Pseudopartitives vs. agreement attraction: An experimental study

Pseudopartitive constructions are constructions of the form DP-of-NP, where the quantificational, collective or container DP head is interpreted as measuring the embedded NP. A verb can agree either with the head (Head Agreement) or with the embedded NP (Embedded Agreement). We argue that agreement alternations with pseudopartitives form part of lin guistic competence. Specifically, we account for them in terms of a dual la belling option open to of-DP/NP constituents, as either PPs (of projecting) or as NPs (of not projecting). Thus, we reject the conclusion that pseudopar titives are to be accounted for in processing terms, and wholly subsumed un der agreement attraction. In two studies, we investigate subject-verb num ber agreement (Study 1, N = 103) and gender agreement (Study 2, N = 87), in an acceptability task with pseudopartitive constructions involving either a collective noun or an approximate quantifier, controlling for the nature of the head. Results show that Italian pseudopartitives allows embedded agree ment, depending on the speaker and on the nature of the head (quantifiers better than collective Ns).