Gender, number and inflectional class in some North-Italian dialects. The plural inflection -i and the interpretation of N morphology.

In many Northern Italian varieties the plural inflection -i has a restricted distribution, targeting feminine class nouns, determiners and adjectives. The -i morpheme also occurs with clitic pronouns, both subjects and objects. The crucial point we address is the relation between the plural specialized morpheme -i and its distribution among noun classes. We try to answer the question whether it is possible to account for the distribution of the inflection -i on the basis of a theoretical treatment of the internal structure of the noun, which assumes that inflectional morphemes are endowed with interpretive content.