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Comparative Structures in Italian

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 March 2026

Donna Jo Napoli  and
Marina Nespor
Donna Jo Napoli
Affiliation:
University of Michigan
Marina Nespor
Affiliation:
University of Amsterdam
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Abstract

Comparatives of inequality in Italian are introduced by di or che, have a degree or an absolute negative interpretation, and have a modifying or a balancing function. Comparative di phrases are PP's generated as daughters of VP's or of AP's with a degree interpretation; like other PP's, they can modify or balance two items. Comparative che is a coördinator. When it introduces daughters of VP's or AP's, it has a degree interpretation; when it introduces a sister to S, it has an absolute negative interpretation. Because of the coördinating nature of che, it has only a balancing function.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Language , Volume 62 , Issue 3 , September 1986 , pp. 622 - 653
Copyright
Copyright © 1986 by Linguistic Society of America

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Footnotes

*

We thank Mauro Scorretti for useful discussions at an initial stage of this research, and Frank Casa, Anna Ferruzzi, Enzo Lo Cascio, and Claudio Mazzola for helping us as native speakers. We are also indebted to the University of Michigan for the Rackham Grant to Augment International Academic Partnerships; without this financial help, the paper would not exist. A final thanks goes to Geoff Pullum for comments on an earlier draft.

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