In this article, we argue for a syntactic approach to the computation of stress in Spanish. Our basic claim is that stress placement in this language makes crucial reference to the internal syntactic structure of words. In particular, we propose that foot boundaries are projected from certain functional heads. The analysis is set within the framework of Distributed Morphology and uses the formalism of the bracketed grid for the representation of stress. Several hypotheses concerning the syntax of words are argued to be necessary in gaining a better understanding of stress placement in Spanish.Stress placement in Spanish is determined by syntax. Building on previous work on the topic, and on recent developments of the theory of Distributed Morphology (Halle and Marantz 1993), we argue for an analysis of stress in Spanish that relies crucially on the internal syntactic structure of words. Although previous accounts acknowledge the relevance of word structure in the placement of stress, we show that a deeper analysis of the syntax and morphology of Spanish words provides new insight into the computation of stress in this language.Specifically, we develop an analysis in which foot boundaries in Spanish are projected by certain functional heads contained in words. Since, as we argue, reference to these word-internal constituents is essential in building metrical structure, the present analysis argues strongly in favor of morphological frameworks, such as Distributed Morphology, in which words have syntactic structure. We also adopt the theory of metrical structure proposed in Idsardi 1992 and Halle and Idsardi 1995. This framework provides a natural way of formalizing the generalizations that are discussed here.This article is organized as follows. In section 1, we briefly outline the most important aspects of Distributed Morphology that are relevant for our analysis of stress. We begin our analysis of Spanish stress in section 2, where we present our account of stress in verbs. In sections 3-4, we extend the analysis to other categories. In section 5, we discuss the main advantages of our analysis with respect to previous work on the topic. The article ends with some concluding remarks in section 6.We are indebted to Morris Halle and Alec Marantz for their continued support and for invaluable contributions to the development of our analysis. The following people were also very helpful with their comments and discussion: Eulàlia Bonet, Dave Embick, James Harris, Bill Idsardi, Michael Kenstowicz, and Joan Mascaró. We thank two anonymous reviewers for very valuable comments and criticisms that have resulted in a more comprehensive account of the facts.

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This article deals with the morphosyntactic and semantic properties of the adjectives derived with the English morpheme -ish. The main goal of the paper is to outline a morphosyntactic analysis of -ish that: (i) accounts for its cross-categorial nature, (ii) derives its surface polysemy, and (iii) is compatible with Bochnak & Csipak's (2014) recent semantic analysis of deadjectival -ish (for example, reddish) and free-standing propositional -ish (for example, I liked the movie …ish) as a metalinguistic degree operator. Focusing on the analysis of the various subtypes of bounded -ish forms, this paper develops a unified morphosyntactic approach to -ish with a single shared semantics, and suggests that the cross-categorial and polysemous nature of -ish derives from three main closely interrelated factors: (i) the source of the degree variable that -ish targets, whether syntactic, lexical, or metalinguistic; (ii) the syntactic realization site of -ish; and (iii) the late insertion of the underspecified morpheme -ish.

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The purpose of this paper is twofold; first, we aim to provide a series of tests that identify Spanish ser capaz ‘be capable’ (henceforth SC) as an ambiguous modal, just like English must or can. Specifically, we observe that SC has not only an abilitative flavor, but also an epistemic one. Second, we want to propose an analysis for SC that can account for this ambiguity and that is in accordance with current theories of modality such as Cinque (1999), Kratzer (1981, 1991), and Hacquard (2009, 2010). In a nutshell, we argue that SC can occupy two different positions, a low one below AspP, which corresponds to the abilitative interpretation, and a high one, above AspP, which translates as the epistemic reading. Concerning the semantics, we claim that SC denotes a slight possibility; i.e., the propositional argument is true in at least one world, but it is always true in the non-ordinary worlds.