Otras reflexiones sobre 'otro'

In modern Spanish otro shows complex properties. In some cases it behaves like a quantifier, in other cases like an adjective, and in others like an indefinite determiner. Studying the interpretive and syntactic behaviour of this element, this article shows that otro is a determiner-like adjective that contributes to define the referential index of the noun phrase. I show that this was the case in Old Spanish and that it is the case in modern Italian. For this reason, I propose that in indefinite contexts an unpronounced determiner UN enters syntax in the head of the DP and otro must move to the Spec.DP position. Furthermore, I argue that the two readings of otro, i.e. “a further token(s) of x” and “a further type(s)/kind(s) of x”, are associated with two different positions inside the extended projections of the NP