Prepositions as relators in Italian Prepositional Compounds

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a morphosyntactic analysis of Prepositional Compounds in Italian. We argue that while prepositions are not meaningless, their content isn’t too rich, either. We propose that they can be treated as general relators (along the lines of Manzini & Franco’s (2016) treatment of locative and oblique prepositions) which can express different directions of inclusion between the nominal items which are part of the compound. The lexicalization patterns are coherent with the syncretism found in other aspects of the grammar (e.g. locative/oblique prepositions). At the same time, the specific lexicalizations of these prepositions are ultimately determined by the morphosyntactic context in which they are embedded, highlighting the key role played by the syntactic context in shaping a vocabulary entry. One advantage of our proposal lies in its minimality: the prepositions only encode general relators with varying directionalities; they are not burdened with semantic content. The relevant interpretations of Prepositional Compounds are ultimately derived by pragmatic enrichment at the C-I interface on the basis of the elementary content expressed by the preposition.

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