Binominal Constructions and Categorization: An Experiment on Categorial Membership in Italian and Russian

Recent research has shown that binominal constructions such as [N1 of N2] and [N1 N2 GEN ] can function as classifiers in languages without dedicated classifier systems. In these constructions, N1 plays a classifier-like role, while N2 is the classified noun. Although much work has focused on the types of N2s allowed, semantic groupings are rarely defined, and when they are, they often reflect the researcher’s interpretation rather than shared cognitive patterns. To investigate this, we conducted a categorization experiment with L1 speakers of Italian and Russian to test the validity of a 21-category classification identified based on corpus data. Participants were asked to classify lexical items into proposed categories or suggest new ones, with each category including both prototypical and peripheral members. Results were analyzed through quantitative methods and qualitative observations.