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Partitives cross-linguistically: Dimensions of variation
Edited by Silvia Luraghi and Petra Sleeman
[Linguistic Variation 23:1] 2023
► pp. 217–243

Partitive pronouns in intransitive contexts in Italian and Dutch

ORCID logo | University of Amsterdam
In the literature it is often assumed that partitive pronouns can only be used in combination with elliptical objects of transitive or unaccusative verbs. Some counterevidence has been provided as well, however, showing that partitive pronouns may also occur with intransitive verbs. In this paper it is investigated, by means of a Grammaticality Judgment Task, if native speakers of Italian and Dutch accept the use of the partitive pronoun with three types of intransitive verbs, in combination with an elliptical quantified adverbial NP. It is shown that both groups of participants were quite ready to accept the partitive pronoun in these cases, in some contexts more than in others. Various explanations for the results are considered and one more specific suggestion is made to account for the data, also based on a comparison with other constructions and other languages.
Keywords: partitive pronoun, intransitive verb, quantified adverbial NP, grammatical function, argument, Italian, Dutch
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Constraints on the use of the partitive pronoun
    • 2.1Italian
    • 2.2Dutch
  • 3.Research questions, hypotheses and methodology
    • 3.1Research questions and hypotheses
    • 3.2Test materials
    • 3.3Participants
    • 3.4Procedure and analysis
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Judgments of the non-coordinated sentences
    • 4.2Judgments of the contrastive coordinated sentences
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • References
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at [email protected].

Published online: 27 January 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lv.21018.sle
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Cited by (3)

Cited by three other publications

Cornips, Leonie & Petra Sleeman
2024. Variation in the use of the partitive pronoun ER in regional (Heerlen) standard Dutch. Linguistic Variation DOI logo
Sleeman, Petra
2024. The Partitive Pronoun ER in Two National Varieties of Standard Dutch . In Partitive Constructions and Partitive Elements Within and Across Language Borders in Europe , DOI logo
Sleeman, Petra
2024. Methods for studying variation in partitives. Linguistic Variation DOI logo

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