Measure phrases with bare adjectives in Spanish

Abstract

This paper describes and analyzes an unnoticed Spanish construction that includes a measure phrase and a non-comparative adjective conforming to an [MP+de+A] pattern (e.g., Esta mesa tiene [un metro de ancha] ‘(lit.) this table has one meter of wide’). It is proposed that underlying Spanish [MP+de+A] there is a reverse (predicate-specifier) structure with an attributive interpretation (cf. Den Dikken 2006), in which the MP predicates over the adjective’s degree argument, and the adjective acts as a restrictor of the MP’s denotation. Making use of a Project Both labeling algorithm for external merge of maximal projections (cf. Chomsky 2008, Citko 2008), it is further argued that the MP/QP also projects in this construction. This accounts for the fact that [MP+de+A] has the interpretation and distribution of a QP as a whole. Finally, the properties of Spanish [MP+de+A] are compared with those of closely related constructions in Spanish, as well as with the properties of standard constructions containing an MP and a bare adjective in other languages, and an analysis within Den Dikken’s (2006) theory of predicational relationships is provided that accounts for the similarities and differences between all these patterns.