Vol. 9 (2023)
Articles

Indefinite DPs in the Gallo-Romance of Piedmont, in some Marginal Northern Italian Varieties and in Romansh

Leonardo Maria Savoia
Università degli Studi di Firenze
Benedetta Baldi
Università degli Studi di Firenze

Published 2023-09-30

Keywords

  • Di-complements,
  • Indefinite DPs,
  • Negative Markers,
  • Partitives,
  • Romance Varieties

How to Cite

Savoia, L. M., & Baldi, B. (2023). Indefinite DPs in the Gallo-Romance of Piedmont, in some Marginal Northern Italian Varieties and in Romansh. Quaderni Di Linguistica E Studi Orientali, 9, 241–262. https://doi.org/10.36253/qulso-2421-7220-15150

Abstract

This article investigates indefinite DPs in some Romance varieties spoken in border contexts between linguistic groups. Specifically, we will consider Occitan and Franco-Provençal varieties of western Piedmont, the western Ligurian dialects, the Lombard-Alpine dialects, and Romansh, also in comparison with other North-Italian systems. The central issue is the nature of the construcs DE + article/Bare Noun of Italian varieties, where the preposition de/di (DE) ‘of’ does not introduce the usual possessive or partitive PPs, but DPs with indefinite reading. In negative contexts, such phrases mostly require the narrow scope interpretation. We argue that DE + bare noun constructs, as generally bare partitives, are based on the lexical properties of the preposition DE.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...