Ad hoc properties and locations in Maltese (original) (raw)

Subject diffuseness in Maltese: On some subject properties of experiential verbs

Folia linguistica, 2000

Like many other languages, Maltese shows some peculiarities in the behavior of its experiential verbs. While the case-marking and agreement properties of these verbs point to (direct or indirect) object Status of the experiencer argument, several behavioral properties make the experiencer argument appear more similar to subjects. Different sub-types of experiential verbs can be distinguished, and a number of individual verbs (most notably the possessive verb gfiandulkellü 'have', well-known from the earlier literature) show further peculiarities. The various groups of verbs or individual verbs can be arranged on a continuum which shows an increasing number of subject properties of the experiencer (or possessor) argument. Thus, subject properties are not distributed in a clear-cut manner, and we observe a certain amount of "subject diffuseness".

Towards a study of aspect in Maltese

1979

Maltese derivational morphology 3 2.1.1 Verb inflection 6 2.1.2 First form verbs 9 2.1#3 Subclasses of strong first form verbs 10 2.1.4 Vocalic sequences of strong first form verbs 11 2.1.5 Subclasses of weak first form verbs 12 2.1 Verbal derivational morphology 13 2.2.1 The second form 14 2.2.2 The third form 15 2.2.3 The fourth form 15 2.2.4 The fifth form 2.2.5 The sixth form 17 2.2.6 The seventh form 18 2.2.7.,The eighth form 19 2.2.8 The ninth form 20 2.2.9 The tenth form 2.3 Nominal derivational morphology 23 2.3.1 Derived nouns of the first class 2.3.2 Derived nouns of the second class 2.3.3 Derived nouns of the third class 2.3.4 Classification of nouns according to content 2.3.5 Gender vii page 2.4 Adjectives 2.5 Participles 2.5.1 Tiie present participle 36 2.5.2 The past participle 36 2.6 The quadriliteral verb 2.7 Mood and voice 38 3 The localist hypothesis 4 Structure of the work 5 Some grammatical notes 5.1 The definite article 5.2 Word order 5.3 About adjectives 55 .4 Predicative structures 5.5 The negative 5.6 Pronominal affixation Chapter two 1 The journey paradigm 1.1 Border-crossings 61 1.2 The source preposition 63 1.3 The problem of the distribution of the preposition 'lil* 1.4 The goal prepositions 75 2 Birst and second-order entities 2.1 The location of first and second-order entities 2.2 Place nominals 2.3-Ahieararchy of first-order entities 2.4 First and second-order entities and definiteness 103 2.5 First and second-order entities and pronominalization 113 2.6 Verb valency 116 viii page Chapter three 119 CHAPTER ONE (morphologically based) classification of the verb. 2. Maltese derivational morphology In Maltese^verb forms that (appear to) derive from the same base nonetheless express rather different 'meanings'. 11. a. Millkarozza, uanni ra *1 Pawlu from the car John saw to Paul

Indefinites and negative concord in Maltese: towards a dynamic account

Perspectives on Maltese Linguistics, 2014

This paper looks at indefinite pronouns and negative concord in Maltese from the perspective of Dynamic Syntax (DS). It argues that DS’s focus on the incremental real-time construction of interpretations, driven by lexical entries whose proposition-building properties are inherently context-sensitive, offers a natural way of capturing the behaviour of the Maltese indefinite system. ‘N-words’ such as xejn ‘n.thing’ are not analysed as ‘inherently negative’, but merely as encoding a constraint that the propositional node dominating the structure they contribute to must be annotated with a negation feature. N-words will only make this annotation if no other item has already done so.

The Morphosyntax of the Maltese Determiner Phrase

2019

Based in the Distributed Morphology and Minimalist frameworks, this dissertation provides an in-depth analysis of the DP in Maltese, an area of the language that has largely gone untouched by generative frameworks. In doing so, it focuses on two separate areas of interest: adjectival definite marking and construct states.

Definiteness agreement and the pragmatics of reference in the Maltese NP

Maltese noun phrases exhibit a form of 'definiteness agreement' between head noun and modifier. When the noun is definite, an adjectival modifier is often definite as well. However, the status of this phenomenon as a case of true morphosyntactic agreement has been disputed, given its apparent optionality. Not all definite nps have definite modifiers agreeing in definiteness with their head noun. As a result, some authors, including Fabri and, in a descriptive/pedagogical context Sutcli e (1936), have argued that definiteness marking on the adjective is in fact pragmatically licensed. The present paper finds empirical support for this claim, based on an experimental production study. Speakers were found to be more likely to use definite adjectives in referential noun phrases when the adjectives had a specifically contrastive function. This result is discussed in the context of both theoretical and psycholinguistic work on the pragmatics of referentiality.

The creation and interpretation of nominal predicates: Bi+ann in Scottish Gaelic

Lingua, 2015

In this paper I analyze a construction in Scottish Gaelic that presents challenges for our understanding of the individual level/stage level distinction, the mechanics of nonverbal predication, and the semantics of lexical items like 'sit', 'stand', and 'lie'. I argue that this ''stage-level'' construction, with the verb bi 'be', the preposition ann 'in', and a noun or ''verbal noun'', appears when a very specific kind of nominal predicate is required, not just one that is stage-level. This type of predicate requires functional structure not available in the nominal domain for creation, so the material is merged with prepositional structure. The ''verbal nouns'' that appear with bi + ann form an intuitive semantic class; I argue that what unites them is a root-internal specification for (a) posture of body or mind and (b) homogeneity in nonverbal environments. This analysis resolves several open questions about the construction, including the semantic characterization of the roots that occur with ann and the categorization and interpretation of the predicates it creates. The analysis has implications for our understanding of the creation of nonverbal predicates cross-linguistically and provides insight into the puzzling meanings of sit/stand/lie roots.

Lanqas, negative concord and predicate negation in Maltese

Maltese Linguistics on the Danube, 2020

This paper examines the interaction of the focus particle lanqas with predicate negation. Using corpus data, we provide a classification of syntactic constructions where such interaction occurs, based on whether lanqas serves as the sole negator, appears alongside the standard negative circumfix ma +-x or co-occurs with the negator la. We analyze and describe the patterns of use for each construction type, also noting the factors influencing the selection and its relationship to other syntactic phenomena, such as dislocation and verbal chains, and especially their effect on negative concord.