PhD Project: Typology of Pseudopartitive Constructions in Romance and Germanic

Larissa Binder joined the URPP Language and Space in January 2019 and was employed at the Institute of Romance Studies since August 2019.

Pseudopartitive constructions (e.g. a glass of wine) constitute an important group of noun phrase structures. The term was originated by Selkirk (1977) in a canonic chapter on the hierarchical structure of noun phrases and numerous works and analyses have been carried out ever since by linguists from different domains and backgrounds. Generally, pseudopartitives are binominal constructions in which the two nominals are either 'linked' by a ('preposition-like') construction marker (such as of in the above-mentioned English example), exhibit an overt morphological case marker on the second nominal or they lack any kind of overt marking (= juxtapositional construction) (Koptjevskaja-Tamm 2001). Modern Romance languages and English, for instance, belong to the first group, that is, the type in which the nominals are connected by a construction marker (de/di in Romance, of in English), whereas in German, the two nominals are simply juxtaposed and, thus, belong to the latter type (Koptjevskaja-Tamm 2001). 

Regarding the structure of pseudopartitives and their 'real' partitive counterparts (e.g. a glass of this wine), there are some eminent typological studies (Koptjevskaja-Tamm 2001; 2006; 2009, primarily), but, most importantly, the existing literature on this topic is restricted to theoretical considerations and analyses, especially the distinction of partitives and pseudopartitives (see Matushansky 2017; Csirmaz 2014; Champollion 2010; Alexiadou et al. 2007; Stickney 2007, 2004; Rutkowski 2007; Schwarzschild 2006; among others). Nonetheless, research seems to be quite lacking when it comes to a thorough typological analysis of the morphosyntax of pseudopartitives and their (potentially) implicational link to the determination of other indefinite noun phrases. 

This PhD project seeks to answer the following overall research question: How is pseudopartitivity expressed in Romance and Germanic? More concretely, the aim of this PhD project is the description and analysis of the morphosyntactic structure of pseudopartitive constructions and their correlative link(s) to the structure of other indefinite noun phrases, such as indefinite mass complements ('bare partitives') or nouns headed by numerals or indefinite quantifiers. The main emphasis will be put on two kind of phenomena: a. the absence vs. presence of a construction marker, and b. agreement phenomena.