| dc.description.abstract | This thesis investigates bare singular nouns from a cross-linguistic perspective, with an emphasis on Spanish. While there has been considerable work on bare plural and bare mass nominals, there is, in comparison, little work on bare singulars and this dissertation aims to ll that gap. I examine the behaviour of bare singulars in argumental position in Rioplatense Spanish (RS), Catalan, Greek, Norwegian, Brazilian Portuguese (BP), Persian and Afro-Bolivian Spanish (ABS) { all of which make use of bare singulars even if they have an inde nite determiner as part of their functional array. I argue that these languages can be split into two groups depending on the position and interpretation that bare singulars occupy. For the rst group (RS, Catalan, Greek and Norwegian) I argue against a number neutral (pseudo)incorporation analysis. Based on their referential properties, binding possibilities and singular number speci cation, I propose that they are DPs, albeit of a defective type. Group 2 bare singulars (BP, Persian and ABS) are truly number neutral DPs. I propose that this is the case as bare plurals, standardly assumed to be number neutral, cannot ful l that role in these languages. The second part of my dissertation focuses on predicate nominals, both bare and with the inde nite article, in Spanish. Following Roy (2013), I defend the idea that the relation of predication is only one and that the di erent interpretations available depend on the size of the predicate nominal. Bare predicate nominals in Spanish behave by and large like their French counterparts { any noun can appear bare as long as it is interpreted as the ascription of a property to the subject. Predicate nominals with the inde nite article, on the other hand, will be analysed as containing a degree phrase. The third part of my dissertation deals with the two copulas in Spanish. | en_US |
