SINTASSI DELLE FRASI IDIOMATICHE E DELLE FRASI LIBERE DELL’ITALIANO: DIFFERENZE O SIMILARITÀ?

This study is devoted to the analysis of the similarities and differences between Italian idiomatic constructions and non-idiomatic constructions. Idioms pose many problems as concerns the interaction between syntax and semantics because most literature assigns idioms a special status. Rather, their behaviour is not so different from non-idiomatic constructions, either from a distributional or a transformational point of view. I will present the methodological principles on which I constructed the lexico-grammatical classification of Italian idioms, and I will show that a continuum exists between non-idiomatic and idiomatic constructions. Since most idioms are ambiguous, I will analyze the relationship between ambiguity and communication.