Ivano Caponigro
Biographic Data
| ID | 778409 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ivano Caponigro |
| GIVEN NAMES | Ivano |
| FAMILY NAME | Caponigro |
| SIGNATURE | CAPONIGRO I |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of California San Diego |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 15 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 54 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 15 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2003 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Richard Montague’s Turn Towards Natural Language
Richard Montague (1930–1971) is known as a founding figure of natural language semantics, i.e., the formal study of the semantics of natural languages by means of tools from mathematical logic. Less well known is that Montague maintained a strongly skeptical view on the possibility of a systematic logico-philosophical analysis of natural language for most of his short life, adhering to the then-common belief that natural languages are fundamental…
Still Free to Have a Wh -Phrase: A Reply to
Donati et al. (2022) aim at supporting the theoretical and empirical claims in Donati and Cecchetto 2011 about the grammar and free relative clauses by responding to the new data and criticism presented in Caponigro 2019. I critically examine the data and arguments in Donati et al. 2022, provide new data and arguments against the core theoretical proposal and the analyses advanced in Donati and Cecchetto 2011 and endorsed in Donati et al. 2022, a…
What' clauses can and 'which' cannot: A Romanian puzzle
A previously unnoticed puzzle is presented concerning the distribution of wh-determiners in free relative clauses in Romanian: while care 'which' + NP can never introduce free relative clauses, ce 'what' + NP does so productively, as do all other wh-words. New evidence is provided showing that care 'which' + NP in interrogative clauses in Romanian exhibits strong discourse-anaphoric requirements, unlike ce 'what' + NP. This feature of care 'which…
Light-headed relative clauses in Teramano
We investigate an unstudied, rich component of the relative clause system in Teramano, one of the Upper Southern Italian languages. We focus on light-headed relative clauses – relative clauses that lack a full nominal head and are introduced by only a Determiner-like or pronominal “light head”. We also briefly describe headed relative clauses in Teramano since the morphosyntactic features they exhibit are relevant for the investigation of light-h…
Unveiling multiple wh- free relative clauses and their functional wh-words
We provide the first description and compositional semantic analysis of a construction that we label a "multiple wh- free relative clause" -- an embedded non-interrogative wh-clause with more than one wh-word. We show that multiple wh-free relative clauses are closely related to the more familiar free relative clauses with one wh-word ⎯- single wh- free relative clauses. We argue that an appropriate semantic analysis for multiple wh-free relative…
In Defense of What(ever) Free Relative Clauses They Dismiss: A Reply to Donati and Cecchetto (2011)
I argue that the version of phrase structure theory proposed by Donati and Cecchetto (2011) falls short of accounting for the attested patterns of free relative clauses not only in English but crosslinguistically in general. In particular, I show that free relative clauses can be introduced not only by wh-words like what or where, which is what Donati and Cecchetto predict, but also by wh-phrases like what books or whatever books and their equiva…
Free choice free relative clauses in Italian and Romanian
Experimental syntax and the variation of island effects in English and Italian
Challenges for a theory of islands: A broader perspective on Ambridge, Pine, and Lieven
Subjacency characterizes a set of phenomena whose acquisition must be explained by any proposal for human language learning. We take a broader perspective than previous responses to Ambridge, Pine, and Lieven (2014), arguing that they have not shown that this UG principle is 'redundant' because their proposed alternative does not take into account firmly established constraints on A-bar dependencies. We illustrate a range of challenges for theori…
Free Relative Clauses in Two Mixtec Languages
This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from http://www.jstor.org/stable/info/10.1086/668608
Acquiring the meaning of free relative clauses and plural definite descriptions
Plural definite descriptions (e.g. the things on the plate) and free relative clauses (e.g. what is on the plate) have been argued to share the same semantic properties, despite their syntactic differences. Specifically, both have been argued to be non-quantificational expressions referring to the maximal element of a given set (e.g. the set of things on the contextually salient plate). We provide experimental support for this semantic analysis w…
Relative embeddings: A Circassian puzzle for the syntax/semantics interface
This paper documents and analyzes the pattern used in the Northwest Caucasian language Adyghe (Circassian) to express what the following five different constructions convey in other languages: headed and headless relative clauses, embedded declaratives, embedded polar interrogatives, and embedded constituent interrogatives. We argue that Adyghe encodes the meanings of all these embedded structures by means of the same syntactic construction, a re…
Ask, and tell as well: Question-Answer Clauses in American Sign Language
A construction is found in American Sign Language that we call a Question–Answer Clause. It is made of two parts: the first part looks like an interrogative clause conveying a question, while the second part resembles a declarative clause answering that question. The very same signer has to sign both, the entire construction is interpreted as truth-conditionally equivalent to a declarative sentence, and it can be uttered only under certain discou…
The Nominal Nature of where, when, and how: Evidence from Free Relatives
January 01 2009 The Nominal Nature of where, when, and how: Evidence from Free Relatives In Special Collection: CogNet Ivano Caponigro, Ivano Caponigro University of California, San Diego Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Lisa Pearl Lisa Pearl University of California, Irvine Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Author and Article Information Ivano Caponigro University of California, …
Parameterizing Passive Participle Movement
Burzio (1986: 154–158) observes the contrast in word order between the associate DP and the participle in expletive passives in English (1) versus passives with postverbal subjects in Italian (2). (1) a. There’ve been some men arrested. b. *There’ve been arrested some men. (2) a. *Sono stati alcuni uomini arrestati. are been some men arrested b. Sono stati arrestati alcuni uomini. are been arrested some men This contrast cannot be due to a pervas…
Experimental syntax and the variation of island effects in English and Italian
Relative embeddings: A Circassian puzzle for the syntax/semantics interface
This paper documents and analyzes the pattern used in the Northwest Caucasian language Adyghe (Circassian) to express what the following five different constructions convey in other languages: headed and headless relative clauses, embedded declaratives, embedded polar interrogatives, and embedded constituent interrogatives. We argue that Adyghe encodes the meanings of all these embedded structures by means of the same syntactic construction, a re…
Parameterizing Passive Participle Movement
Burzio (1986: 154–158) observes the contrast in word order between the associate DP and the participle in expletive passives in English (1) versus passives with postverbal subjects in Italian (2). (1) a. There’ve been some men arrested. b. *There’ve been arrested some men. (2) a. *Sono stati alcuni uomini arrestati. are been some men arrested b. Sono stati arrestati alcuni uomini. are been arrested some men This contrast cannot be due to a pervas…
The Nominal Nature of where, when, and how: Evidence from Free Relatives
January 01 2009 The Nominal Nature of where, when, and how: Evidence from Free Relatives In Special Collection: CogNet Ivano Caponigro, Ivano Caponigro University of California, San Diego Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Lisa Pearl Lisa Pearl University of California, Irvine Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Author and Article Information Ivano Caponigro University of California, …
Free choice free relative clauses in Italian and Romanian
Free Relative Clauses in Two Mixtec Languages
This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from http://www.jstor.org/stable/info/10.1086/668608
Challenges for a theory of islands: A broader perspective on Ambridge, Pine, and Lieven
Subjacency characterizes a set of phenomena whose acquisition must be explained by any proposal for human language learning. We take a broader perspective than previous responses to Ambridge, Pine, and Lieven (2014), arguing that they have not shown that this UG principle is 'redundant' because their proposed alternative does not take into account firmly established constraints on A-bar dependencies. We illustrate a range of challenges for theori…
Ask, and tell as well: Question-Answer Clauses in American Sign Language
A construction is found in American Sign Language that we call a Question–Answer Clause. It is made of two parts: the first part looks like an interrogative clause conveying a question, while the second part resembles a declarative clause answering that question. The very same signer has to sign both, the entire construction is interpreted as truth-conditionally equivalent to a declarative sentence, and it can be uttered only under certain discou…
Parameterizing Passive Participle Movement
Burzio (1986: 154–158) observes the contrast in word order between the associate DP and the participle in expletive passives in English (1) versus passives with postverbal subjects in Italian (2). (1) a. There’ve been some men arrested. b. *There’ve been arrested some men. (2) a. *Sono stati alcuni uomini arrestati. are been some men arrested b. Sono stati arrestati alcuni uomini. are been arrested some men This contrast cannot be due to a pervas…
The Nominal Nature of where, when, and how: Evidence from Free Relatives
January 01 2009 The Nominal Nature of where, when, and how: Evidence from Free Relatives In Special Collection: CogNet Ivano Caponigro, Ivano Caponigro University of California, San Diego Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Lisa Pearl Lisa Pearl University of California, Irvine Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Author and Article Information Ivano Caponigro University of California, …
Relative embeddings: A Circassian puzzle for the syntax/semantics interface
This paper documents and analyzes the pattern used in the Northwest Caucasian language Adyghe (Circassian) to express what the following five different constructions convey in other languages: headed and headless relative clauses, embedded declaratives, embedded polar interrogatives, and embedded constituent interrogatives. We argue that Adyghe encodes the meanings of all these embedded structures by means of the same syntactic construction, a re…
Ask, and tell as well: Question-Answer Clauses in American Sign Language
A construction is found in American Sign Language that we call a Question–Answer Clause. It is made of two parts: the first part looks like an interrogative clause conveying a question, while the second part resembles a declarative clause answering that question. The very same signer has to sign both, the entire construction is interpreted as truth-conditionally equivalent to a declarative sentence, and it can be uttered only under certain discou…
Acquiring the meaning of free relative clauses and plural definite descriptions
Plural definite descriptions (e.g. the things on the plate) and free relative clauses (e.g. what is on the plate) have been argued to share the same semantic properties, despite their syntactic differences. Specifically, both have been argued to be non-quantificational expressions referring to the maximal element of a given set (e.g. the set of things on the contextually salient plate). We provide experimental support for this semantic analysis w…
Free Relative Clauses in Two Mixtec Languages
This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from http://www.jstor.org/stable/info/10.1086/668608
Challenges for a theory of islands: A broader perspective on Ambridge, Pine, and Lieven
Subjacency characterizes a set of phenomena whose acquisition must be explained by any proposal for human language learning. We take a broader perspective than previous responses to Ambridge, Pine, and Lieven (2014), arguing that they have not shown that this UG principle is 'redundant' because their proposed alternative does not take into account firmly established constraints on A-bar dependencies. We illustrate a range of challenges for theori…
Experimental syntax and the variation of island effects in English and Italian
Free choice free relative clauses in Italian and Romanian
In Defense of What(ever) Free Relative Clauses They Dismiss: A Reply to Donati and Cecchetto (2011)
I argue that the version of phrase structure theory proposed by Donati and Cecchetto (2011) falls short of accounting for the attested patterns of free relative clauses not only in English but crosslinguistically in general. In particular, I show that free relative clauses can be introduced not only by wh-words like what or where, which is what Donati and Cecchetto predict, but also by wh-phrases like what books or whatever books and their equiva…
Unveiling multiple wh- free relative clauses and their functional wh-words
We provide the first description and compositional semantic analysis of a construction that we label a "multiple wh- free relative clause" -- an embedded non-interrogative wh-clause with more than one wh-word. We show that multiple wh-free relative clauses are closely related to the more familiar free relative clauses with one wh-word ⎯- single wh- free relative clauses. We argue that an appropriate semantic analysis for multiple wh-free relative…
Light-headed relative clauses in Teramano
We investigate an unstudied, rich component of the relative clause system in Teramano, one of the Upper Southern Italian languages. We focus on light-headed relative clauses – relative clauses that lack a full nominal head and are introduced by only a Determiner-like or pronominal “light head”. We also briefly describe headed relative clauses in Teramano since the morphosyntactic features they exhibit are relevant for the investigation of light-h…
What' clauses can and 'which' cannot: A Romanian puzzle
A previously unnoticed puzzle is presented concerning the distribution of wh-determiners in free relative clauses in Romanian: while care 'which' + NP can never introduce free relative clauses, ce 'what' + NP does so productively, as do all other wh-words. New evidence is provided showing that care 'which' + NP in interrogative clauses in Romanian exhibits strong discourse-anaphoric requirements, unlike ce 'what' + NP. This feature of care 'which…
Still Free to Have a Wh -Phrase: A Reply to
Donati et al. (2022) aim at supporting the theoretical and empirical claims in Donati and Cecchetto 2011 about the grammar and free relative clauses by responding to the new data and criticism presented in Caponigro 2019. I critically examine the data and arguments in Donati et al. 2022, provide new data and arguments against the core theoretical proposal and the analyses advanced in Donati and Cecchetto 2011 and endorsed in Donati et al. 2022, a…
Richard Montague’s Turn Towards Natural Language
Richard Montague (1930–1971) is known as a founding figure of natural language semantics, i.e., the formal study of the semantics of natural languages by means of tools from mathematical logic. Less well known is that Montague maintained a strongly skeptical view on the possibility of a systematic logico-philosophical analysis of natural language for most of his short life, adhering to the then-common belief that natural languages are fundamental…
Linguistics (13 works) · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation (13 works) · Philosophy (12 works) · Computer Science (11 works) · Relative clause (9 works) · Dependent clause (8 works) · Interrogative (7 works) · Sentence (5 works) · Syntax (5 works) · Artificial Intelligence (4 works)