Journal | Annali di Ca’ Foscari. Serie occidentale
Journal issue | 50 | 2016
Research Article | The Interpretation of Indefinites with Adnominal Adjectives in the Sicilian Dialects

The Interpretation of Indefinites with Adnominal Adjectives in the Sicilian Dialects

Vincenzo Nicolò Di Caro - Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, Italia - email

Abstract

Indefinite nominals can typically be modified by pre- or postnominal adjectives in Romance languages. With the exception of a small group of adjectives concerning physical or moral characteristics whose meaning changes according to their pre- or postnominal use, the position of an attributive adjective does not alter its meaning. However, prenominal adjectives in a Spanish indefinite trigger its specific interpretation, thus preventing its variable reading; the same phenomenon obtains also in Catalan. The aim of this paper is to discuss specific cases in some Sicilian dialects – mainly in the dialect of Delia (province of Caltanissetta) – in order to provide further evidence of the fact that prenominal evaluative adjectives force the specific interpretation of indefinites in Romance. Since Sicilian dialects do not typically display prenominal adjectives, this paper will therefore draw on elatives to check whether Sicilian shows a parallel restriction in the postnominal position.

Open access | Peer reviewed

Submitted: April 12, 2016 | Accepted: Aug. 1, 2016 | Published Sept. 30, 2016 | Language: it

Keywords Non-specific interpretation • Elatives • Qualificative adjectives • Sicilian dialects

Copyright © 2016 Vincenzo Nicolò Di Caro. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

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DC Field	Value
dc.identifier	ECF_article_357
dc.title	The Interpretation of Indefinites with Adnominal Adjectives in the Sicilian Dialects
dc.contributor.author	Di Caro Vincenzo Nicolò
dc.publisher	Edizioni Ca’ Foscari - Digital Publishing
dc.type	Research Article
dc.language.iso	it
dc.identifier.uri	http://edizionicafoscari.it/en/edizioni4/riviste/annali-di-ca-foscari-serie-occidentale/2016/1/the-interpretation-of-indefinites-with-adnominal-a/
dc.description.abstract	Indefinite nominals can typically be modified by pre- or postnominal adjectives in Romance languages. With the exception of a small group of adjectives concerning physical or moral characteristics whose meaning changes according to their pre- or postnominal use, the position of an attributive adjective does not alter its meaning. However, prenominal adjectives in a Spanish indefinite trigger its specific interpretation, thus preventing its variable reading; the same phenomenon obtains also in Catalan. The aim of this paper is to discuss specific cases in some Sicilian dialects – mainly in the dialect of Delia (province of Caltanissetta) – in order to provide further evidence of the fact that prenominal evaluative adjectives force the specific interpretation of indefinites in Romance. Since Sicilian dialects do not typically display prenominal adjectives, this paper will therefore draw on elatives to check whether Sicilian shows a parallel restriction in the postnominal position.
dc.relation.ispartof	Annali di Ca’ Foscari. Serie occidentale
dc.relation.ispartof	Vol. 50 \| September 2016
dc.issued	2016-09-30
dc.dateAccepted	2016-08-01
dc.dateSubmitted	2016-04-12
dc.identifier.issn
dc.identifier.eissn	2499-1562
dc.rights	Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License
dc.rights.uri	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.identifier.doi	10.14277/2499-1562/AnnOc-50-16-2
dc.peer-review	yes
dc.subject	Elatives
dc.subject	Elatives
dc.subject	Non-specific interpretation
dc.subject	Non-specific interpretation
dc.subject	Qualificative adjectives
dc.subject	Qualificative adjectives
dc.subject	Sicilian dialects
dc.subject	Sicilian dialects
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