward an understanding of apparent suppletion in Romance pronominal possessives
Article
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Toward an understanding of apparent suppletion in Romance pronominal possessives

  • Richard S. Kayne EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: July 6, 2018
Become an author with De Gruyter Brill

Abstract

The Italian pair *il luo libro vs. il suo libro (‘the his/her book’) that is typical of Romance lends itself to an account of the first in terms of constraints also seen in the syntax of compounding, and to an account of the second that links its s-, despite initial appearances, to what we think of as Romance reflexive s-. We might informally call this pair an instance of suppletion, as long as we recognize that calling it suppletion falls short of an account.

References

Baker, M.C. 1988. Incorporation: A theory of grammatical function changing. The University of Chicago Press: Chicago.Search in Google Scholar

Baltin, M. 2010. The nonreality of doubly filled comps. Linguistic Inquiry 41. 331–335.10.1162/ling.2010.41.2.331Search in Google Scholar

Barnes, M.P. & E. Weyhe. 1994. Faroese. In E. König & J. Van Der Auwera (eds.), The Germanic languages, Routledge: London. 190–218.Search in Google Scholar

Bartos, H. 2001. Object agreement in Hungarian - A case for minimalism. In G.M. Alexandrova & O. Arnaudova (eds.), The minimalist parameter, John Benjamins: Amsterdam. 311–324.10.1075/cilt.192.25barSearch in Google Scholar

Benincà, P. 1989. Friaulisch: Interne Sprachgeschichte. Grammatik. Evoluzione della grammatica. In G. Holtus, M. Metzeltin, & C. Schmitt (eds.), Lexikon der Romanistischen Linguistik, Niemeyer: Tübingen.10.1515/9783110966114.563Search in Google Scholar

Benveniste, E. 1966. Problèmes de linguistique générale. Gallimard: Paris.Search in Google Scholar

Browne, W. 1993. Serbo-Croat. In B. Comrie & G.G. Corbett (eds.), The Slavonic languages, Routledge: London. 306–387.Search in Google Scholar

Butt, J. & C. Benjamin. 1988. A new reference grammar of modern Spanish. Edward Arnold: London.10.1007/978-1-4615-8368-4Search in Google Scholar

Cardinaletti, A. 1998. On the deficient/strong opposition in possessive systems. In A. Alexiadou & Ch. Wilder (eds.), Possessors, predicates and movement in the determiner phrase, John Benjamins: Amsterdam. 17–53.10.1075/la.22.03carSearch in Google Scholar

Cattaneo, A. 2009. It is all About Clitics: The case of a Northern Italian dialect like Bellinzonese. Doctoral dissertation, New York University: New York.Search in Google Scholar

Cinque, G. 1988. On Si constructions and the theory of Arb. Linguistic Inquiry 19. 521–581.10.1017/CBO9780511554261.005Search in Google Scholar

Collins, C. 2007. Home sweet home. NYU Working Papers in Linguistics 1. 1–34.Search in Google Scholar

Corbett, G.G. 1987. The morphology/syntax interface: Evidence from possessive adjectives in Slavonic. Language 63. 299–345.10.2307/415658Search in Google Scholar

Déchaine, R.-M. & M. Wiltschko. 2002. Decomposing pronouns. Linguistic Inquiry 33. 409–442.10.1162/002438902760168554Search in Google Scholar

Dobrovie-Sorin, C. & I. Giurgea. 2011. Pronominal possessors and feature uniqueness. Language 87. 126–157.10.1353/lan.2011.0020Search in Google Scholar

Dobrovie-Sorin, C. & I. Giurgea. 2013. Pronominal possessors. In C. Dobrovie-Sorin & I. Giurgea (eds.), A reference grammar of Romanian, volume I, the noun phrase, John Benjamins: Amsterdam. 347–354.10.1075/la.207Search in Google Scholar

Durrell, M. 2002. Hammer’s German grammar and usage, 4th edn. McGraw- Hill: Chicago.Search in Google Scholar

Fiva, T. 1984. NP-internal chains in Norwegian. Nordic Journal of Linguistics 8. 25–47.10.1017/S0332586500001244Search in Google Scholar

Fiva, T. 1987. Possessor chains in Norwegian. Novus Forlag: Oslo.Search in Google Scholar

Franks, S. 2013. Bulgarian NEGO SI is a Balkan anaphor. Linguistique Balkanique LII. 3–28.Search in Google Scholar

Gildersleeve, B.L. & G. Lodge. 1989. Gildersleeve’s Latin grammar. Bolchazy-Carducci: Wauconda, Illinois.Search in Google Scholar

Giurgea, I. 2014. Romanian Al and the syntax of case heads. Bucharest Working Papers in Linguistics 16. 69–98.Search in Google Scholar

Giusti, G. 1993. La sintassi dei determinanti. Unipress: Padova.Search in Google Scholar

Gross, M. 1975. Méthodes en syntaxe. Régime des constructions complétives. Hermann: Paris.Search in Google Scholar

Harris, J. & M. Halle. 2005. Unexpected plural inflections in Spanish: Reduplication and metathesis. Linguistic Inquiry 36. 195–222.10.1162/0024389053710710Search in Google Scholar

Harris, J.W. 1991. The exponence of gender in Spanish. Linguistic Inquiry 22. 27–62.Search in Google Scholar

Helke, M. 1973. On reflexives in English. Linguistics 106. 5–23.10.1515/ling.1973.11.106.5Search in Google Scholar

Jakubowicz, C. 1992. Sig en danois: Syntaxe et acquisition. In H.-G. Obenauer & A. Zribi-Hertz (eds.), Structure de la phrase et théorie du liage, Presses Universitaires de Vincennes: Saint-Denis. 121–149.Search in Google Scholar

Julien, M. 2005. Nominal phrases from a Scandinavian perspective. John Benjamins: Amsterdam.10.1075/la.87Search in Google Scholar

Kayne, R.S. 1975. French syntax. The transformational cycle. The MIT Press: Cambridge, Mass.Search in Google Scholar

Kayne, R.S. 1991. Romance clitics, verb movement and PRO. Linguistic Inquiry 22. 647–686.Search in Google Scholar

Kayne, R.S. 1993. Toward a modular theory of auxiliary selection. Studia Linguistica 47. 3–31.10.1111/j.1467-9582.1993.tb00837.xSearch in Google Scholar

Kayne, R.S. 2002. Pronouns and their antecedents. In S. Epstein & D. Seely (eds.), Derivation and explanation in the minimalist program, Blackwell: Malden, Mass. 133–166. (reprinted in Kayne (2005b)).10.1002/9780470755662.ch7Search in Google Scholar

Kayne, R.S. 2003a. Person morphemes and reflexives in Italian, French and related languages. In C. Tortora (ed.), The syntax of Italian dialects, Oxford University Press: New York. 102–136. (also in Kayne (2000)).10.1093/oso/9780195136456.003.0005Search in Google Scholar

Kayne, R.S. (2003b) “Silent years, silent hours”, In L.-O. Delsing et al. (eds.) Grammar in focus. Festschrift for Christer Platzack. Volume2, Wallin and Dalholm: Lund, 209–226 (reprinted in Kayne (2005b)).Search in Google Scholar

Kayne, R.S. 2005b. Movement and silence. Oxford University Press: New York.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195179163.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Kayne, R.S. 2008. Expletives, datives, and the tension between morphology and syntax. In T. Biberauer (ed.), The limits of syntactic variation, John Benjamins: Amsterdam. 175–217. (reprinted in Kayne (2010b)).10.1075/la.132.07kaySearch in Google Scholar

Kayne, R.S. 2009. Some silent first person plurals. In J.M. Brucart, A. Gavarró & J. Solà (eds.), Merging features. Computation, interpretation, and acquisition, Oxford University Press: Oxford. 276–292. (reprinted in Kayne (2010b)).10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199553266.003.0015Search in Google Scholar

Kayne, R.S. 2010a. Why isn’t this a complementizer?. In Kayne (2010b).Search in Google Scholar

Kayne, R.S. 2010b. Comparisons and contrasts. Oxford University Press: New York.Search in Google Scholar

Kayne, R.S. 2013. Comparative syntax. Lingua 130. 132–151.10.1016/j.lingua.2012.10.008Search in Google Scholar

Kayne, R.S. 2016a. The unicity of there and the definiteness effect. In lingbuzz/002858 (to appear E. Gonçalves (ed.), Existential constructions in focus, Federal University of Bahia Press: Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.Search in Google Scholar

Kayne, R.S. 2016b. Some thoughts on one and two and other numerals. In P. Lorusso & L. Franco (eds.), lingbuzz/002991 (to appear. Linguistic variation: Structure and interpretation – A Festschrift in Honour of M. Rita Manzini in occasion of her 60th birthday, Mouton De Gruyter: Berlin.Search in Google Scholar

Kayne, R.S. 2017a. English one and ones as complex determiners. In G. Sengupta, S. Sircar, M.G. Raman & R. Balusu (eds.), Perspectives on the architecture and acquisition of syntax. Essays in honor of R. Amritavalli, Springer Nature: Singapore. 77–114. (also available at lingbuzz/002542).10.1007/978-981-10-4295-9_4Search in Google Scholar

Kayne, R.S. 2017b. “Clitic doubling, person and agreement in French hyper-complex inversion”, lingbuzz/003344.10.1075/rllt.14.09kaySearch in Google Scholar

Koopman, H. & A. Szabolcsi. 2000. Verbal complexes. The MIT Press: Cambridge, Mass.10.7551/mitpress/7090.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Kornfilt, J. 2001. Local and long-distance reflexives in Turkish. In P. Cole, G. Hermon & C.-T.J. Huang (eds.), Long-distance reflexives (vol. 33 syntax and semantics), Academic Press: San Diego. 197–226.Search in Google Scholar

Leu, T. 2007. These HERE demonstratives. In T. Scheffler, J. Tauberer, A. Eilam & L. Mayol (eds.), Proceedings of the 30th annual Penn linguistics colloquium, Penn working papers in linguistics vol. 13, vol. 1. University of Pennsylvania: Philadelphia. 141–154.Search in Google Scholar

Leu, T. 2015. The architecture of determiners. Oxford University Press: New York.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199945238.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Longobardi, G. 1994. Reference and proper names, Linguistic Inquiry 25. 609–665.Search in Google Scholar

Manzini, M.R. 2014. Grammatical categories: Strong and weak pronouns in Romance. Lingua 150. 171–201.10.1016/j.lingua.2014.07.001Search in Google Scholar

Manzini, M.R. & L.M. Savoia. 2008. Work notes on romance Morphosyntax. Appunti di Morfosintassi Romanza. Edizioni dell’Orso: Alessandria.Search in Google Scholar

Pancheva, R. 2004. Balkan possessive clitics. The problem of case and category. In O.M. Tomić (ed.), Balkan syntax and semantics, John Benjamins: Amsterdam. 175–219.10.1075/la.67.10panSearch in Google Scholar

Pelliciardi, F. 1977. Grammatica del Dialetto Romagnolo. Longo: Ravenna.Search in Google Scholar

Perlmutter, D.M. 1970. On the article in English. In M. Bierwisch & K.E. Heidolph (eds.), Progress in linguistics, Mouton: The Hague. 233–248.Search in Google Scholar

Perlmutter, D.M. 1971. Deep and surface structure constraints in syntax. Holt, Rinehart and Winston: New York.Search in Google Scholar

Perridon, H.C.B. 1997. Is the definite article in Jutlandic a borrowing from low German. Multilingua 16. 351–363.10.1515/mult.1997.16.4.351Search in Google Scholar

Pica, P. 1987. On the nature of the reflexivization cycle. In J. McDonough & B. Plunkett (eds.), Proceedings of NELS 17, GLSA, University of Massachusetts: Amherst. 483–499.Search in Google Scholar

Pica, P. 1990. The case for reflexives or reflexives for case. In K. Deaton, M. Noske & M. Ziolkowski (eds.), Proceedings from the 26th Regional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society, University of Chicago: Chicago. 363–378.Search in Google Scholar

Poletto, C. 2000. The higher functional field in the Northern Italian dialects. Oxford University Press: New York.10.1093/oso/9780195133561.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Postal, P. 1969. Anaphoric islands. Chicago Linguistic Society 5. 205–239.Search in Google Scholar

Postal, P.M. 1966. On so-called ‘pronouns’ in English. In F.P. Dineen (eds.), Report of the seventeenth annual roundtable meeting on linguistics and language studies, Georgetown University Press: Washington, D.C. 177–206. (reprinted in Reibel, D.A. and S.A. Schane, eds., Modern Studies in English (1969), Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey).Search in Google Scholar

Renzi, L. 1997. The structure of the noun phrase. In M. Maiden & M. Parry (eds.), The dialects of Italy, Routledge: London. 162–170.Search in Google Scholar

Schürcks, L. 2006. Binding and point of view in Bulgarian. Zeitschrift für Slawistik 51. 386–405.10.1524/slaw.2006.51.4.386Search in Google Scholar

Sick, B. 2006. Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod. Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Köln.Search in Google Scholar

Strandskogen, A.-B. & R. Strandskogen. 1989. Norwegian. An essential grammar. Routledge: London.Search in Google Scholar

Szabolcsi, A. 1983. The possessor that ran away from home. The Linguistic Review 3. 89–102.10.1515/tlir.1983.3.1.89Search in Google Scholar

Vanelli, L. & L. Renzi. 1997. Personal pronouns and demonstratives. In M. Maiden & M. Parry (eds.), The dialects of Italy, Routledge: London. 106–115.Search in Google Scholar

Wheeler, M.W., A. Yates & N. Dols. 1999. Catalan. A comprehensive grammar. Routledge: London.Search in Google Scholar

Zanuttini, R. 1997. Negation and clausal structure. A comparative study of romance languages Oxford University Press: New York.10.1093/oso/9780195080544.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Zribi-Hertz, A. 2003. On the asymmetrical but regular properties of French possessive DPs. In M. Coene & Y. D’hulst (eds.), From NP to DP. Volume 2: The expression of possession in noun phrases, John Benjamins: Amsterdam. 141–163.10.1075/la.56.10zriSearch in Google Scholar

Published Online: 2018-07-06
Published in Print: 2018-08-28

© 2018 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Downloaded on 27.9.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/probus-2018-0001/html
Scroll to top button