Partitive

Partitive case is a instance of inherent case. Partitive case is optionally assigned by unaccusative verbs, such as Italian arrivare, to a post-verbal subject, which is in fact the internal argument:

(i) E' arrivato Gianni
    is arrived Gianni
    'Gianni arrived'

According to Belletti (1988), partitive case can be assigned if no case (Nominative or Accusative) is assigned otherwise.

Links

Utrecht Lexicon of Linguistics

References

• Belletti, A. 1988. The Case of Unaccusatives, Linguistic Inquiry 19-1, pp. 1-35

STUB