An Unexpected Pronominalization of Some Temporal Measure Phrases
Abstract
Catalan partitive case, as well as the clitic en that represents it, is usually described as the case of the indefinite (or bare) direct object of transitive verbs and the indefinite (or bare) postverbal subject of unaccusative predicates. However, in quasicopulative constructions we can find some temporal measure phrases showing partitive case which have the appearance of an adjunct phrase. The paper provides evidence that these temporal measure phrases are not an argument of the verb, but an argument of a syntactic structure where an abstract Place preposition has been incorporated into the verb. This analysis of the partitive case as the inherent case assigned by a Place preposition incorporated into a verb is extended to other Catalan syntactic configurations with verbs which have lost their dynamic meaning, such as passar ‘to pass’ and portar ‘to bring’.
Keywords
partitive case, genitive case, Catalan clitic en , temporal measure phrase, quasicopulative construction, Place prepositionReferences
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