Equative pressupositions. A new theory for binominals in Spanish and Romance

SAAB, ANDRÉS

Workshop; Nominal determinacy form, function, and else; 2022

Almost with no exception, qualitative binominals in Spanish and Romance (e.g., el idiota de Andrés ‘that idiot Andrés’ or una mierda de departamento ‘a shit of an apartment’) has been conceived of in terms of the raising predicate theory, according to which the relation between Andrés and the epithet idiota is one of property ascription (Suñer 1990, den Dikken 2006, Villalba 2007, among others). In this contribution, I contend that this type of approaches, regardless of particular technical implementations, cannot be on the right track and offer, consequently, a new theory that gives up with the property predication thesis. I propose that that semantic relation between the epithet or expressive and the DP (Juan) or NP (departamento) in each relevant binominal is not predication, but equation. This requires a particular syntax, which I model using an equative projection, Equ0, whose semantic denotation reduces to a simple partial identity function with an equative presupposition. Syntactically, this head selects two arguments and assigns inherent case to the argument in its specifier position, which in Spanish is realized through the preposition de ‘de’. On this approach, then, de is not a copula but an inherent case marker. As we will see, this fits the empirical picture better than the predicational approach. Many perplexing properties of binominal are accounted for on the equative syntax and semantics I offer. The empirical picture is completed with a construction which remained almost unnoticed in the relevant literature (with the exception of Etxepare 2011). This is also a binominal construction, but one that instead of relating entities or properties via equation, like in the more canonical cases, relates a propositional index, normally realized with a neuter demonstrative, and a proposition (e.g., esto de que Andrés está loco es falso Lit. ‘This of that Andrés is crazy is false’). The final picture is one in which a simple DP structure with an Equ0 head in the lower field gives rise to three types of semantic equations: equations for entities (el idiota de Juan), for properties (una mierda de departamento) and for propositions (eso de que Andrés está loco). ReferencesDen Dikken, Marcel. 2006. Relators and linkers. The syntax of predication, predicate inversion and copulas. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT press.Etxepare, Ricardo. (2013). "Quotative expansions". In Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 2011: Selected papers from 'Going Romance' Utrecht 2011 ed. by Sergio Baauw, Frank Drijkoningen, Luisa Meroni and Manuela Pinto, 93-124. Amsterdam: John Benhamins. Suñer Gratacós, Avel-lina. (1990). La predicación secundaria en español. Barcelona: Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona PhD dissertation.Villalba, Xavier. (2007). “True and spurious articles in Germanic and Romance”. Cuadernos de Lingüística del I. U. I. Ortega y Gasset (14), pp. 121–134.