Diagnostic criteria for semi-lexicality

• Main Author: Mihaela Tănase-Dogaru
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Editura Universitatii din Bucuresti 2011-01-01
• Series: Bucharest Working Papers in Linguistics
• Subjects: pseudo-partitives; extended projections; monoclausal structures; semilexicality
• Online Access: http://bwpl.unibuc.ro/index.pl/diagnostic_criteria_for_semi-lexicality

Starting from a tripartite classification of syntactic categories into lexical, functional and semi-lexical, the paper analyzes pseudo-partitive constructions and monoclausal modal structures in Romanian, advancing the claim that both constructions consist of single extended projections, headed by one lexical and one semi-lexical/functional head. The aim of the paper is twofold. On the one hand, it strives to offer a non-exhaustive list of criteria for diagnosing semi-lexicality in the nominal and verbal domains; on the other hand, it aims at showing yet another similarity between nominal and clausal structures.