Part of
The Paradox of Grammatical Change: Perspectives from RomanceEdited by Ulrich Detges and Richard Waltereit
[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 293] 2008
► pp. 57–84
Edited by Ulrich Detges and Richard Waltereit
[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 293] 2008
► pp. 57–84
The role of the plural system in Romance
This paper presents a diachronic formal morphosyntactic analysis of the role of the functional projection Pl/Pl* in Romance indefinite nominals, responsible for number and the countability distinction. Reinterpreting the complex system of indefinite nominal determination in two central Romance languages, viz. French and Italian, which both feature an indefinite article and a ‘partitive article’ as a device of ‘nominal classification’ in a broad sense in contrast to Romance languages without such an element, viz. Spanish, it argues that this ‘classification system’ arose when nominal declension in Latin was partially or completely lost. The application of the latest minimalist assumptions on agreement processes in the syntax both to modern Romance languages and to (Late) Latin allows us to describe and explain the obvious differences between French, Italian and Spanish and to relate them to the interaction of gender and number marking in Romance indefinite nominals.
Cited by (6)
Cited by 6 other publications
Pinzin, Francesco
2024. What’s hidden below definiteness and genitive: on indefinite partitive articles in Romance. Linguistics 0:0 
Ayoun, Dalila & Stefano Maranzana
2022. Chapter 5. The second language acquisition of grammatical gender and number in Italian. In The Acquisition of Gender [Studies in Bilingualism, 63], ► pp. 97 ff.
Ihsane, Tabea
2022. Preverbal Subjects with a Partitive Article: A Comparison Between Aosta Valley Francoprovençal and French*. Studia Linguistica 76:1 ► pp. 130 ff.
Stark, Elisabeth & Jan Pavel Davatz
2022. Unexpected Partitive Articles in Francoprovençal*. Studia Linguistica 76:1 ► pp. 101 ff.
Ihsane, Tabea & Elisabeth Stark
2020. Introduction: Shades of partitivity: Formal and areal properties. Linguistics 58:3 ► pp. 605 ff.
Stark, Elisabeth & Paul Widmer
2020. Bretona-marking of (internal) verbal arguments: A result of language contact?. Linguistics 58:3 ► pp. 745 ff.
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