Relational Adjectives at Interfaces

Abstract

The paper investigates the properties of relational adjectives at the syntax/morphology interface. Specifically, it proposes an analysis of relational adjectives that accounts of the mismatch between their nominal semantics/syntax and the adjectival morphology. Relational adjectives are semantically underlying nouns but they show several syntactic properties that set them apart from nouns such as deficient number, lack of anaphoric properties and incompatibility with complex event nouns. I account for these deficiencies by analyzing them as underspecified nouns with a minimal syntactic structure on a par with the one of default mass nouns proposed by Borer (2005). Moreover, positive evidence is provided for a split classification of relational adjectives as proposed in Bosque & Picallo (1996) according to which Thematic relational adjectives are arguments of deverbal nouns while Classificatory adjectives, restrictive modifiers of simple nouns. Special focus is placed on the parallel between Thematic adjectives and genitives in Romance that provides a theoretical answer to the syntax/morphology mismatch: In the spirit of Distributed Morphology (cf. Embick & Noyer 2006), I argue that the Case features of the nouns underlying in Thematic adjectives are relevant only at PF, conditioning the choice of Vocabulary Items expressing Case: the adjectival suffix or the de genitival preposition. Studia Linguistica 69(3) 2015, pp. 304-332.

Group adjectives, possessives and single-participant derived nominals in Polish

“…Some of the data discussed in this paper seem to confirm the observation that thematic adjectives are expected to occur with referential nominals (as argued by Stavrou, 2011, andMoreno, 2015). Such adjectives often accompany result nouns and names of simple events.…”

“…Alexiadou and Stavrou (2011), when discussing Greek ethnic adjectives, which constitute a subgroup of relational adjectives, argue that relational adjectives cannot modify argumentsupporting nominals. The same position is taken by Moreno (2015), who discusses relational adjectives in Romanian and finds them to be unacceptable with complex event nominals. The nouns in (18) denote events, as they can be followed by verbs such as trwać 'to continue, to last'.…”

“…( Relational adjectives occurring in (3) show the default mass/unbounded reading (Moreno, 2015), i.e., they imply some indefinite group of soldiers, professors, popes, or clerks. This is not the only possible reading of group adjectives, though.…”

Derivational Relators in Italian

“…The connection of genitive noun phrases with relational adjectives has been highlighted by many authors, who argue that the adjectival affix is actually used as a sort of case marking device (see e.g., Levi 1978;Williams 1981;Fabregas 2007;Marchis Moreno 2015;Franco 2017;among others).…”