In this contribution, we examine four cases of prepositionless genitive assignment:
(a) certain alleged cases of N+N composition in Modern Italian that respond
positively to important diagnostics for syntactic behavior; (b) the so-called Juxtaposition
Genitive widely attested in Old French; (c) the relatively less appreciated
presence of some peculiar forms of Juxtaposition Genitive in Old Italian, attested
until the end of the 14th century and partially still surviving in certain Central and
Southern Italian dialects; (d) the so-called genitive compounds in West-Frisian.
By exploiting Kayne’s insights on the syntax of possessive constructions, we
challenge the traditional view that the loss of synthetic genitive morphology
necessarily leads to modalities of prepositional genitive assignment in the
transition from (Late) Latin to Romance. The hypotheses formulated here are
potentially relevant for a general theory of genitive assignment and for the study
of the interface between syntax and morphology.
2022. The Status ofDein Romance Indefinites, Partitives and Pseudopartitives*. Studia Linguistica 76:1 ► pp. 167 ff.
Lami, Irene & Joost van de Weijer
2022. Compound-internal anaphora: evidence from acceptability judgements on Italian argumental compounds. Morphology 32:4 ► pp. 359 ff.
Massaro, Angelapia
2022. Romance Genitives: Agreement, Definiteness, and Phases*. Transactions of the Philological Society 120:1 ► pp. 85 ff.
Bisetto, Antonietta
2015. Do Romance languages have phrasal compounds? A look at Italian. STUF - Language Typology and Universals 68:3 ► pp. 395 ff.
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