36.2349, Diss: Morphology, Semantics, Syntax: Samuel Jambrović: "The structure and interpretation of (pro)nominal expressions in Spanish"

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-36-2349. Tue Aug 05 2025. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 36.2349, Diss: Morphology, Semantics, Syntax: Samuel Jambrović: "The structure and interpretation of (pro)nominal expressions in Spanish"

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Date: 05-Aug-2025
From: Samuel Jambrović [samuel.jambrovic at mcgill.ca]
Subject: The structure and interpretation of (pro)nominal expressions in Spanish


Institution: University of Toronto
Degree Date: 2025

Dissertation Title: The structure and interpretation of (pro)nominal
expressions in Spanish

Dissertation URL: https://hdl.handle.net/1807/145059

Linguistic Field(s): Morphology
                     Semantics
                     Syntax

Dissertation Director(s): María Cristina Cuervo

Dissertation Abstract:

According to the DP hypothesis, the merger of a determiner and a noun
yields a determiner phrase (DP) rather than a noun phrase (nP).
Focusing on Spanish, I defend the DP hypothesis but reject the notion
that argumenthood is contingent upon a DP layer. Instead, I maintain
that arguments can be as small as nP provided that they are
c-commanded by a verb or a preposition, in which case the variables
that they introduce are bound through a last-resort operation of
existential closure. I then consider the ways in which functional
projections above nP shape the denotation of nominal arguments and
adopt Borer's (2005) view that a division phrase (DivP) is responsible
for countability. Nonplural indefinite expressions can either have
mass or singular readings depending on the determiner ("mucho tomate"
'much tomato' versus "un tomate" 'a tomato'), whereas nonplural
definite expressions can have both mass and singular readings no
matter the determiner ("el/este/mi tomate" 'the/this/my tomato'). I
attribute the systematic ambiguity of nonplural definite expressions
to the absence of DivP in their structure and the maximality operator
that is a component of definiteness.
Throughout the thesis, I explore the formal representation of
φ-features and how their semantic behaviour is conditioned by their
syntactic position. I propose that gender features have consequences
for interpretation when they are hosted by Panagiotidis's (2019)
animacy phrase (AnimP) but not by nP and extend this argument to
number features on DivP versus nP, thereby eliminating the need for
"interpretable" and "uninterpretable" versions of the same feature. As
for pronouns, it is not immediately apparent where they are generated
in Spanish because they are not mutually exclusive with the definite
article ("nosotros los cocineros" 'we the chefs'). After upholding
Höhn's (2016, 2017) claim that pronouns originate in a dedicated
person phrase (πP) in languages that use the definite article in
pronoun-noun constructions, I address the issue of the third-person
gap ("*ellos los cocineros" 'they the chefs') and argue that
third-person pronouns are forms that realize π, D, Div, Anim, and n, a
configuration that prevents other material from occupying these same
heads.



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