Bare Nominals, Morphosyntax, and the Nominal Mapping Parameter
نویسندگان
چکیده
The Nominal Mapping Parameter (Chierchia 1998) has been proposed as a semantic parameter to account for the cross-linguistic distribution of bare nominals. We examine specific predictions that the NMP makes with respect to the bare singular arguments and bare singular predicates. Brazilian Portuguese allows bare singulars in argument position while English and other Romance languages doe not. Furthermore, English generally disallows bare singular predicates, while Brazilian Portuguse and most other Romance languages do. Neither of these patterns is predicted by the NMP. We propose instead, that the variation can be accounted for by two independently motivated morpho-syntactic parameters: one which allows Num and Agr to be split in Romance but not in English, and one which allows English and Brazilian Portuguese to have a null determiner. The combination of these two parameters allows bare singulars in argument position in Brazilian Portuguese. Our proposal eliminates the need for a semantic parameter.
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Bare Nouns and the Morphosyntax Of
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