The syntax of argument structure: Evidence from Italian complex predicates

Abstract

This paper provides an analysis of Italian complex predicates formed by combining a feminine nominalization in -ataand one of three light verbs:fare‘make’,dare‘give’ andprendere‘take’. We show that the constraints governing the choice of light verb follow from a syntactic approach to argument structure, and that several interpretive differences between complex and simplex predicates formed from the same verb root can be accounted for in a compositional, bottom–up approach. These differences include variation in creation vs. affected interpretations of Theme objects, implications concerning the size of the event described, the (un)availability of a passive alternant, and the agentivity or lack thereof of the subject argument.

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