As small as they seem?

We present the results of an experimental study designed to investigate the acceptability of bare participial structures in spoken Italian. These sentences, despite being extremely reduced, have full illocutionary force. For the study, we proposed a technique to elicit grammaticality judgements sui...

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Main Authors: Mauro Viganò, Carlo Cecchetto, Caterina Donati
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona 2024-02-01
Series:Isogloss
Subjects:
Online Access:https://revistes.uab.cat/isogloss/article/view/367
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author Mauro Viganò
Carlo Cecchetto
Caterina Donati
author_facet Mauro Viganò
Carlo Cecchetto
Caterina Donati
author_sort Mauro Viganò
collection DOAJ
description We present the results of an experimental study designed to investigate the acceptability of bare participial structures in spoken Italian. These sentences, despite being extremely reduced, have full illocutionary force. For the study, we proposed a technique to elicit grammaticality judgements suitable for structures that, although productive, are not used in the written form of the language. Our aim is to investigate the validity of the structural analysis of these sentences (Cecchetto & Donati 2022) according to which they are generated as small as VPs and they are not elliptical structures, i.e., they are not the result of phonological deletions from full-fledged sentences. The findings globally confirm the predictions of that account, as only require the activation of projections beyond the VP-layer, are rated as fully acceptable. However, the corresponding negative structures and some reduced structures with active transitive predicates received intermediate judgments of acceptability, contrary to the predictions. In the paper, we try to account for these unexpected results and argue that phonological deletion is available as well but is subject to tight constraints; most notably, it is restricted to the top of the tree.
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spelling doaj.art-a0a17259e0db4dae8da7047b0b2b13d92024-02-26T14:09:49ZengUniversitat Autònoma de BarcelonaIsogloss2385-41382024-02-0110110.5565/rev/isogloss.367As small as they seem? Mauro Viganò0Carlo Cecchetto1Caterina Donati2Structures Formelles du Langage (CNRS & Université Paris 8)Structures Formelles du Langage (CNRS & Université Paris 8); Department of Psychology (Università degli Studi Milano-Bicocca)Laboratoire de Linguistique Formelle (CNRS & Université Paris Cité) We present the results of an experimental study designed to investigate the acceptability of bare participial structures in spoken Italian. These sentences, despite being extremely reduced, have full illocutionary force. For the study, we proposed a technique to elicit grammaticality judgements suitable for structures that, although productive, are not used in the written form of the language. Our aim is to investigate the validity of the structural analysis of these sentences (Cecchetto & Donati 2022) according to which they are generated as small as VPs and they are not elliptical structures, i.e., they are not the result of phonological deletions from full-fledged sentences. The findings globally confirm the predictions of that account, as only require the activation of projections beyond the VP-layer, are rated as fully acceptable. However, the corresponding negative structures and some reduced structures with active transitive predicates received intermediate judgments of acceptability, contrary to the predictions. In the paper, we try to account for these unexpected results and argue that phonological deletion is available as well but is subject to tight constraints; most notably, it is restricted to the top of the tree. https://revistes.uab.cat/isogloss/article/view/367participial clausesreduced structuresellipsislabelingacceptability judgementsnegation
spellingShingle Mauro Viganò
Carlo Cecchetto
Caterina Donati
As small as they seem?
Isogloss
participial clauses
reduced structures
ellipsis
labeling
acceptability judgements
negation
title As small as they seem?
title_full As small as they seem?
title_fullStr As small as they seem?
title_full_unstemmed As small as they seem?
title_short As small as they seem?
title_sort as small as they seem
topic participial clauses
reduced structures
ellipsis
labeling
acceptability judgements
negation
url https://revistes.uab.cat/isogloss/article/view/367
work_keys_str_mv AT maurovigano assmallastheyseem
AT carlocecchetto assmallastheyseem
AT caterinadonati assmallastheyseem