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In:Italian Dialectology at the Interfaces
Edited by Silvio Cruschina, Adam Ledgeway and Eva-Maria Remberger
[Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 251] 2019
► pp. 257–293

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N morphology and its interpretation

Romance feminine singular/plural -a

 | Università di Firenze
 | Università di Firenze
Published online: 5 February 2019
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/la.251.12man
Abstract
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.
Article outline
  • 1.-a plurals in standard Italian and central Calabrian
  • 2.The internal structure of the noun
  • 3.Analysis of -a plurals in central Calabrian
  • 4.-a plurals in North Lombard dialects: Tresivio (Valtellina)
  • 5. -a(-ŋ) plurals in Bregaglia Valley dialects (Casaccia)
  • 6.A note on the syntactic distribution of plural inflections
  • 7.North Tuscany singular/plural -a
  • 8.Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
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Manzini, M. Rita, Leonardo M. Savoia & Benedetta Baldi
2021. -ŋ plurals in North Lombard varieties. In Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 2018 [Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 357], ► pp. 151 ff. DOI logo
Pescarini, Diego
2021. Microvariation in Verbal and Nominal Agreement: An Analysis of Two Lombard Alpine Dialects. Probus 33:2 ► pp. 227 ff. DOI logo
Pescarini, Diego
2021. Microvariation in Verbal and Nominal Agreement: An Analysis of Two Lombard Alpine Dialects. Probus 33:2 ► pp. 227 ff. DOI logo

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