Universität zu Köln

Garcia Chavez, Erick ORCID: 0000-0003-2253-3900 (2025). Nominalized Infinitive Clauses in Spanish. PhD thesis, Universität zu Köln.

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Abstract

This dissertation investigates Nominalized Infinitive Clauses (NICs) in Spanish—infinitival constructions marked by an overt determiner, that function syntactically as noun phrases while retaining internal verbal structure (e.g., 'el no saber qué pasará me está volviendo loco'). Framed within the Functional Nominalization Thesis, this work argues that NICs are DP-nominalizations with a nominal layer dominating a fully verbal projection. These structures crucially differ from other infinitival nominalizations by their exclusion from non-factive predicates. The first part of the dissertation offers a formal analysis of NICs in relation to other nominal and clausal structures, including 'el que'-clauses and Greek 'to oti'-clauses. The second part explores the semantics of definiteness and genericity, showing that the definite article in NICs is not required for referentiality, but emerges under specific pragmatic and predicate-driven conditions. An experimental study on native speaker judgments reveals that the presence of the definite article is dispreferred across contexts, challenging prior claims that it reflects factivity or is syntactically obligatory. Ultimately, the dissertation poses the idea that all embedded clauses in Spanish are to be analyzed as DPs, and that NICs provide key insight into the interaction between clause structure, nominalization, and referential meaning.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD thesis)
Translated title:	Title Language Oraciones de infinitivo nominalizadas en español Spanish Nominalisierte Infinitivsätze im Spanischen German
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Garcia Chavez, Erick erickgch@gmail.com https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2253-3900 UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-783784
Date:	2025
Place of Publication:	Köln
Language:	English
Faculty:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities
Divisions:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Fächergruppe 5: Moderne Sprachen und Kulturen > Romanisches Seminar
Subjects:	Language, Linguistics
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language infinitive clauses, syntax-semantics interface, nominalization, propositions, definiteness English oraciones de infinitivo, interfaz sintaxis-semántica, nominalización, proposiciones, definitud Spanish Infinitivsätze, Syntax-Semantik-Schnittstelle, Nominalisierung, Propositionen, Definitheit German
Date of oral exam:	17 December 2024
Referee:	Name Academic Title Garcia Garcia, Marco Prof. Dr. Rosemeyer, Malte Prof. Dr. Becker, Martin Prof. Dr.
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/78378