On affixal scope and affix-root ordering in Italian

Abstract

I raise the question why different sorts of affixes occupy different canonical positions in morphological expressions, and focus on Italian. I show that the semantic scope between affixes and the precedence relations between affixes and roots follow from Asymmetry Theory (Di Sciullo 2005). First, I define the properties of morphological derivations and morphological domains. Second, I provide evidence that the affixal scope, legible at LF, is derived by the operations of the morphology applying under asymmetric Agree. Finally, I show that the ordering of affixes with respect to roots, legible at PF, follows from the position of affixes in their minimal trees, given a linearization operation that applies to the units of morphological domains.