N morphology and its interpretation

This contribution deals with the -a inflection in Italian varieties, which realizes plural as well as feminine singular. Thus the -a inflection externalizes apparently irreducible contents (singular/plural). We try to answer the question whether it is possible to unify these two readings. Feminine plural -a alternating with masculine singular characterize standard Italian and many South-Italian dialects (§§ 1–3). On the contrary, in North-Lombard, Romansh and North-Tuscany varieties -a characterizes feminine singular and plural, while the specialized (-)i plural morphology occurs on determiners (§§ 4–7). We argue that in both types of languages, the -a plural externalizes a nominal class property [aggregate]. We propose that [aggregate] is at the basis of the superficial syncretism between plural and singular/feminine in the occurrence of the -a inflection. Indeed [aggregate] introduces a notion of plurality as aggregate of individuals compatible at least with mass singulars (aggregates of parts). In general, the inflectional vowels of Romance languages, or in any event Italian -a, are not mere byproducts of paradigmatic organization, but are lexical items, endowed with interpretive content.