Chapter published in:
Contrastive Studies in Verbal Valency
Edited by Lars Hellan, Andrej L. Malchukov and Michela Cennamo
[Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 237] 2017
► pp. 252–273

Object omission and the semantics of predicates in Italian in a comparative perspective

| University of Naples Federico II
This paper discusses the semantics of O(bject) omission with divalent verbs in Italian, in relation to (i) the interplay of the inherent and structural aspects of verb meaning with the degree of thematic specification of the subject (i.e., agentivity/control); (ii) the inherent characteristics of the O argument (e.g., animacy); (iii) the degree of semantic implication between the verb and O; (iv) the role played by the linguistic and extra-linguistic context. It is shown that object omission in Italian is highly sensitive to the event structure template of verbs (e.g., the low degree of aspectual specification of verbs) and the elements of meaning lexicalized in the verb, interacting, in turn, with other semantic and discourse-pragmatic parameters. Whereas the constraints on Indefinite Null Instantiation appear to be similar to those at work in other languages (e.g, English and French), those applying to Definite Null Instantiation display more variability.
Keywords: object omission, aspect, event structure, animacy, definiteness, referentiality, discourse pragmatics
Published online: 30 April 2017
https://doi.org/10.1075/la.237.08cen
References

References

Allerton, David J.
1982 Valency and the English Verb. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Brisson, Christine
1994 The licensing of Unexpressed objects in English verbs. CLS 30: 90–101.Google Scholar
Butt, Miriam & King, Tracy Holloway
1997 Null elements in discourse structure. In Papers from the NULLS Seminar, Karumuri Venkata Subbarao (ed.). Delhi: Motilal Banarasidas.Google Scholar
Cennamo, Michela
2003 (In)transitivity and object marking: Some current issues. In Romance Objects [Empirical Approaches to Language Typology 27], Giuliana Fiorentino (ed.), 49–104. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2011 Transitivi e intransitivi, verbi. In Enciclopedia dell'italiano, Vol II, Raffaele Simone (ed.), 535–539. Rome: Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana G. Treccani.Google Scholar
2015 Valency patterns in Italian. In Malchukov & Comrie (eds), 417–81.Google Scholar
Cennamo, Michela & Lenci, Allesandro
Forthcoming. Gradience in subcategorization? Locative phrases with Italian verbs of motion. Studia Linguistica.
Comrie, Bernard
1989 Language Universals and Linguistic Typology. Syntax and Morphology, 2nd edition. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Coseriu, Eugenio
1971 Solidarietà lessicali. In Teoria del Linguaggio e Linguistica Generale. Sette Studi, 303–316. Bari: Laterza.Google Scholar
Croft, William
2001 Radical Construction Grammar. Syntactic Theory in Typological Perspective. Oxford: OUP. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Cummings, Sarah & Roberge, Yves
2005 A modular account of null objects in French. Syntax 8(1): 44–64. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Demonte, Violeta & McNally, Louise
2012 Introduction. In Telicity, Change and State. A Cross-Categorial View of Event Structure, Violeta Demonte & Louise McNally (eds), 1–19. Oxford: OUP. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Depraetere, Ilse
1995 On the necessity of distinguishing between (un)boundedness and (a)telicity. Linguistics and Philosophy 18: 1–19. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Dixon, Robert M.W.
1994 Ergativity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Dowty, David R.
1979 Word Meaning and Montague Grammar. Dordrecht: Reidel. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Farrel, Peter
1990 Null objects in Brazilian Portuguese. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 8: 325-46l. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Fillmore, Charles J.
1986 Pragmatically controlled zero anaphora. BLS 2: 95–107. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Fillmore, Charles J. & Kay, Paul
1993 Construction Grammar Coursework, MS. Berkeley: University of California.Google Scholar
Goldberg, Adele E.
1995 Constructions: A Construction Grammar Approach to Argument Structure. Chicago IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
2005 Argument realization: The role of constructions, lexical semantics and discourse factors. In Construction Grammars. Cognitive Grounding and Theoretical Extensions [Constructional Approaches to Language 3], Jan-Ola Östman & Mirjam Fried (eds), 17–43. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2006 Constructions at Work. The Nature of Generalization in Language. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Grimshaw, Jane
2005[1993] Semantic structure and semantic content in lexical representation. In Words and Structure, Jane Grimshaw, 75–89. Stanford CA: CSLI.Google Scholar
Haspelmath, Martin
2015 Transitivity prominence. In Andrej Malchukov & Bernard Comrie (eds), 131–47. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Koontz-Garboden, Andrew
2012 The Monotonicity Hypothesis. In Telicity, Change and State. A Cross-Categorial View of Event Structure, Violeta Demonte & Louise McNally (eds), 139–161 Oxford: OUP. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Jezek, Elisabetta
2003 Classi di verbi tra semantica e sintassi. Pisa: ETS.Google Scholar
Lambrecht, Knud
1994 Information Structure and Sentence Form. Cambridge: CUP. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Lambrecht, Knud & Lemoine, Kevin
2005 Definite null objects in (spoken) French: A construction grammar account. In Grammatical Constructions: Back to the Roots [Constructional Approaches to Language 4], Mirjam Fried & Hans C. Boas (eds), 13–56. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Levin, Beth
1993 English Verb Classes and Alternations. Chicago IL: Chicago University Press.Google Scholar
1999 Objecthood: An event structure perspective. CLS 35: 222–247.Google Scholar
2000 Aspect, lexical semantic representation, and argument expression. BLS 26: 413–429. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2009 The structure of event structure. LSA, Berkeley, July 2009, Hand-out.Google Scholar
Levin, Beth & Rappaport Hovav, Malka
2005 Argument Realization, Cambridge: CUP. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Lyngfelt, Benjamin
2012 Rethinking FNI. On null instantiation and control in construction grammar. Constructions and Frames 4(1): 1–23. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Lo Duca, Maria Giuseppa
2000 Proprietà valenziali e criteri di descrizione lessicografica: Un caso di alternanza argomentale. Studi Italiani di Linguistica Teorica e Applicata 29(2): 219–242.Google Scholar
Malchukov, Andrej
2015 Valency classes and alternations: parameters of variation. In Malchukov & Comrie (eds), 73–130.Google Scholar
Malchukov, Andrej & Comrie, Bernard
(eds) 2015 Valency Patterns in the World’s Languages, Vol. 1. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Mithun, Marianne & Chafe Wallace
1999 What are S, A and O?. Studies in Language 23: 569–596.Google Scholar
Olsen, Mari Broman & Resnik, Philip
1997 Implicit object constructions and the (in)transitivity continuum. CLS 33: 327–336.Google Scholar
Pustejovsky, James
1995 The Generative Lexicon. Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Rappaport Hovav, Malka
2008 Lexicalized meaning and the internal temporal structure of events. In Crosslinguistic and Theoretical Approaches to the Semantics of Aspect [Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 110], Susan D. Rothstein (ed.), 13–42. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2014 Building scalar changes. In The Syntax of Roots and the Roots of Syntax, Artemis Alexiadou, Hagit Borer & Florian Schäfer (eds), 259–81. Oxford: OUP. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Rappaport Hovav, Malka & Levin, Beth
1998 Building verb meanings. In The Projection of Arguments, Miriam Butt & Wilhelm Geuder (eds), 97–134. Stanford CA: CSLI.Google Scholar
2010 Reflections on Manner/Result complementarity. In Syntax, Lexical Semantics and Event Structure, Edit Doron, Malka Rappaport Hovav & Ivy Sichel (eds). Oxford: OUP. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Ruppenhofer, Josef & Michaelis, Laura A.
2010 A constructional account of genre-based argument omissions. Constructions and Frames 2(2): 158–184.Google Scholar
Rizzi, Luigi
1986 Null objects in Italian and the theory of pro . Linguistic Inquiry 17(3): 501–557.Google Scholar
Sag, Ivan A.
2007 Sign-based Construction Grammar: An Informal Synopsis. Ms, Department of Linguistics, University of Stanford.Google Scholar
2010 English filler-gap constructions. Language 86: 486–545. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Van Valin, Robert D. Jr.
2005 Exploring the Syntax-Semantics Interface. Cambridge: CUP. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Van Valin, Robert D. Jr. & La Polla, Randy J.
1997 Syntax: Structure, Meaning and Function, Cambridge: CUP. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Vendler, Zeno
1967 Linguistics in Philosophy. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Wechsler, Stephen
2015 Word Meaning and Syntax. Oxford: OUP. CrossrefGoogle Scholar