Resumen

In this dissertation, it is proposed that gender is a syntactic feature in the nominal head, which is expressed after the nominal is selected by the Num(eral)P(hrase). Every nominal has to have syntactic gender and without this feature there cannot be a nominal category. By this gender feature the nominal is an individuating category. In Spanish [gender] has to be specified as [+fem] or [-fem]. In human nominals, gender is specified in Syntax, and then [+fem] and [-fem] receive a sex construal (“female” or “male”). The remainder nominals are assignated [±fem] in Morphology, through an exhaustivity condition. However, sometimes a non-human nominal can also receive a gender specification in the Syntax, although under a different feature architecture from that of the human nominals. In this case, the gender specification implies a more individuated interpretation related to the mass/count distinction.