Rising possessors in Spanish

©!Iberia:!An!International!Journal!of!Theoretical!Linguistics!vol!3.1,!2011,!1=34! http://www.siff.us.es/iberia/index.php/ij/index!ISSN!1989=8525! ! Rising!possessors!in!Spanish1! Antonio!Fábregas! [email protected]! Universitetet,i,Tromsø, ,, Abstract. In this paper we propose that some nominal structures involve rising of a possessive pronoun from a lower, defective nominal domain to a structure headed by a noun with which they do not hold any direct semantic relation. The conditions under which this operation can take place are explored. It can only happen when the lower domain is severely impoverished; it is introduced by a weak preposition that does not define a phase and when the PP is selected by the head noun as its complement. Key!words: possessives, raising, inalienable possession, phases, Spanish Resumen: Este trabajo propone que algunas estructuras nominales tienen instancias de ascenso de un pronombre posesivo desde un dominio nominal defectivo hasta una estructura más alta, encabezada por un nombre con el que no guarda relación semántica. Esto puede suceder solo cuando se cumplen ciertos requisitos sintácticos, entre ellos que el dominio nominal bajo sea radicalmente defectivo y esté introducido por una preposición débil, incapaz de definir una fase, que el sustantivo más alto toma como argumento interno. Palabras!clave: posesivos, ascenso, posesión inalienable, fases, español Resumo. Neste artigo propomos que algumas estruturas nominais envolvem a subida de um pronome possessivo de um domínio nominal defectivo mais baixo para uma estrutura encabeçada por um nome com o qual não possuem qualquer relação semântica directa. As condições sob as quais esta operação pode tomar lugar são exploradas: apenas ocorre quando um domínio mais baixo é severamente empobrecido, é introduzido por uma preposição fraca que não define a fase e quando o SP é seleccionado pelo núcleo nominal como seu complemento. Palavras>chave: possessivos, subida, posse inalienável, fases, Espanhol 1.!All!categories!are!created!equal:!rising!in!verbal!and!nominal!structures! If!we!consider!the!history!of!generative!grammar!since!the!late!fifties!to! the!present!days,!one!possible!way!to!interpret!it!is!that!the!focus!has!moved! progressively!from!specific!categories!to!general!operations.!Initially,!there!were! rewriting! rules! that! treated! each! grammatical! category! and! each! construction! separately! (Chomsky! 1957).! Later! on,! these! operations! were! generalized! to! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!! 1!We!are!grateful!to!Juan!Romeu,!Peter!Svenonius,!Tarald!Taraldsen,!and!two! anonymous! reviewers! from! IBERIA! for! comments! and! suggestions! on! a! previous! version! of! this! article.! The! following! abbreviations! are! used! in! this! article:! SG.! (‘singular’),!PL.!(‘plural’),!MASC.!(‘masculine’),!FEM.!(‘feminine’)!and!OBL.!(‘oblique’).! ! ©!Iberia:!An!International!Journal!of!Theoretical!Linguistics!vol!3.1,!2011,!1=34! http://www.siff.us.es/iberia/index.php/ij/index!ISSN!1989=8525! 2! Rising!possessors!in!Spanish! classes! of! features! (Chomsky! 1965),! and! with! the! introduction! of! the! Government! &! Binding! program! and! the! development! of! more! abstract! non! construction=specific! principles! (Chomsky! 1981),! the! focus! moved! to! general! operations! that! applied! to! given! classes! of! heads! (e.g.,! lexical! vs.! functional),! independently!of!its!category!label!or!the!construction!where!they!are!inserted.! In! the! Minimalist! Program! (Chomsky! 1995),! the! focus! is! on! the! operations! (merge,! agree)! that! are! possible! inside! a! structure,! independently! of! category! specifications! and! the! lexical! vs.! functional! distinction.! The! immediate! consequence! of! this! view! is! that! there! is! no! a! priori! reason! to! expect! the! operations! performed! on! verbal! structures! to! be! any! different! from! those! performed! on! nominal! structures.! This! paper! tries! to! contribute! to! this! view! showing! that! an! operation! strongly! associated! to! the! verbal! domain! in! the! literature,!rising,!is!also!attested!inside!the!nominal!domain,!strengthening!thus! the! proposal! that! the! category! label! is! irrelevant! for! the! operations! that! a! structure!undergoes.! Empirically,!we!will!discuss!the!following!contrast.! (1) a.!el!color!de!sus!ojos! !the!colour!of!her!eyes! b.!su!color!de!ojos! !her!colour!of!eyes! c.!*su!color!de!los!ojos! !her!colour!of!the!eyes!! The!phrase!in!(1a)!is!unsurprising:!we!have!a!head!noun!with!a!definite! determiner!which!takes!a!PP!complement!(as!we!will!argue;!cf.!§3.4);!this!PP! complement!carries!a!possessive,!which!determines!the!person!whose!eyes!we! are! talking! about.! (1b)! is! more! surprising;! here! the! possessive! appears! in! the! head!noun,!despite!the!fact!that!it!is!interpreted!as!the!possessor!of!the!noun! embedded!under!the!PP!complement.!We!are!not!talking!about!the!colour!that! belongs!to!her,!but!about!the!eyes!that!belong!to!her.!(1c)!shows!that!as!soon!as! the!noun!embedded!under!the!PP!carries!a!determiner,!the!displaced!structure! becomes!ungrammatical.!! This!structure!is!mentioned!in!§18.7l!of!the!Nueva,Gramática,de,la,Lengua, Española.2!The!empirical!goal!of!this!paper!is!to!expand!the!description!of!the! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!! 2!Notice,!however,!that!in!this!section!of!the!NGRAE!at!least!two!constructions! with! different! empirical! properties! are! addressed! together.! Among! the! differences! between!the!pattern!illustrated!in!(1)!and!a!construction!like!mi,número,de,teléfono!‘my! phone!number’!we!find!the!following:! i. In! mi, número, de, teléfono!the! PP! can! be! substituted! by! a! relational! adjective!(mi,número,telefónico)! ii. In! mi, número, de, teléfono!the! lower! noun! does! not! hold! an! inalienable! ! ©!Iberia:!An!International!Journal!of!Theoretical!Linguistics!vol!3.1,!2011,!1=34! http://www.siff.us.es/iberia/index.php/ij/index!ISSN!1989=8525! 3! Antonio!Fábregas! phenomenon,!considering!as!many!factors!as!possible.!This!is!done!in!§2.!This! paper! has,! in! addition! to! this,! a! two=fold! theoretical! goal.! The! first! one! is! to! study! this! phenomenon! from! the! perspective! of! phase! theory,! as! a! way! of! providing!evidence!for!the!phase!nature!of!DPs;!this,!being!our!most!theoretical! goal,!is!left!for!the!final!section!of!the!paper!(§4).!Secondly,!we!want!to!motivate! the!empirical!properties!of!the!construction!inside!a!tree=structure!that!treats!the! lower! noun! introduced! by! the! preposition! as! a! functionally=defective! PP! complement!of!the!higher!noun.!We!will!relate!this!nominal!construction!to!the! well=known!raising!pattern!illustrated!in!(2),!as!we!will!address!more!technical! aspects!of!the!phenomenon.! (2) a.!Parece!que!los!pájaros!están!cantando.!! !Seems!that!the!birds!are!singing!‘It!seems!that!the!birds!are!singing’! b.!Los!pájaros!parecen!estar!cantando.! !The!birds!seem!to!be!singing!‘The!birds!seem!to!be!singing’! c.!*Los!pájaros!parecen!que!están!cantando.! !The!birds!seem!that!are!singing.! There!are!some!obvious!similarities!between!(1)!and!(2).!In!(2b),!as!in!(1b),! there!is!a!constituent!that!is!interpreted!associated!to!the!dependent!of!the!word! it! agrees! with:! despite! the! fact! that! los, pájaros! agrees! with! parecen,! it! is! interpreted!as!part!of!the!predicate!subordinated!to!this!verb.!In!(2c),!as!in!(1c),! a! formal! property! of! the! constituent! that! depends! on! the! head! makes! the! construction! ungrammatical:! the! presence! of! strong! inflection! on! the! subordinate!clause.! In!this!paper,!we!will!argue!that!the!correct!analysis!of!the!contrast!in!(1)! is!essentially!the!same!as!in!(2):!to!treat!the!rising!element!(here!the!possessor)! as!a!constituent!that!originates!in!a!lower!domain,!where!it!holds!an!argument= !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! possession!relation!with!the!possessor.! iii. In!mi,número,de,teléfono!the!PP!can!be!eliminated,!and!the!possessive!is! interpretable!without!that!PP!as!a!modifier!of!the!noun!without!change! in! meaning! (mi, número);! in! contrast,! in! mi, color, de, ojos!(‘my! colour! of! eyes’),! removing! the! PP! changes! the! meaning! of! the! construction,! showing! that! the! possessive! establishes! the! semantic! relation! with! the! noun! contained! inside! the! PP.! Something! like! mi, color!must! be! interpreted!as!the!colour!that!the!speaker!has,!as!a!whole,!in!the!body,!or! some!colour!which!is!somehow!directly!related!with!the!speaker.!! iv. Mi, número, de, teléfono!allows,! at! least! marginally,! a! determiner! in! the! lower! domain! and! prepositions! other! than! de!‘of’:! mi,número,(habitual), para,todos,los,teléfonos,que,poseo!’!my!(usual)!number!for!all!the!phones! that!I!own’! This!paper!will!not!analyze!the!mi,número,de,teléfono!construction.!! ! ©!Iberia:!An!International!Journal!of!Theoretical!Linguistics!vol!3.1,!2011,!1=34! http://www.siff.us.es/iberia/index.php/ij/index!ISSN!1989=8525! 4! Rising!possessors!in!Spanish! predicate! relation.! Movement! is! possible! to! the! extent! that! the! constituent! establishes!a!formal!relationship!with!a!higher!head!that!dominates!it,!provided! that! minimality! and! the! limits! of! syntactic! phases! are! met.! There! are! some! differences! with! respect! to! the! nature! (and! compulsory! nature)! of! the! movement!undergone!by!this!constituent,!but!the!situations!where!movement!is! blocked!and!the!conditions!under!which!it!is!possible!are!basically!identical.! 2.!Dissecting!the!construction! We! will! first! empirically! motivate! the! contention! that! these! structures! hold! a! parallelism! with! verbal! rising! constructions! describing! the! properties! that!they!show!with!respect!to!the!nature!of!the!head!noun,!the!nature!of!the! embedded!noun,!the!relation!between!the!possessive!and!the!lower!noun!and! the!nature!of!the!PP!that!introduces!it.!! 2.1.!The!head!noun! One!first!reason!to!treat!these!as!constructions!involving!raising!is!that! only!some! of! the! head! nouns! give!rise! to! the! contrast! between! (1a)! and! (1b).! Below,!we!contrast!(3)!with!(4).!! (3) a.!el!estado!de!su!salud! !the!state!of!his!health! b.!su!estado!de!salud! !his!state!of!health! (4) a.!el!secreto!de!sus!ojos! !the!secreto!of!her!eyes! b.!*su!secreto!de!ojos! !her!secret!of!eyes! The!first!question!is,!therefore,!to!determine!the!class!of!nouns!that!can! take! part! in! this! type! of! construction! and! to! motivate! that! they! can! be! considered!semantically!special.!The!generalization!seems!to!be!that!only!those! nouns,!morphologically!derived!or!not,!that!denote!the!different!properties!of! individuals!can!appear!in!this!construction.!!In!(5),!we!exemplify!(only!with!the! structure!in!(1b)!and!(3b),!as!(1a)!and!(3a)!is!any!noun!allowed)!these!nouns!for! the! classes! of! size,! length,! height,! depth,! temperature,! wetness,! weight! and! width,! which! are! all! considered! scalar! properties! (that! is,! properties! whose! internal!semantic!structure!contains!different!ordered!values).!!In!fine=grained! proposals!that!decompose!the!adjectival!domain!into!a!rich!number!of!heads,! these!adjectives!tend!to!be!high!or!middle!(Scott!1998).!! (5) a.!su!tamaño!de!semilla!e.!!su!ancho!!!!de!hombros! !its!size!!!!!!!of!!seed!! ! her!width!!of!shoulders!!!!!!!!! !‘the!size!of!its!seed’! ! ‘the!width!of!her!shoulders’! ! ©!Iberia:!An!International!Journal!of!Theoretical!Linguistics!vol!3.1,!2011,!1=34! http://www.siff.us.es/iberia/index.php/ij/index!ISSN!1989=8525! 5! Antonio!Fábregas! b.!!su!longitud!de!brazos!f.!!su!calidez!!!!de!!aliento! !her!length!!!of!!arms!! ! her!warmth!of!breath!! !‘the!length!of!her!arms’! ! ‘the!warmth!of!her!breath’! c.!su!altura!de!tono!g.!su!pesadez!!!!!de!piernas! !its!height!of!tone!! ! her!heaviness!of!legs’!!! !‘the!height!of!its!tone’! ! d.!su!profundidad!de!corte!h.!su!sequedad!de!boca!! !their!depth!!!!!!!!!of!cut!! ! her!dryness!!!of!mouth!! !‘the!depth!of!their!cut’! ! ‘the!dryness!of!her!mouth’! Other!nouns!can!appear!in!the!same!construction!when!they!denote!properties! similar!to!these!and!not!physical!objects.! (6) su!{talla!/!número}!de!zapato! her!size!/!number!of!shoe!‘the!size!of!her!shoe’! Nouns!related!to!non!scalar!properties,!like!colour,!shape,!smell!and!feel,! can!also!appear!in!the!same!construction;!the!adjectives!corresponding!to!these! notions!are!merged!quite!low!in!the!syntactic!structure!(Scott,!op.cit)!(7).3! (7) a.!su!color!de!ojos!d.!su!curvatura!de!piernas! !her!colour!of!eyes! ! her!curvature!of!legs! b.!su!redondez!de!fruto!e.!su!contorno!de!muslo! ! !its!roundness!of!fruit! ! her!contour!of!thigh!! ! c.!su!textura!de!piel!f.!su!olor!de!pies! !its!texture!of!skin!! ! her!smell!of!feet! ! Again,!nouns!referring!to!the!same!properties!or!others!similar!to!them! (smell,!for!instance)!can!appear!in!the!construction.! (8) a.!su!corte!de!cara!b.!su!arco!de!cejas! !her!cut!of!face!! ! her!arch!of!eyebrows! !‘the!shape!of!her!face’! ! ‘the!arch!of!her!eyebrows’! More! conceptually,! underspecified! nouns! are! also! allowed! (9).! ! By! conceptually! underspecified! we! mean! nouns! that! denote! hyperonyms! of! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!! 3!Some! property=denoting! nouns! normally! do! not! take! part! in! the! structure! due! to! independent! reasons.! Those! that! express! properties! that! apply! equally! to! all! the! parts! of! an! individual! cannot! take! part! because! of! pragmatic! reasons:! su,juventud, de,rostro!‘her! youth! of! face’,!is!not!acceptable!in!the!literal!meaning!because!the!face!of!a!person!would!be!just!as!old!as! any!other!part!of!her.!Only!in!a!figurative!meaning!(‘the!young!expression!of!her!face’)!(does!it! become)! acceptable.! The! noun! estatura!‘stature’! does! not! allow! the! construction! because! it! applies!to!the!whole!height!of!a!human!being,!not!of!one!of!his!parts,!and!lacks!the!necessary! possessor!even!in!the!absence!of!rising!(contrast!la,estatura,de,Juan!‘the!stature!of!Juan’!with!*la, estatura,de,sus,piernas!‘the!stature!of!his!legs’).!Notice!that!nouns!that!denote!dimensions!(not! properties)! cannot! take! part! in! the! construction;! for! example,! peso!‘weight’! (vs.! pesadez,! ‘heaviness’).!Contrast!(5i)!with!*su,peso,de,piernas!‘her!weight!of!legs’.!This!contrast!follows!if! only!nouns!denoting!properties!can!take!PPs!as!complements.!! ! ©!Iberia:!An!International!Journal!of!Theoretical!Linguistics!vol!3.1,!2011,!1=34! http://www.siff.us.es/iberia/index.php/ij/index!ISSN!1989=8525! 6! Rising!possessors!in!Spanish! different!classes!of!properties!(such!as!states,!expressions,!structures,!systems,! etc.)!without!referring!to!any!specific!physical!dimension!or!quality.! (9) a.!su!estado!de!cuenta! d! su!constitución!de!cuerpo! !her!state!of!account!! ! her!constitution!of!body! !‘the!state!of!her!account’! ! b.!su!expresión!de!cara!e.!su!estructura!de!rima! ! !her!expression!of!face!! ! its!structure!of!rhyme! c.!su!calidad!de!vida!f.!su!sistema!de!vida!! !her!quality!of!life! ! her!system!of!life! ! ! g.!su!movimiento!de!brazos! ! ! ! ! her!movement!of!arms! ! Some!nouns!impose!further!restrictions!on!the!class!of!nouns!that!can!be! introduced!by!the!PP!in!this!construction.!It!is!compulsory!that!the!lower!noun! is!an!event!noun!(Grimshaw!1990)!when!the!higher!noun!denotes!one!of!these! three!separate!conceptual!notions:!time,!place!or!speed.! (10) a.!su!área!de!distribución!d.!su!fecha!de!llegada! !their!area!of!distribution! ! her!date!of!arrival! b.!su!lugar!de!origen!e.!su!mes!de!publicación! !! his!place!of!origin! ! its!month!of!publication! c.!su!velocidad!de!crecimiento! !its!speed!of!growth! In!all!these!cases,!the!semantic!generalizations!that!we!have!described!do! not!always!seem!to!be!instantiated!by!a!syntactic!feature.!The!notions!denoted! by!the!nouns!that!allow!for!the!construction!might!form!a!natural!class!from!the! perspective!of!conceptual!semantics,!but!not!necessarily!from!the!perspective!of! the!morphosyntactic!features!that!underlie!these!nouns.!It!is!very!implausible! that! notions! of! speed,! time! and! place,! which! require! an! event! noun,! be! subsumed!by!one!single!feature!in!the!syntax!of!the!structure.!In!contrast,!from! a!conceptual!perspective,!it!makes!sense!to!say!that!only!events!can!take!place! at! particular! moments! and! places,! and! thus,! only! they! can! happen! at! some! speed.!! This! situation,! where! the! generalization! is! based! on! conceptual! information!but!not!on!syntactic!features,!is!reminiscent!of!semantic!selection.! Indeed,!the!set!of!nouns!that!can!act!as!the!complement!of!a!verb,!like!‘to!eat’,! form!a!natural!class!in!terms!of!their!conceptual!semantics!(they!are!different! kinds!of!food),!but!it!seems!unlikely!that!we!want!to!endow!our!syntax!with!a! feature![food]!that!these!verbs!have!to!check.!! As!we!will!see!in!§3,!this!similarity!is!part!of!our!analysis.!Our!proposal! is! precisely! that! the! construction! is! only! possible! when! the! PP! is! the! complement!of!the!higher!noun;!only!in!a!head=complement!configuration,!can! ! ©!Iberia:!An!International!Journal!of!Theoretical!Linguistics!vol!3.1,!2011,!1=34! http://www.siff.us.es/iberia/index.php/ij/index!ISSN!1989=8525! 7! Antonio!Fábregas! the!noun!semantically!select!the!PP!and!is!the!possessor!able!to!escape!from!the! PP.!! To!finish!this!section,!we!point!out!a!further!contrast!that!shows!that!the! predication!between!the!higher!noun!and!the!lower!noun!is!a!necessary!but!not! sufficient!condition!for!the!construction!to!be!possible.!Only!when!the!property! denoted!by!the!higher!noun!is!at!the!individual=level,!can!the!construction!be! instantiated.! This! is! shown! by! the! ungrammaticality! of! (11a),! and! by! the! contrast!between!(11b)!and!(11c).! (11) a.!*su!desnudez!de!piernas! !his!nakedness!of!legs! b.!*su!frialdad!de!pies! !his!coldness!of!feet! c.!!su!frialdad!de!espíritu! !his!coldness!of!soul! A! property! that! in! Spanish! must! be! stage=level,! like! that! expressed! by! desnudo,!‘naked’,!cannot!take!part!in!the!construction!(11a).!An!adjective!like!frío,! ‘cold’,!can!be!interpreted!as!both!individual!and!stage=level:!when!referring!to! feet,!the!natural!interpretation!is!stage=level!(11b);!however,!when!referring!to! souls,! the! natural! interpretation! is! individual=level! (11c).! ! Indeed,! Spanish! would!use!the!stage=level!copula!estar!in!the!sentential!expression!of!(11b),!but! the!individual=level!ser!in!(11c).!Thus,!it!seems!that!the!predication!is!restricted! only!to!individual=level!cases.! 2.2.!The!impoverished!structure!of!the!lower!nominal!constituent! Just!as!in!the!case!of!subject!rising,!the!possibility!of!having!possessive! rising! depends! on! the! lower! constituent! having! a! severely! impoverished! functional!structure.!The!rising!construction!is!blocked!by!the!presence!of!the! definite!article!(as!seen!in!1c),!quantifiers!(12),!numerals!(13)!or!adjectives,!pre= nominal!or!postnominal!(14).!!!! (12) a.!la!redondez!de!sus!muchos!frutos! !the!roundness!of!its!many!fruits! b.!*su!redondez!de!muchos!frutos! !its!roundness!of!many!fruits! (13) a.!el!color!de!sus!dos!ojos! !the!colour!of!her!two!eyes! b.!*su!color!de!dos!ojos! !her!colour!of!two!eyes! (14) a.!el!color!de!sus!grandes!ojos! !the!colour!of!her!big!eyes! b.!!su!color!de!(*grandes)!ojos!(*grandes)! !her!colour!of!(big)!eyes!(big)! ! ©!Iberia:!An!International!Journal!of!Theoretical!Linguistics!vol!3.1,!2011,!1=34! http://www.siff.us.es/iberia/index.php/ij/index!ISSN!1989=8525! 8! Rising!possessors!in!Spanish! In!the!higher!domain,!these!modifiers!are!allowed.!! (15) a.!su!mucha!velocidad!de!vuelo! !its!much!speed!of!flight!‘the!considerable!speed!of!its!flight’! ! b.!sus!dos!lugares!de!nacimiento! !her!two!places!of!birth! c.!!su!intenso!color!de!ojos! !her!intense!colour!of!eyes! At! this! point,! perhaps! one! would! like! to! say! that! the! absence! of! functional!material!between!the!head!noun!and!the!possessor!is!due!to!the!fact! that!the!construction!is!a!morphological!compound.!!However,!this!option!can! be! quickly! shown! to! be! wrong.! The! first! unexpected! property,! if! the! construction! was! a! compound,! is! the! fact! that! each! one! of! the! members! can! inflect! separately.! ! The! phrasal! compound! in! (16a)! is! contrasted! with! the! structure!under!study!(16b).!!The!lower!noun!can!show!independent!number! inflection!in!(16b):!that!is!to!say,!the!lower!noun!can!appear,!depending!on!the! semantics,! both! in! the! singular! and! in! the! plural! forms,! with! complete! independence!of!the!number!shown!by!the!higher!noun.!!Despite!the!pragmatic! infelicity!of!(16b)!when!the!noun!‘eye’!appears!in!singular!(which!is!saved!if!the! woman!we!are!talking!about!is!one=eyed)!the!lower!noun!can!appear!in!singular! or!plural.!In!phrasal!compounds,!in!contrast,!the!lower!noun!is!fossilized!in!a! particular! number! value! (as! shown! in! 16a,! where! the! lower! noun! is! fixed! in! singular!number).!! (16) a.!su(s)!ojo(s)!de!buey(*es)! !her(pl)!eye(s)!of!ox(*en),!‘her!portholes’! b.!!su(s)!color(es)!de!ojo(s)! !her(pl)!colour(s)!of!eye(s)! Number! inflection,! placed! in! NumberP! (Ritter! 1991)! is! the! only! functional! head! that! can! appear! in! the! lower! nominal! constituent,! but! this! difference!is!enough!to!show!that!these!constructions!are!not!compounds.!! Secondly,! phrasal! compounds! are! listed! in! the! lexicon! due! to! two! properties.!The!first!one!is!that!they!have!an!unpredictable!meaning!that!does! not!correspond!to!the!combination!of!its!parts.!This!is!obviously!the!case!in!ojo, de, buey! ‘porthole’,! but! there! is! no! need! to! list! any! of! the! members! of! this! construction,! because! their! meaning! is! compositionally! predictable! from! the! meaning!of!its!parts.!The!second!reason!to!list!a!phrasal!compound!is!that,!due! to! its! lexicalized! status,! the! elements! that! compose! it! cannot! be! productively! replaced! by! other! items.! ! In! its! meaning,! the! noun! buey,! ‘ox’,! in! ojo, de, buey! cannot! be! replaced! by! anything! else.! ! In! contrast,! consider! a! sample! of! the! nouns!that!can!appear!as!possible!members!of!the!construction!su,talla,de!‘her! size!of’;!notice!that!we!have!chosen,!on!purpose,!a!head!noun!that!is!already! ! ©!Iberia:!An!International!Journal!of!Theoretical!Linguistics!vol!3.1,!2011,!1=34! http://www.siff.us.es/iberia/index.php/ij/index!ISSN!1989=8525! 9! Antonio!Fábregas! semantically!restricted!to!sizes!of!clothes!and!body!parts!separately!covered!by! clothes!in!order!to!strengthen!our!point.! (17) a.!su!talla!de!sostén!e.!!su!talla!de!anillo! !her!size!of!bra! ! her!size!of!ring! b.!su!talla!de!pechos!f.!!su!talla!de!guantes! !her!size!of!breasts! ! her!size!of!gloves! c.!su!talla!de!zapatos!g.!su!talla!de!collar! !her!size!of!shoes! ! its!size!of!collar!(w.r.t.!pets)!!!! d.!su!talla!de!calzoncillos!h.!su!talla!de!pantalones! !her!size!of!underwear! ! his!size!of!trousers! ! Thirdly,!compounds!(even!those!that!are!phrasal)!famously!do!not!allow! internal! adjectival! modification! (an! instantiation! of! the! No=Phrase! Constraint,! Botha!1983).!If!we!take!a!bona,fide!phrasal!compound!like!(18a),!it!does!not!allow! an!internal!adjective.!!However,!these!structures!do!(18b).! (18) a.!luna!de!miel! ~! luna!(*preciosa)!de!miel! !moon!of!honey!!moon!(beautiful)!of!honey! ! ‘honeymoon’! b.!su!talla!(desmesurada)!de!pantalones! !her!size!(inordinate)!of!trousers! We! conclude,! thus,! that! these! constructions! do! not! behave! like! compounds,! as! they! allow! for! independent! inflection! of! each! one! of! its! constituents! and! are! not! lexicalized.! ! The! analysis! of! the! construction! will! be! purely!syntactic.! 2.3.!The!relation!between!the!lower!noun!and!the!possessive! In!rising!structures,!the!constituent!in!the!lower!domain!must!assign!a! theta!role!to!the!displaced!subject.!!Thus,!we!expect!that!the!relation!between! the! possessive! and! the! lower! noun! also! counts! for! the! construction! to! be! grammatical!and,!furthermore,!that!it!can!be!assimilated!in!some!wide!sense!to! ‘theta! marking’.! ! Indeed,! this! seems! to! be! the! case;! the! construction! is! only! possible!when!the!possessor!and!the!lower!noun!are!related!through!inalienable! possession!or!a!syntactically!instantiated!argument=predicate!relation,!meaning! that! the! low! noun! must! hold! a! syntactically! specified! relation! with! another! entity!in!order!to!be!semantically!interpreted.!!Contrast!the!following!pairs:! (19) a.!su!color!de!ojos! !her!colour!of!eyes! a’.!*su!color!de!coche! !her!colour!of!car! b.!su!ancho!de!cara! !her!width!of!face! ! ! ©!Iberia:!An!International!Journal!of!Theoretical!Linguistics!vol!3.1,!2011,!1=34! http://www.siff.us.es/iberia/index.php/ij/index!ISSN!1989=8525! 16! Rising!possessors!in!Spanish! (32) la!forma![de!sus!dos!ojos]! !PP! ! ! P! DP! ! !Sus! D! ! ! D! ! QP! ! ø! ! Q! ! NumP! !dos! !Num!NP! !ojoj=s! tj! (33) a.!su!forma![de!(*los)!(*dos)!ojos]! ! b.!!PP! ! ! ! P! NumP! !de! !Num!NP! ! =s! ojo=! ! Given! the! reduced! functional! structure! in! (33),! the! determiner,! the! quantifier! and! the! adjective! are! impossible! because! the! noun! lacks! the! projections! where! they! can! be! introduced! as! heads! or! specifiers.! ! There! are! simply!no!FPs!to!introduce!the!modifiers!or!D!or!Q!heads!to!introduce!the!other! elements.7! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NP,!would!be!to!follow!Borer!(2005)!in!her!proposal!that!the!Ns!that!marks!the!plural!is! not!introduced!as!Number!morphology,!but!as!a!low!Divisor!head,!belonging!to!the! noun!area,!which!determines!that!the!head! noun! is! count.!!It!would!be! tempting!to! treat! the! Spanish! plural! marker! as!a! manifestation! of!the!Classifier.! In!that! case,!the! situation!would!be!that!only!the!material!that!belongs!to!the!NP!area!is!present!in!the! impoverished!structure!of!the!PP,!while!all!the!functional!heads!belonging!to!the!AP,! NumP!and!DP!must!be!absent.!We!will!not!adopt,!though,!this!proposal!!The!reason!is! that,!when!the!functional!structure!is!impoverished,!if!the!possessor!remains!in!situ!the! noun!must!precede!it;!this!suggests!that!the!lower!noun!needs!an!NP!external!position! as!a!landing!site.!The!exceptional!nature!of!number!inflection,!though,!might!be!related! to!the!fact!that!it!is!grammaticalized!as!a!morphological!property!of!the!head!noun,!and! not!as!an!independent!complex!constituent.! 7!The!impoverishment!of!the!lower!NP!area!is!accompanied!by!semantic!effects.! Compare!the!two!phrases!in!(i).!In!the!first!one,!with!rising!and!an!impoverished!lower! nominal!domain,!the!interpretation!must!be!one!of!characteristic!property,!that!is,!the! colour! of! the! shoes! that! she! typically! wears! and! can! characterize! her! physical! appearance.!In!the!second,!with!a!complete!set!of!functional!projections!in!the!lower! ! ©!Iberia:!An!International!Journal!of!Theoretical!Linguistics!vol!3.1,!2011,!1=34! http://www.siff.us.es/iberia/index.php/ij/index!ISSN!1989=8525! 17! Antonio!Fábregas! 3.3.!The!position!of!the!PP! Given!this!background,!let!us!consider!now!the!position!occupied!by!the! whole!PP!relative!to!the!higher!noun.!We!propose!that!this!is!the!structure!of!a! noun! phrase! such! as! el, secreto, de, sus, ojos! ‘the! secreto! of! her! eyes’! (unused! functional!projections!removed!for!convenience).!The!PP!is!introduced!as!the! specifier!of!a!modifier=introducing!head,!belonging!to!the!adjective!domain.8! (34) ! ! DP! ! D! NumP! el! !Num! ! FP! !secretoi! !PP! F! ! ! ! ! !de!sus!ojos! F0!NP! ! ! !ti! The!main!noun!secret!projects!a!whole!functional!sequence!that!includes! a!determiner,!number!information!and!a!functional!position!to!host!the!PP!as!a! specifier.!We!assume!that,!in!the!post=syntactic!component,!the!head!noun!secret! which!always!moves!to!Num0!in!Spanish!is!linearized!before!the!PP,!giving,!as!a! result,!the!order!D=N=PP.!In!contrast,!the!structure!that!we!propose!for!a!phrase! like!el,color,de,sus,ojos!‘the!color!of!her!eyes’,!with!a!head!noun!that!expresses!a! property!of!the!noun!introduced!by!the!preposition,!is!the!one!in!(35).! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! domain,!however,!the!characteristic!interpretation!is!not!necessary:!it!can!be!the!colour! of!whatever!shoes!she!happens!to!wear!at!a!moment.! a.!su!color!de!zapatos! !!!!her!colour!of!shoes! b.!el!color!de!sus!zapatos! !!!!the!colour!of!her!shoes! This!difference!follows!from!the!absence!of!a!DP!in!the!lower!domain.!As!there! is! no! pair! of! specific! shoes! that! are! being! refered! to! in! (ia),! the! noun! has! to! be! interpreted!as! the! kind!of! shoes! that! are! owned! by! her,!not! as!a! determined! pair! of! shoes! that! she! owns.! The! kind! interpretation! of! the! lower! NP! is! what! triggers! the! characteristic!property!reading.!! 8!As!for!the!features!that!define!the!head!F0,!see!Cinque!(1993,!1995,!2010).!This! head!must!host!a!specifier!(so!it!can!be!inferred!that!it!has!a!relational!nature)!and!at!LF! it! performs! a! function! composition! relating! the! specifier! to! the! complement.! Given! Cinque!(2010:!27),!the!exact!characterization!of!the!head!in!(24)!is!the!one!that!performs! indirect!modification,!as!the!modifier!hosted!in!its!specifier!is!restrictive,!intersective! and!in!principle!allows!for!both!stage=level!and!individual=level!interpretations.!!See! also!Cinque!(1999)!for!the!series!of!FP!in!the!verbal!domain;!specially!chapter!3.! ! ©!Iberia:!An!International!Journal!of!Theoretical!Linguistics!vol!3.1,!2011,!1=34! http://www.siff.us.es/iberia/index.php/ij/index!ISSN!1989=8525! 18! Rising!possessors!in!Spanish! (35) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!DP! ! ! D! NumP! !el! !Num!NP! !colori! ! N! PP! ! ! ti! ! P! DP! ! ! !de! ! !sus!ojos! In!contrast!with!the!previous!structure,!here!the!PP!is!not!introduced!as!a! specifier!of!a!functional!category,!but!as!a!complement!of!the!property=denoting! head!noun.!!This!difference!captures!the!fact!that!nouns!like!color!take!the!PP!as! an! argument,! not! as! a! facultative! modifier! introduced! by! a! projection! of! the! adjectival!domain.!!! We! will! see! that! the! main! syntactic! differences! of! the! structure! follow! from!the!distinction!between!a!PP!introduced!as!a!specifier!and!a!PP!introduced! as! a! complement.! The! first! one! is! that! only! those! nouns! that! select! for! an! argument!can!take!part!in!this!construction.!!We!have!seen!that!this!is!highly! restricted! to! a! few! nouns! (§2.1.),! sometimes! with! idiosyncratic! differences! (as! for!example!the!fact!that!nouns!denoting!age!and!temperature!cannot!take!these! complements).! ! All! the! other! nouns! lack! this! capacity! and! in! those! cases! the! prepositional!modifiers!have!to!be!introduced!as!non!selected!constituents,!as! specifiers!of!one!of!the!functional!projections!that!dominate!the!noun!phrase.!!A! crucial!difference!follows!from!this!base!structure:!the!possessors!that!are!inside! specifiers!remain!trapped!there!and!cannot!be!extracted.!Hence,!they!are!unable! to!take!part!in!the!construction.! 3.4.!Explaining!the!contrast! Consider!now!how!our!proposal!explains!the!contrasts!between!(36)!and! (37).!In!the!first!pair!of!examples!(36),!possessive!rising!is!impossible!no!matter! what! the! internal! structure! of! the! PP! is.! In! the! triplet! of! (37),! rising! is! only! possible! when! functional! material! is! lacking! between! the! noun! and! the! preposition!(thus,!in!37b,!but!not!in!37c).! (36) a.!!el!secreto!de!sus!ojos! !the!secret!of!her!eyes! b.!*su!secreto!de!ojos!/!!*el!secreto!de!ojos!suyos! !her!secret!of!eyes!!!!/!the!secret!of!eyes!hers! (37) a.!!el!color!de!sus!ojos! !the!colour!of!her!eyes! ! ! ©!Iberia:!An!International!Journal!of!Theoretical!Linguistics!vol!3.1,!2011,!1=34! http://www.siff.us.es/iberia/index.php/ij/index!ISSN!1989=8525! 19! Antonio!Fábregas! b.!!su!color!de!ojos!/!el!color!de!ojos!suyos! !her!colour!of!eyes! c.!*su!color!de!los!ojos! !her!colour!of!the!eyes! The!grammatical!and!ungrammatical!constructions!can!be!explained!by! an! interaction! of! the! need! of! the! possessive! to! check! [uD]! with! the! closest! D! head! and! the! position! occupied! by! the! PP! with! respect! to! the! head! noun.! Consider!first!what!happens!in!the!grammatical!construction!in!(37b),!su,color,de, ojos.!(38)!represents!this!structure:! (38) !DP! ! D! ! NP! ! !NP! ! PP! !color! ! ! P! ! NumP! ! ! de! !Num! ! XP! ! ! ! =s! !!!!su(yo)s!! X! ! ! ! ! ! ! X! ! NP! !!!!!!!ojo=s! ! The!noun!with!which!the!possessive!establishes!a!relation!is!contained! inside! a! functionally! defective! structure,! without! a! DP! phrase! of! its! own.! However,!the!PP!is!introduced!as!a!complement!of!the!head!N!color,!which!is! dominated! by! a! full! functional! sequence! (simplified! here! for! expository! convenience).!Given!that!the!possessive!is!in!the!syntactic!domain!of!the!D,!it! can! establish! an! agreement! relationship! with! this! element.! ! As! a! result,! this! gives!rise!to!the!sequence!in!(39a)!if!the!possessive!rises!to!spec!DP!and!to!(39b)! if! it! remains! in! situ! and! checks! its! features! in! the! distance.! Notice! that! we! assume! that! the! noun! is! always! materialized! in! Num0! by! head! movement,! triggering! the! order! in! which! it! precedes! the! base! position! of! the! possessive! pronoun.! (39) a.![DP![su]i!D0![NP!color![PP!de![NumP!ojojCs![XP![ti]!X0![NP!tj]]]]]! b.![DP!el![NP!color![PP!de![NumP!ojojCs![XP![suyo]!X0![NP!tj]]]]]!! ! Consider! now! what! happens! in! case! the! lower! NP! is! dominated! by! a! whole!functional!sequence.!In!this!situation,!given!standard!assumptions!about! economy!and!locality,!the!possessive!must!check!its!features!with!the!lower!DP,! which!is!hierarchically!closer!to!it!(40,!where,!again,!only!the!relevant!heads!are! represented).!! ! ! ©!Iberia:!An!International!Journal!of!Theoretical!Linguistics!vol!3.1,!2011,!1=34! http://www.siff.us.es/iberia/index.php/ij/index!ISSN!1989=8525! 20! Rising!possessors!in!Spanish! (40) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!DP! ! D! NP! el! ! N! ! PP! ! !color! ! ! P! ! !!DP! ! ! de! ! ! ! D! ! NumP! !!!los! ! ! ! !!!!Num! ! !!XP! !!!!ojo=s! !!!!!su(yo)=s! !!X! ! !!!!!!X!!NP! ! ! Here,!if!the!possessive!moves!to!the!spec!of!the!lower!DP,!we!obtain!(41a);! if!it!remains!in!situ!we!get!(41b).!!(41c)!is!reminiscent!of!super=raising!when!the! possessor!moves!up!the!structure;!(41d),!also!ungrammatical,!is!a!violation!of! Relativized! Minimality! without! movement:! the! long=distance! dependency! known!as!agreement! is! performed!with!a!higher!head! (color)!when!there!is!a! perfectly! acceptable! lower! candidate! (ojos)! that! could! perform! the! same! agreement.!!! (41) a.!el!color!de!sus!ojos! !the!colour!of!her!eyes! b.!!el!color!de!los!ojos!suyos! !the!colour!of!the!eyes!hers.pl! ! c.!*su!color!de!los!ojos! ! ! ! ! ! ! !her!colour!of!the!eyes! d.!*el!color!de!los!ojos!suyo! !the!colour!of!the!eyes!hers.sg! Finally,! we! consider! what! happens! when! the! PP! is! a! specifier! of! a! functional!projection,!as!in!el,secreto,de,sus,ojos!(‘the!secret!of!her!eyes’).!Given! the! Condition! on! Extraction! Domains! (Huang! 1982),! an! element! cannot! be! extracted!or!enter!into!a!formal!relationship!with!an!element!from!outside!the! specifier!where!it!is!embedded.!More!recently,!Uriagereka’s!Multiple!Spell!Out! approach! (Uriagereka! 1999)! analyses! this! as! an! instance! of! syntactic! phase! defined,!as!such,!at!the!point!in!which!the!complex!specifier!is!merged!as!one! single!unit!with!the!spine!of!the!tree.!! If!the!possessive!is!inside!a!specifier,!it!will!not!be!able!to!check!its![uD]! feature!with!a!external!DP;!only!when!there!is!an!internal!DP!can!the!possessive! ! ©!Iberia:!An!International!Journal!of!Theoretical!Linguistics!vol!3.1,!2011,!1=34! http://www.siff.us.es/iberia/index.php/ij/index!ISSN!1989=8525! 21! Antonio!Fábregas! satisfy! its! features.! ! In! the! case! in! (36a),! this! does! not! produce! a! problem,! because!there!is!a!DP!inside!the!specifier!PP!(42).!The!discontinuous!line!marks! the!phase!where!the!possessive!can!check!its!features.! (42) !DP! ! D!!!!FP! el! !PP!!!!!!!F! ! P! ! DP! ! ! F! ! NP! de!!!!!!!secreto! ! D! ! XP! !los! ! ! su(yo)s!! !!X! ! ! [uD]! ! ! ! X! ! ojo!! ! The!ungrammaticality!of!the!two!examples!in!(36b)!is!due!to!the!absence! of!a!DP!internal!to!the!PP!specifier,!so!the!possessive!has!not!satisfied!the![uD]! inside!and,!being!embedded!in!a!specifier,!it!cannot!establish!checking!relations! with!external!elements!or!undergo!movement.!! (43) !DP! ! D!!!!FP! el! !PP!!!!!!F! ! P! ! XP! ! !F! ! NP! de!!!!!!secreto! !*su(yo)s! X! ![uD]! ! ! X! ! NP! ! !!!!ojos! Consider! now! the! differences! with! rising! in! the! verbal! domain.! The! crucial!difference!is!that!the!landing!site!of!movement!in!a!rising!verb!is!spec:! TP,!a! position!that!in! English!(and!probably!also!in!Spanish)!has!to! be!filled,! compulsorily,!by!a!constituent.!!In!contrast,!the!landing!site!of!movement!in!a! rising!possessor!is!spec:!DP,!a!position!which!both!in!English!and!Spanish!does! not! need! to! be! filled! by! an! element.! The! immediate! consequence! is! that! in! a! language! with! overt! expletive! pronouns,! like! English,! when! the! constituent! agrees! with! T! but! does! not! move! to! its! specifier,! such! pronouns! have! to! be! inserted!in!the!structure!(giving!rise!to!well!know!contrasts,!such!as!There,seems, to,be,a,man,in,the,room!vs.!A,man,seems,to,be,in,the,room).!The!use!of!expletives,! however,! is! not! necessary! in! our! construction! (by! Minimalist! assumptions,! impossible),!as!the!position!of!spec,!DP,!does!not!need!to!be!projected.!!! ! ©!Iberia:!An!International!Journal!of!Theoretical!Linguistics!vol!3.1,!2011,!1=34! http://www.siff.us.es/iberia/index.php/ij/index!ISSN!1989=8525! 22! Rising!possessors!in!Spanish! 3.5.!Refining!movement:!its!trigger!and!its!landing!site! As!we!have!seen!(§3.3.!and!§3.4)!the!possessor!must!find!a!D!head!in!its! domain,!but!agreement!with!it!can!be!performed!in!situ,!without!movement.!As! the!examples!in!(44)!remind!us,!the!possessor!can!surface!in!the!absolute!final! position!of!the!DP!phase!(44a)!or!in!front!of!the!first!noun!(44b).! (44) a.!el!color!de!ojos!suyo! !the!colour!of!eyes!hers.sg.! b.!su!color!de!ojos! !her!colour!of!eyes! This!contrast!brings!up!two!immediate!questions:!1)!what!is!the!trigger!of! this!movement?!and!2)!what!is!the!specific!position!where!the!possessor!moves?!! In! answering! these! two! questions! we! will! explicitly! address! one! difference! between!the!rising!possessor!and!subject=raising.! The!difference!between!(44a)!and!(44b)!has!to!do!with!the!informational! structure!of!the! sentence.!Being!in!absolute! final!position!of!the!sentence,!the! possessor!in!(44a)!is!interpreted!as!contrastive!focus!(Cinque!1993,!Zubizarreta! 1998).!This!can!be!shown!easily!by!the!sentence!in!(45).! (45) Me!gusta!el!color!de!ojos!suyo,!no!el!tuyo! Me.dat!likes!the!colour!of!eyes!hers,!not!the!yours! ‘I!like!HER!colour!of!eyes,!not!yours’! In!contrast,!the!possessor!in!(44b)!is!interpreted!as!the!(non=contrastive)! topic.!The!referent!of!the!possessor!must!have!been!previously!activated!in!the! precedent!discourse,!with!the!result!that!it!rejects!contrastive!utterances!(46).! (46) #Me!gusta!su!color!de!ojos,!no!el!tuyo! Me.dat!likes!her!colour!of!eyes,!not!the!yours! #‘I!like!her!colour!of!eyes,!not!yours’! This! suggests! that! movement,! when! it! does! take! place,! is! triggered! by! information!structure!requirements;!but!to!which!position!exactly?!!The!Spanish! data,! where! the! possessor! is! not! compatible! with! the! definite! article,! are! not! very!informative.!In!contrast,!however,!a!language!like!Portuguese!(or!Italian)! can! throw! light! on! this! issue.! Consider! equivalent! Portuguese! and! Italian! examples.9!! (47) a.!!a!sua!cor!de!olhos!(European!Portuguese)! !the!her!colour!of!eyes! b.!il!suo!colore!di!capelli!(Standard!Italian)! !the!her!colour!of!hair! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!! 9!We!are!very!grateful!to!an!anonymous!reviewer!for!pointing!this!out!to!us!and! for!the!Portuguese!example.!! ! ©!Iberia:!An!International!Journal!of!Theoretical!Linguistics!vol!3.1,!2011,!1=34! http://www.siff.us.es/iberia/index.php/ij/index!ISSN!1989=8525! 23! Antonio!Fábregas! The!fact!that!the!possessor!follows!the!determiner!shows!that!it!does!not! move!to!the!higher!position!inside!the!D!structure.!! Our!proposal!is!the!following:!if!we!treat!the!determiner!domain!above! nouns!as!being!parallel!to!the!complementizer!domain!above!verbs,!we!expect! D!to!be!decomposed!in!a!number!of!designated!positions,!just!like!C!has!been! (Rizzi!1997).!!We!can!treat!the!definite!determiner!as!the!nominal!equivalent!of! ForceP.!!To!the!same! extent! that! ForceP! defines! the!illocutionary!force!of!the! sentence!and!allows!to!connect!the!utterance!to!the!context!and!to!the!intentions! of! speakers,! the! higher! determiner! provides! speakers! with! information! about! referentiality,!definiteness,!and!even!specificity,!etc.!!In!Rizzi’s!model,!there!is!a! topic! position! (TopP)! immediately! below! ForceP.! ! We! can! assume! that! this! position!has!an!equivalent!in!the!nominal!domain!and!that!the!possessor!moves! there!on!the!surface.! (48) [DP!a![TopP![sua]i!Top0…[NP!cor![PP!…ti…]]]]!! ! Consequently,! our! proposal! is! in! line! with! the! analyses! that! have! proposed! focus! and! topic! positions! internal! to! the! DP! (cf.! Bernstein! 1997,! Haegeman!2004,!Aboh!2004).! The!difference!between!Italian!/!Portuguese,!on!one!side,!and!Spanish,!on! the!other,!is!that!the!latter!does!not!allow!the!possessive!and!the!definite!article! to!coexist.!We!provisionally!suggest!that!this!is!a!morpho=phonological!effect.! The!possessor!in!Spanish!can!be! spelled!out!with! the!higher!DP,!in! a!case!of! cumulative! exponence! (Stump! 1998)! that! uses! a! single! lexeme! to! materialize! several!sets!of!features.!!In!contrast,!the!spell!out!requisites!of!the!possessor!in! Italian!and!Portuguese!would!not!allow!this.!! As!far!as!we!can!tell,!there!is!no!reason!for!movement!of!the!possessor!to! TopP! to! have! intermediate! landing! sites.! ! Remember,! for! our! proposal! it! is! crucial!that!the!determiner!and!the!possessor!are!inside!the!same!Phase,!so!no! edge!position!is!necessary!for!any!extraction.!! At!this!point!we!are!in!a!position!to!explain!one!difference!with!respect!to! subject=raising.!In!subject=raising,!the!landing!site!of!the!subject!is!a!functional! projection! necessary! for! the! structure! of! the! clause.! ! In! contrast,! not! all! utterances!must!have!a!topic,!so!this!position!is!not!compulsory.!!From!here,!it! follows!a!difference!that!certainly!readers!have!already!thought!of:!in!subject= raising!contexts,!when!the!embedded!subject!remains!in!situ,!an!expletive!has!to! be!introduced!in!the!position!where!it!would!have!landed!(49).!By!contrast,!in! the!construction!that!we!are!studying,!there!is!no!evidence!of!an!expletive!in!the! landing! position! (50,! from! English).! In! the! absence! of! evidence! for! a! silent! expletive,!we!will!assume!the!expletive!is!not!present.!This!is!explained!if!the! position! targeted! by! subject=raising! is! compulsory! projected,! but! not! the! one! ! ©!Iberia:!An!International!Journal!of!Theoretical!Linguistics!vol!3.1,!2011,!1=34! http://www.siff.us.es/iberia/index.php/ij/index!ISSN!1989=8525! 24! Rising!possessors!in!Spanish! targeted!by!the!rising!possessor,!which!will!be!projected!or!not!depending!on! the!intended!information!structure.! (49) It!seems!that!John!is!sad.! (50) the!date!of!his!birth!! Given! these! differences! we! have! refrained! from! using! the! term! ‘possessor=raising’! in! this! paper,! as! it! would! suggest! some! compulsory! attraction!of!the!possessor!by!a!needy!higher!head!which!always!must!satisfy! some!requirement.! 3.6.!Inalienable!possession! We! have! seen! that! the! construction! is! restricted! to! cases! where! the! possessive! either! is! an! argument! of! a! complex! event! noun! or! establishes! an! inalienable!possession!relation!with!the!low!noun,!but!we!have!not!explained! why.!In!this!section!we!will!argue!that!this!restriction!follows!from!the!fact!that! the!functional!sequence!of!the!lower!noun!is!severely!impoverished.! Our!proposal!is!that,!given!that!the!AP!area!of!the!lower!noun!must!be! absent! from! the! structure,! the! modifier! position! where! non! argumental! possessors!can!be!introduced!is!not!available.!!As!only!the!projections!inside!the! noun! area! and! NumberP! survive,! the! only! available! position! that! can! be! occupied!by!the!possessor!here!is!the!specifier!of!the!nominal!head!nP,!where!it! must!be!interpreted!as!an!argument!of!the!noun.!!(51)!represents!the!structure!of! a! construction! with! a! non! argumental! possessor.! Here! the! possessor! is! introduced!as!a!non!compulsory!modifier!of!the!noun!coche,!‘car’.! (51) !FP! ! su(yo)! ! F! ! ! F! ! nP! !!!coche!‘car’! The!problem!is!that!FP!cannot!appear!in!the!construction!under!study,! because! the! lower! structure! is! impoverished.! Thus,! the! possessor! has! to! be! introduced!in!a!projection!belonging!to!the!nominal!domain.!We!propose!that! the! projection! is! nP,! the! higher! of! the! noun! area! heads! which! introduces! the! index! of! identity! of! the! noun! (Baker! 2003;! see! Radford! 2000! for! the! same! proposal!about!argumental!positions)!(52).! (52) !nP! ! su(yo)! ! n! ! ! n! ! NP! ! ! ! ! ! ©!Iberia:!An!International!Journal!of!Theoretical!Linguistics!vol!3.1,!2011,!1=34! http://www.siff.us.es/iberia/index.php/ij/index!ISSN!1989=8525! 25! Antonio!Fábregas! In!this!position,!the!constituent!must!be!interpreted!as!an!argument!of! the! noun.! Therefore,! only! nouns! that! contain! arguments,! like! complex! event! nominals,!will!be!able!to!host!that!kind!of!constituent!in!the!specifier!of!nP.!! Consider! now! inalienable! possessors.! Our! proposal! is! that! inalienable! possessors!are!interpreted!as!pseudo=arguments!of!the!head!noun,!much!in!the! way!that!the!possessors!can!be!interpreted!as!arguments!of!a!derived!noun!(see! also! Vergnaud! &! Zubizarreta! 1992! regarding! French).! ! Nouns! that! take! inalienable!possessors!can!be!grouped!into!semantic!classes,!as!we!have!seen.!! What!they!all!have!in!common!is!that!in!order!to!have!a!complete!meaning,!they! must!be!interpreted!in!relation!to!some!other!entity!(the!possessor),!of!which! they! are! part! or,! alternatively,! of! whose! personal! sphere! they! are! part.! ! We! suggest!that!the!position!to! introduce! inalienable!possessors!is!spec!nP.!Only! some! nouns,! those! specified! in! the! lexicon! as! being! inalienable! possession! nouns,!can!assign!an!interpretation!to!an!argument!introduced!in!this!position.10!!!! From! this! perspective,! then,! the! requisite! on! inalienable! possession! is! imposed!by!the!fact!that!the!modifier!introducing!projections!(belonging!to!the! AP! area)! is! unavailable,! and! only! the! projection! that! hosts! the! arguments! of! complex! event! nouns! and! the! pseudo=arguments! of! inalienable! possession! nouns,!nP,!is!available!here.! The! question! remains! as! to! why! English! and! Spanish! contrast! with! respect!to!this!construction.!When!the!possessor!is!the!argument!of!a!complex! event! noun! (pair! 53),! English! and! Spanish! equally! accept! the! construction;! however,! with! inalienable! possession,! they! differ:! Spanish! allows! it! (54a),! English!rejects!it!(54b).! (53) a.!!su!lugar!de!nacimiento! b.!!her!place!of!birth! (54) a.!!su!color!de!ojos! b.!!her!colour!of!eyes! The!answer!can!be!related!to!the!fact!that!English!does!not!behave!like! Spanish!or!French!with!respect!to!inalienable!possession!nouns.!As!noticed!by! Vergnaud!&!Zubizarreta!(1992),!English!does!not!allow!a!token=reading!of!an! inalienable!possession!noun!in!dative!possessor!constructions!(cf.!the!contrast!in! 55,!where!55a!is!our!own!example!and!55b!is!Vergnaud!&!Zubizarreta’s!93a).! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!! 10!The! impossibility! of! hosting! expletives! in! nominalizations! follows! from! the! requisite!that!any!constituent!merged!in!spec,!nP!must!be!interpreted!as!an!argument! of!the!noun.!Notice!that!pursuing!this!line!of!analysis!could!also!explain!the!absence!of! ECM!structures!in!nominalizations!(contrasts!such!as!John,considered,Peter,a,genious!vs.! *John’s, consideration,of, Peter, as, a,genious),! to! the! extent! that! the! argument! introduced! with!!”of”!would!have!to!be!interpreted!as!an!argument!of!consideration,!which!is!at! odds!with!the!conceptual!semantics!of!that!lexical!item.! ! ©!Iberia:!An!International!Journal!of!Theoretical!Linguistics!vol!3.1,!2011,!1=34! http://www.siff.us.es/iberia/index.php/ij/index!ISSN!1989=8525! 32! Rising!possessors!in!Spanish! been,!which!we!have!left!outside!here,!an!in=detail!comparison!of!Spanish!with! other! languages,! including! English,! to! determine! how! this! structure! is! instantiated! in! other! grammars! and! what! causes! the! ungrammaticality! of! the! structure!in! languages!like!English.!!Despite!the!suggestions!made! in!§4,!this! problem!is!still!open.!!Another!question!that!we!had!to!leave!open!is!whether! the!same!operations!involved!here,!and!the!same!functional!impoverishment!of! an! argument! of! the! head,! can! be! used! to! analyze! the! well=known! adjectival! construction!in!(69):! (69) Juan!(es)!ancho!de!hombros!! Juan!(is)!wide!of!shoulders! The! noun! introduced! by! the! PP! (compulsorily! de)! is! also! functionally! reduced!and!disallows!all!kinds!of!modifiers,!quantifiers!and!determiners!with! the!sole!exception!of!the!plural!marker.!!The!subject!of!the!structure,!Juan,!must! hold!an!inalienable!possession!relation!with!the!lower!noun!here!also.!It!would! be! tempting! to! extend! our! analysis! to! these! cases,! proposing! that! the! subject! starts! as! an! inalienable! possessor! of! the! lower! noun! and! is! attracted! by! the! adjectival! projection! to! fulfill! the! subject! function.! ! However,! this! proposal! would!have!to!be!developed! in! detail.! ! This!extension!will!be!left!for!further! research.!! REFERENCES! Abney,! Stephen.! 1987.! The, English, Noun, Phrase, in, its, Sentential, Aspect.! Ph.D.! Dissertation,!MIT.! Aboh,!Enoch!O.!2004.!Topic!and!Focus!within!D.!Linguistics,in,the,Netherlands!21,! 1=12.!! Baker,!Mark!C.!2003.!Lexical,categories.!Cambridge,!Cambridge!University!Press.! 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Vergnaud,!Jean!Roger!&!María!Luisa!Zubizarreta.!1992.!The!definite!determiner! and!the!inalienable!constructions!in!French!and!English.!Linguistic,Inquiry! 23!(4).!595=652.! Zubizarreta,! María! Luisa.! 1998.! Prosody,, Focus, and, Word, Order.! Cambridge! (Mass.):!MIT!Press. Reception!date/Fecha!de!recepción/Data!de!recepção:!14/11/2010! Revision!date/Fecha!de!revisión/Data!de!revisão:!17/05/2011! Acceptation!date/Fecha!de!aceptación/Data!de!aceitação:!17/05/2011! ! Antonio!Fábregas! [email protected]! Universitetet!i!Tromsø! !