In:Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 2018: Selected papers from 'Going Romance' 32, Utrecht
Edited by Frank Drijkoningen, Sergio Baauw and Luisa Meroni
[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 357] 2021
► pp. 151–170
Chapter 8-ŋ plurals in North Lombard varieties
Differential plural marking and phases
Published online: 17 December 2021
https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.357.08man
https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.357.08man
Abstract
We focus on North Lombard -a and -n feminine plurals, for which we provide a morphological analysis. At the syntactic level, the relevant varieties are characterized by the phenomenon of Differential Plural Marking, whereby phasal domains have different realizations of plural morphology on the head of the phase and on the complement of the phase. We provide an account of DPM based on the assumption that under the PIC the complement of the phase and its head are externalized separately. We draw consequences concerning clitics as phasal heads as well as object agreement with participles and with finite verbs.
Keywords: number, nominal class, agreement, phase, clitic
Article outline
- 1.Differential plural marking in Mesolcina Valley varieties
- 2.Morphological analysis: -a as a plural
- 3.Syntax: Externalization by phase
- 3.1The vP and CP phases
- 3.2Alternative accounts
- 4.Conclusions
Notes References
References (38)
Alexiadou, Artemis. 2011. Plural mass nouns and the morpho-syntax of number. In Mary B. Washburn, Katherine McKinney-Bock, Erika Varis, Ann Sawyer, & Barbara Tomaszewicz (eds.), Proceedings of WCCFL 28, 33–41. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.
Baldi, Benedetta & Ludovico Franco. 2018. Gender, number and inflectional class in some North-Italian dialects. The plural inflection -i and the interpretation of N morphology. In Mirko Grimaldi, Rosangela Lai, Ludovico Franco & Benedetta Baldi (eds.), Structuring variation in Romance Linguistics and beyond, 31–54. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Baldi, Benedetta & Leonardo M. Savoia. 2018. Morphosyntactic reorganization phenomena in Arbëresh dialects: The neuter. Quaderni di Linguistica e Studi Orientali 4. 109–130.
Bonet, Eulàlia. 2018. Missing inflectional features and missing exponents in DP-internal agreement asymmetries. Glossa 3(1). 79. 1–19.
. 2001. Derivation by phase. In Michael Kenstowicz (ed.), Ken Hale: A life in language, 1–54. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
. 2008. On phases. In Robert Freidin, Carlos Otero & Maria-Luisa Zubizarreta (eds.), Foundational issues in linguistic theory. Essays in honour of Jean-Roger Vergnaud. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Costa, João & M. Cristina Figueiredo Silva. 2002. Notes on nominal and verbal agreement in Portuguese. Rivista di Grammatica Generativa 27. 17–29.
D’Alessandro, Roberta & Ian Roberts. 2008. Movement and agreement in Italian past participles and defective phases. Linguistic Inquiry 39(3). 477–491.
Déchaine, Rose-Marie, Raphaël Girard, Calisto Mudzingwa & Martina Wiltschko. 2014. The internal syntax of Shona class prefixes. Language Sciences 43. 18–46.
Giusti, Giuliana. 2008. Agreement and concord in nominal expressions. In Cécile de Cat & Katherine Demuth (eds.), The Bantu–Romance connection: A comparative investigation of verbal agreement, DPs, and information structure, 201–237. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Kramer, Ruth. 2016. A split analysis of plurality: Number in Amharic. Linguistic Inquiry 47(3). 527–559.
Landau, Idan. 2016. DP-internal semantic agreement: A configurational approach. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 34. 975–1020.
Manzini, M. Rita. 2020. The morphosyntactic structure of number in Italian and Albanian. High and low plurals. Catalan Journal of Linguistics 19. 127–157.
Manzini, M. Rita, Benedetta Baldi & Leonardo M. Savoia. 2018. Plural morphology in DPs in -s and -i systems: A Romance comparative perspective. In Annamaria Chillà & Alessando De Angelis (eds.), Capitoli di morfosintassi delle varietà romanze d’Italia: teoria e dati empirici, 307–330. Palermo: Supplementi del Bollettino del Centro Studi Filologici e Linguistici Siciliani.
Manzini, M. Rita & Leonardo M. Savoia. 2005. I dialetti italiani e romanci. Morfosintassi generativa. Alessandria: Edizioni dell’Orso.
. 2017. Enclisis/Proclisis alternations in Romance: Allomorphies and (re)ordering. Transactions of the Philological Society 115. 98–136.
. 2018a. N inflections and their interpretation: Neuter -o and plural -a in Italian varieties. In Roberto Petrosino, Pietro Cerrone & Harry van der Hulst (eds.), From sounds to structures: Beyond the veil of Maya, 361–394. Berlin: Mouton De Gruyter.
. 2019. N morphology and its interpretation: Romance feminine singular/plural -a. In Silvio Cruschina, Adam Ledgeway & Eva-Maria Remberger (eds.), Italian dialectology at the interfaces, 257–293. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Nevins, Andrew. 2011. Multiple agree with clitics: Person complementarity vs. omnivorous number. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 29(4). 939–971.
Rasom, Sabrina. 2008. Lazy concord in the central Ladin feminine plural DP. Ph.D. Dissertation: Università di Padova.
Rizzi, Luigi. 1986. On the status of subject clitics in Romance. In Osvaldo Jaeggli & Carmen Silva-Corvalan (eds.), Studies in Romance linguistics, 391–419. Dordrecht: Foris.
Roberts, Ian. 2010. Agreement and head movement: Clitics, incorporation, and defective goals. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Rohlfs, Gerhard. 1968 [1949]. Grammatica storica della lingua italiana e dei suoi dialetti. Morfologia. Torino: Einaudi.
Salvioni, Carlo. 1902. Del plurale femminile di 1. declinazione esposto per -a ed -an in qualche varietà alpina di Lombardia: nota. Rendiconti del Reale Istituto lombardo di scienze e lettere 2(35). 905–919.
Savoia, Leonardo M., Benedetta Baldi & M. Rita Manzini. 2018. Sigmatic plurals in Romance varieties spoken in Italy and their interaction with -i plurals. LINGBAW 4. 141–160.
. 2019. Asymmetries in plural agreement in DPs. In Joseph Emonds, Markéta Janebová, & Ludmila Veselovská (eds.), Language use and linguistic structure Proceedings of the Olomouc Linguistics Colloquium 2018, 204–224. Olomouc: Palacký University Olomouc.
Sportiche, Dominique. 1996. Clitic constructions. In Johan Rooryck & Laurie Zaring (eds.), Phrase structure and the lexicon, 213–276. Dordrecht: Kluwer.
Stark, Elisabeth & Natascha Pomino. 2009. Adnominal adjectives in romance. Where morphology seemingly meets semantics. In M. Teresa Espinal, Manuel Leonetti & Louise McNally (eds.), Proceedings of the IV Nereus International Workshop: Definiteness and DP structure in Romance languages, 113–135. Konstanz, Germany.
