N Class and its Interpretation: The Neuter in Central Italian Varieties and its Implications

In this work we will characterize Romance N class morphology as endowed with a semantic content, providing evidence about the active involvement of N class at the syntaxsemantic interface. We will argue that the so-called neuter of Central Italian dialects involves coding of the mass/count distincti...

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Main Authors:	Ludovico Franco, M. Rita Manzini, Leonardo M. Savoia
Format:	article
Language:	EN
Published:	Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona 2015
Subjects:	nominal class gender neuter Italian dialects Romance Syntax Romanic languages PC1-5498 Philology. Linguistics P1-1091
Online Access:	https://doaj.org/article/1992c45aeaf14f5caba6c78c88eb897d
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:1992c45aeaf14f5caba6c78c88eb897d2021-12-01T12:14:20ZN Class and its Interpretation: The Neuter in Central Italian Varieties and its Implications10.5565/rev/isogloss.142385-4138https://doaj.org/article/1992c45aeaf14f5caba6c78c88eb897d2015-03-01T00:00:00Zhttps://revistes.uab.cat/isogloss/article/view/14https://doaj.org/toc/2385-4138In this work we will characterize Romance N class morphology as endowed with a semantic content, providing evidence about the active involvement of N class at the syntaxsemantic interface. We will argue that the so-called neuter of Central Italian dialects involves coding of the mass/count distinction by N class morphology. The mass vs. count contrast can be interpreted as the reflex of a more primitive property, which opposes non-individual content to instances of individual denotation, since the -o ‘neuter’ inflection of Central Italian varieties is compatible not only with mass nouns but also with eventive contents and with the invariable inflections found with perfect participles of unergative/transitive verbs. We will show that Mass vs. count semantic content associated to and encoded through N class is available in other Indo-European languages and in genetically unrelated languages and we will support the idea that N class can function as a classifier.Ludovico FrancoM. Rita ManziniLeonardo M. SavoiaUniversitat Autònoma de Barcelonaarticlenominal classgenderneuterItalian dialectsRomanceSyntaxRomanic languagesPC1-5498Philology. LinguisticsP1-1091ENIsogloss (2015)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	nominal class gender neuter Italian dialects Romance Syntax Romanic languages PC1-5498 Philology. Linguistics P1-1091
spellingShingle	nominal class gender neuter Italian dialects Romance Syntax Romanic languages PC1-5498 Philology. Linguistics P1-1091 Ludovico Franco M. Rita Manzini Leonardo M. Savoia N Class and its Interpretation: The Neuter in Central Italian Varieties and its Implications
description	In this work we will characterize Romance N class morphology as endowed with a semantic content, providing evidence about the active involvement of N class at the syntaxsemantic interface. We will argue that the so-called neuter of Central Italian dialects involves coding of the mass/count distinction by N class morphology. The mass vs. count contrast can be interpreted as the reflex of a more primitive property, which opposes non-individual content to instances of individual denotation, since the -o ‘neuter’ inflection of Central Italian varieties is compatible not only with mass nouns but also with eventive contents and with the invariable inflections found with perfect participles of unergative/transitive verbs. We will show that Mass vs. count semantic content associated to and encoded through N class is available in other Indo-European languages and in genetically unrelated languages and we will support the idea that N class can function as a classifier.
format	article
author	Ludovico Franco M. Rita Manzini Leonardo M. Savoia
author_facet	Ludovico Franco M. Rita Manzini Leonardo M. Savoia
author_sort	Ludovico Franco
title	N Class and its Interpretation: The Neuter in Central Italian Varieties and its Implications
title_short	N Class and its Interpretation: The Neuter in Central Italian Varieties and its Implications
title_full	N Class and its Interpretation: The Neuter in Central Italian Varieties and its Implications
title_fullStr	N Class and its Interpretation: The Neuter in Central Italian Varieties and its Implications
title_full_unstemmed	N Class and its Interpretation: The Neuter in Central Italian Varieties and its Implications
title_sort	n class and its interpretation: the neuter in central italian varieties and its implications
publisher	Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
publishDate	2015
url	https://doaj.org/article/1992c45aeaf14f5caba6c78c88eb897d
work_keys_str_mv	AT ludovicofranco nclassanditsinterpretationtheneuterincentralitalianvarietiesanditsimplications AT mritamanzini nclassanditsinterpretationtheneuterincentralitalianvarietiesanditsimplications AT leonardomsavoia nclassanditsinterpretationtheneuterincentralitalianvarietiesanditsimplications
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N Class and its Interpretation: The Neuter in Central Italian Varieties and its Implications

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