Participi passati predicativi

This paper is about the syntax of past participles in Italian; more specifically, we aim at defining a “predicative” function, separate from “attributive” and “circumstantial” function. To do that, we first see how past participles are usually described in Italian grammars (§ 1). We subsequently take into account “secondary predication” studies, a useful theoretical tool that helps to interpret our data (§ 2). Finally, we give a syntactic, textual and semantic description of past predicative participles (§ 3). These forms appear to be associated with the following features. They are object-oriented and generally located to the right of the main verb; they fulfill a secondary predication, that is to say, they do not modify the main predication, but rather describe the “state” in which an argumental constituent is found at the time when the main event occurs; they show different informative status compared to direct objects to which they refer: typically, direct objects represent topical information, whereas predicative participles bear the focus function.