Left–right asymmetries in Italian adjectives: partial order and phases

This article considers the adjective–noun–adjective and noun–adjective–adjective orders of Italian in comparison with the adjective–adjective–noun order of English. I propose that not all adjectives are ordered with respect to one another in the syntax, contrary to what is predicted by cartographic functional sequences. A partial order is enforced by the syntactic notion of phases, since adjectives can appear either nP-phase-internally or at the edge of the nP phase. Support for phase structure comes from so-called Romance lazy plurals, treated in terms of ellipsis (No Transfer) of plural inflections. Two points of variation relating to the internal structure of adjectives determine their position of merger. One is whether the adjective is modified by a DegP (is gradable) or not: gradable adjectives merge at the edge of nP and nongradable ones nP-internally (therefore, higher and lower respectively). The other relevant consideration is whether the AP itself is phasal or nonphasal; the edge-of-nP position is reserved for nonphasal APs. A number of residual issues, such as order variations within Romance and the position of adjectives with respect to other modifiers, are also acknowledged.