THE SEMANTIC AND PRAGMATIC FUNCTIONS OF PARTITIVE CLITIC NE IN STANDARD ITALIAN

Abstract

This study explores the distribution of partitive ne in Standard Italian. Over the course of five chapters, the study considers ne’s historical usage as well as its functions in the present-day language. The following conclusions were reached: (1) pre-modern ne was compatible with specificity and could refer to all non-oblique arguments, including subjects of transitive verbs, (2) modern ne is obligatorily non-specific, (3) modern ne can refer to non-objects in some circumstances, and (4) modern quantifiers may appear pre-verbally in some circumstances.