Introducing expressives through equations. Implications for the theory of nominal predication in Romance

SAAB, ANDRÉS

Ciudad de México

Congreso; Semantics and Linguistic Theory 32 (SALT 32); 2022

UNAM y Colegio de México

I offer an explicit syntactic and semantic analysis of binominal constructions of theDet Epithet of DP type (e.g., el idiota de Juan ‘that idiot Juan’), with the aim ofsustaining two main theses:A) Syntactic recycling: there is a grammar of expressivity that requires syntactic manipulation, which essentially consists of merging material in “expletive”positions. This manipulation creates a non-representational syntax. Syntactic recycling must not be confused with syntactic deviation (in Corver’s 2016 sense).B) Equations: Epithets are “expressive” pronouns, i.e., mere syntactic indexesfeeding assignment functions. The semantic connection