Partitive pronouns in intransitive contexts in Italian and Dutch

Abstract In the literature it is often assumed that partitive pronouns can only be used in combination with elliptical objects of transitive or unaccusative verbs. Some counterevidence has been provided as well, however, showing that partitive pronouns may also occur with intransitive verbs. In this paper it is investigated, by means of a Grammaticality Judgment Task, if native speakers of Italian and Dutch accept the use of the partitive pronoun with three types of intransitive verbs, in combination with an elliptical quantified adverbial NP. It is shown that both groups of participants were... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Sleeman, Petra
Dokumenttyp: Artikel
Erscheinungsdatum: 2022
Reihe/Periodikum: Partitives cross-linguistically ; Linguistic Variation ; volume 23, issue 1, page 217-243 ; ISSN 2211-6834 2211-6842
Verlag/Hrsg.: John Benjamins Publishing Company
Schlagwörter: Food Science / Linguistics and Language / Language and Linguistics
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-26655276
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
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Link(s) : http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/lv.21018.sle

Abstract In the literature it is often assumed that partitive pronouns can only be used in combination with elliptical objects of transitive or unaccusative verbs. Some counterevidence has been provided as well, however, showing that partitive pronouns may also occur with intransitive verbs. In this paper it is investigated, by means of a Grammaticality Judgment Task, if native speakers of Italian and Dutch accept the use of the partitive pronoun with three types of intransitive verbs, in combination with an elliptical quantified adverbial NP. It is shown that both groups of participants were quite ready to accept the partitive pronoun in these cases, in some contexts more than in others. Various explanations for the results are considered and one more specific suggestion is made to account for the data, also based on a comparison with other constructions and other languages.