Abstract
In this paper, the properties of Spanish evaluative prenominal possessives (i.e. the affective possessive preceding a proper name, the so-called “emphatic possessive”, and the possessive in the Old and American Spanish doubled possessive construction) are thoroughly described, and compared with those of canonical prenominal possessives. It is mainly proposed that evaluative possessives, in contrast to canonical prenominal possessives, are not base-generated as nominal modifiers and then raise to D0, but are directly merged (mostly) within the DP domain, thus capturing the fact that affective, emphatic and doubling possessives just evaluate the relation between the possessum and the possessor, and are not interpreted as complements of the noun. In order to account for their different distribution, it is further argued that the three types of Spanish evaluative prenominal possessives are inserted (basically) in different structural positions in an split-DP.
Highlights
Prenominal possessives in Spanish are canonically interpreted as complements of the noun,1 on a par with postnominal possessive phrases introduced by preposition de ‘of’
As represented in the simplified structures in (3), I will propose that evaluative prenominal possessives, unlike canonical possessives, are not first merged in the positions where nominal modifiers are generated, and raise to D0 (3a), but are directly inserted in the DP domain instead (3b), structurally expressing the fact that they are not interpreted as complements of the noun: (3) a. [DP [D Possi ] [NP N ti ]] b. [DP Poss [NP N ]]
A formal analysis of evaluative prenominal possessives in Spanish In the light of the discussion in the previous section on the syntax and semantics of the three types of evaluative prenominal possessives in Spanish, it can be concluded that affective, emphatic and doubling possessives have two main properties in common: they do not convey a “possession” meaning, but evaluate the relation between the entity denoted by the noun they combine with and the individual they refer to, and they are not interpreted as complements of the noun
Summary
Prenominal possessives in Spanish are canonically interpreted as complements of the noun,1 on a par with postnominal possessive phrases introduced by preposition de ‘of’.
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