Italian /-'ata'/ event nouns and the /'nomen vicis'/ interpretation

• Lucia M. Tovena ^[2] ; Marta Donazzan ^[1]
  1. [1] University of Cologne

     University of Cologne

     Kreisfreie Stadt Köln, Alemania

     
  2. [2] Université Paris Diderot-Paris 7
• Localización: Italian journal of linguistics, ISSN 1120-2726, Vol. 29, Nº. 1, 2017, págs. 75-100
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • 'Nomina vicis' are nouns that denote in a domain of acts, free from considerations of temporal localisation. This paper tries to substantiate this notion by looking at Italian -ata event nouns, and deriving features of this reading from characteristics of these nominalisations. Event nouns ending in -ata are simple event nouns with no argument structure and yet they are endowed with the capacity of characterising an act, which is a dynamic, durative and bounded manifestation of an event property, and of affecting the full expression of such a characterisation when the noun is inserted in argumental position or under a light verb. A detailed examination of the semantic trace of an initiator within the nominalisation, and of aspectual and eventive conditions associated with it leads us to propose that the -ata suffix contributes an active semantic constraint on potential external arguments that, in turn, supports the eventive only and referential only reading of the nominal.