Abstract
<jats:p>After introducing some basic definitions, we briefly treat the general problems of the development and loss of nominal agreement. The main section of this chapter is devoted to a description of the total or partial loss of number marking/agreement in Northern Italian dialects and to various ‘attempts’ to restore it. We also describe the introduction of a system of definiteness agreement in Romanian. Finally, some general conclusions are drawn from the analysis of the different cases studied in the body of the chapter. The data reviewed confirm the general view that agreement loss is due in the first place to phonetic change, a change that is blind with respect to the affected morphosyntactic categories, although the morphosyntactic environment can contribute to the spreading or the blocking of certain phonetic changes. The restoring of plural marking is in general ‘restrained’: when marking appears, it often appears only once in the NP. Restoring of a (partial) agreement system is rarer, and probably a later evolution.</jats:p>