How bare are bare quantifiers? Some notes from diachronic and synchronic variation in Italian

In this article we analyze the internal structure of bare universal and negative quantifiers in Italian varieties, taking into consideration both synchronic and diachronic variation. It is proposed that bare quantifiers are not standard QPs with a null DP restrictor, but deficient items where the Q-portion is paired with a classifier expressing the [+/− human]-feature, more specifically a special type of light noun. Items of this type are overtly realized in languages like English and in some Italian varieties. The overt realization of these items appears to be related to the surface position of the QP, as is crucially shown by some varieties that allow both variants. The paper also discusses some cases where these classifiers are still lexically ambiguous between a full noun and a light noun.