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Bare PPs and the syntax-semantics interface

The case of sin + bare nominal structures in Spanish

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Spanish prepositional phrases headed by sin “without” with a bare noun complement (una habitación sin luz “a room without light”; un hombre sin corbata “a man without tie”) show interesting gradability properties: Degree modification is allowed if the N complement is a mass noun (una habitación muy sin luz “lit. a room very without light”; *un hombre muy sin corbata “lit. a man very without tie”). We claim that sin-PPs (sin-Preposition Phrases) hare syntactic and semantic properties with constructions involving light verbs that select for bare nouns. We argue that (a) a property-denoting bare NP pseudo-incorporates into a null verb have that is part of the syntactic-semantic structure of sin, and that (b) sin-PPs can be coerced into gradable properties as long as the bare noun is cumulative and homogeneous (divisive). Our proposal explains the differences between sin-(bare)-PPs and PPs headed by sin with a QP/DP complement, since in the latter there is neither coercion nor pseudo-incorporation.

  • Affiliations: 1: ILLA-CSIC; 2: URV, UAH; 3: UAH, ILLA-CSIC

References

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    2003 Norwegian Bare Singulars. Ph.D. dissertation, Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
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  2. Bosque, Ignacio
    1980 “La preposición sin ”. Lingüística Hispánica3.71–85.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Chung, Sandra & William A. Ladusaw
    2004 Restriction and saturation. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Cinque, Guglielmo
    2010 The Syntax of Adjectives: A Comprehensive Study. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. doi: 10.7551/mitpress/9780262014168.001.0001
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  5. Dayal, Veneeta
    2011 “Hindi pseudoincorporation”. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory29:1.123–167. doi: 10.1007/s11049‑011‑9118‑4
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  7. Espinal, M. Teresa & Louise McNally
    2011 “Bare nominals and incorporating verbs in Spanish and Catalan”. Journal of Linguistics47.87–128. doi: 10.1017/S0022226710000228
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  8. Etxeberria, Urtzi
    2005 Quantification and domain restriction in Basque. Ph.D. dissertation, Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea.
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  9. Grønn, Atle , Bert Le Bruyn , Henriëtte de Swart & Joost Zwarts
    2010 “Bare PPs across languages”. Ms., Utrecht University.
  10. Gutiérrez-Rexach, Javier
    2003 La semántica de los indefinidos. Madrid: Visor Libros.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Kayne, Richard S
    1994 The Antisymmetry of Syntax. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
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  12. Kennedy, Christopher
    2007 “Vagueness and Grammar: The Semantics of Relative and Absolute Gradable Adjectives”. Linguistics and Philosophy30:1.1–45. doi: 10.1007/s10988‑006‑9008‑0
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    2005 “Scale Structure, Degree Modification, and the Semantics of Gradable Predicates” Language 81.345–381.
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    1986 Nominalreferenz und Zeitkonstitution. Zur Semantik von Massentermen, Individualtermen und Aspektklassen. Ph.D. dissertation, Universität München.
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  17. Le Bruyn, Bert , Henriëtte de Swart & Joost Zwarts
    2011 “Mass-count distinctions in bare PPs”. Ms., Utrecht University.
  18. McIntyre, Andrew
    2006 “The interpretation of German datives and English have”. Datives and Other Casesed. by Daniel P. Hole , André Meinunger & Werner Abraham , 185–211. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. doi: 10.1075/slcs.75.09mci
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    2011 “La interacción contabilidad-gradabilidad en los SSPP escuetos”. Cuadernos de la ALFAL3.138–158.
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Rett, Jessica
    2008 Degree Modification in Natural Language. Ph.D. dissertation, Rutgers University.
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Rothstein, Susan
    2010 “Counting and the mass/count distinction”. Journal of Semantics27:3.343–397. doi: 10.1093/jos/ffq007
     https://doi.org/10.1093/jos/ffq007 [Google Scholar]
  22. Svenonius, Peter , Gillian Ramchand , Michal Starke & Tarald Taraldsen
    eds. 2009 Nordlyd 36:1. Special issue on Nanosyntax. Tromsø: Septentrio Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  23. van Geenhoven, Veerle
    1996 Semantic Incorporation and indefinite descriptions: Semantic and syntactic aspects of West Greenlandic noun incorporation. Ph.D. dissertation, Universität Tübingen.
     [Google Scholar]

References

  1. Borthen, Kaja
    2003 Norwegian Bare Singulars. Ph.D. dissertation, Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Bosque, Ignacio
    1980 “La preposición sin ”. Lingüística Hispánica3.71–85.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Chung, Sandra & William A. Ladusaw
    2004 Restriction and saturation. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Cinque, Guglielmo
    2010 The Syntax of Adjectives: A Comprehensive Study. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. doi: 10.7551/mitpress/9780262014168.001.0001
     https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/9780262014168.001.0001 [Google Scholar]
  5. Dayal, Veneeta
    2011 “Hindi pseudoincorporation”. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory29:1.123–167. doi: 10.1007/s11049‑011‑9118‑4
     https://doi.org/10.1007/s11049-011-9118-4 [Google Scholar]
  6. Emonds, Joseph E
    1985 A Unified Theory of Syntactic Categories. Dordrecht: Foris. doi: 10.1515/9783110808513
     https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110808513 [Google Scholar]
  7. Espinal, M. Teresa & Louise McNally
    2011 “Bare nominals and incorporating verbs in Spanish and Catalan”. Journal of Linguistics47.87–128. doi: 10.1017/S0022226710000228
     https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022226710000228 [Google Scholar]
  8. Etxeberria, Urtzi
    2005 Quantification and domain restriction in Basque. Ph.D. dissertation, Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Grønn, Atle , Bert Le Bruyn , Henriëtte de Swart & Joost Zwarts
    2010 “Bare PPs across languages”. Ms., Utrecht University.
  10. Gutiérrez-Rexach, Javier
    2003 La semántica de los indefinidos. Madrid: Visor Libros.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Kayne, Richard S
    1994 The Antisymmetry of Syntax. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  12. Kennedy, Christopher
    2007 “Vagueness and Grammar: The Semantics of Relative and Absolute Gradable Adjectives”. Linguistics and Philosophy30:1.1–45. doi: 10.1007/s10988‑006‑9008‑0
     https://doi.org/10.1007/s10988-006-9008-0 [Google Scholar]
  13. Kennedy, Christopher & Louise McNally
    2005 “Scale Structure, Degree Modification, and the Semantics of Gradable Predicates” Language 81.345–381.
  14. Krifka, Manfred
    1986 Nominalreferenz und Zeitkonstitution. Zur Semantik von Massentermen, Individualtermen und Aspektklassen. Ph.D. dissertation, Universität München.
     [Google Scholar]
  15. Landman, Fred
    2003 “Predicate-argument mismatches and the adjectival theory of indefinites”. From NP to DP, Volume 1: The syntax and semantics of noun phrasesed. by Martine Coene & Yves D’Hulst , 211–237. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. doi: 10.1075/la.55.10lan
     https://doi.org/10.1075/la.55.10lan [Google Scholar]
  16. Lawers, Peter & Dominique Willems
    2011 “Coercion: Definition and challenges, current approaches, and new trends”. Linguistics49:6.1219–1235.
     [Google Scholar]
  17. Le Bruyn, Bert , Henriëtte de Swart & Joost Zwarts
    2011 “Mass-count distinctions in bare PPs”. Ms., Utrecht University.
  18. McIntyre, Andrew
    2006 “The interpretation of German datives and English have”. Datives and Other Casesed. by Daniel P. Hole , André Meinunger & Werner Abraham , 185–211. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. doi: 10.1075/slcs.75.09mci
     https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.75.09mci [Google Scholar]
  19. Oltra-Massuet, Isabel & Isabel Pérez-Jiménez
    2011 “La interacción contabilidad-gradabilidad en los SSPP escuetos”. Cuadernos de la ALFAL3.138–158.
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Rett, Jessica
    2008 Degree Modification in Natural Language. Ph.D. dissertation, Rutgers University.
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Rothstein, Susan
    2010 “Counting and the mass/count distinction”. Journal of Semantics27:3.343–397. doi: 10.1093/jos/ffq007
     https://doi.org/10.1093/jos/ffq007 [Google Scholar]
  22. Svenonius, Peter , Gillian Ramchand , Michal Starke & Tarald Taraldsen
    eds. 2009 Nordlyd 36:1. Special issue on Nanosyntax. Tromsø: Septentrio Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  23. van Geenhoven, Veerle
    1996 Semantic Incorporation and indefinite descriptions: Semantic and syntactic aspects of West Greenlandic noun incorporation. Ph.D. dissertation, Universität Tübingen.
     [Google Scholar]

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