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Partitive
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{{Short description|Grammatical case}} In [[linguistics]], a '''partitive''' is a word, phrase, or [[Grammatical case|case]] that indicates partialness. [[Nominal (linguistics)|Nominal]] partitives are syntactic constructions, such as "some of the children", and may be classified semantically as either set partitives or entity partitives based on the quantifier and the type of embedded noun used. Partitives should not be confused with ''[[quantitive]]s'' (also known as [[pseudopartitive]]s), which often look similar in form, but behave differently syntactically and have a distinct meaning. In many [[Romance language|Romance]] and [[Germanic language|Germanic]] languages, nominal partitives usually take the form: <blockquote>'''[<sub>DP</sub> Det. + ''of'' + [<sub>DP</sub> Det. + NP]]'''<ref name="syntax">Martí i Girbau, M. N. (2010). The syntax of partitives.</ref></blockquote> where the first [[determiner]] is a [[Quantifier (linguistics)|quantifier]] word, using a prepositional element to link it to the larger set or whole from which that quantity is partitioned. The partitive constructions of the following languages all have the same translation, with a very similar form: {| class="wikitable" |- ! Language !! Nominal partitive |- | English || three ''of'' my friends |- | Catalan || tres ''dels'' meus amics |- | Spanish || tres ''de'' mis amigos |- | French || trois ''de'' mes amis |- | Italian || tre ''dei'' miei amici |- | Portuguese || três ''dos'' meus amigos |- | Dutch || drie ''van'' mijn vrienden |- | Greek || τρεις ''από'' τους φίλους μου |- |} Some languages, for example [[Estonian language|Estonian]], [[Finnish language|Finnish]], and [[Basque language|Basque]] have a special partitive [[Grammatical case|case]]. In [[Latin]], [[German language|German]] and [[Russian language|Russian]], the partitive is expressed by the [[genitive case]], sometimes called the ''partitive genitive''.<ref>Valkova, Z. (1999). Semantics of case: The partitive genitive in russian. ProQuest, UMI Dissertations Publishing).</ref>
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