Restructuring of Reverse Psychological Predicate
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Almeida Jacqueline Toribio
Abstract
The target of investigation in the present study is the class of psychological predicates exemplified by gustar; this class demonstrates unique mapping properties that render it especially problematical and perplexing for English speakers acquiring Spanish as a second language and likewise vulnerable to alteration in contact and contracting varieties of Spanish. In the experiment reported herein, heritage Spanish speakers are shown to accept and produce particular non-target psychological predicate constructions. Their behavior is interpreted as revealing two 'optimization' strategies-Map the animate argument to the structural subject position and the inanimate argument to the structural object; and dedicate the preverbal position to the structural subject-which render the mapping more transparent.
Abstract
The target of investigation in the present study is the class of psychological predicates exemplified by gustar; this class demonstrates unique mapping properties that render it especially problematical and perplexing for English speakers acquiring Spanish as a second language and likewise vulnerable to alteration in contact and contracting varieties of Spanish. In the experiment reported herein, heritage Spanish speakers are shown to accept and produce particular non-target psychological predicate constructions. Their behavior is interpreted as revealing two 'optimization' strategies-Map the animate argument to the structural subject position and the inanimate argument to the structural object; and dedicate the preverbal position to the structural subject-which render the mapping more transparent.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgements vii
- Introduction ix
- A Polarity-Sensitive Disjunction 1
- Taking a Closer Look at Romance VN Compounds 13
- Beyond Descriptivism 27
- Do Subjects Have a Place in Spanish? 51
- On the Conceptual Role of Number 67
- The Diachronic Development of a French Indefinite Pronoun 83
- A Syntactic Analysis of Italian Deverbal-Nouns 97
- V-N Compounds In Italian 113
- A Reinterpretation of Quirky Subjects and Related Phenomena in Spanish 127
- Cognitive Constraints on Assertion Scope 143
- Avant que - or Avant de -Clauses 155
- Null Directional Prepositions in Romanian and Spanish 169
- A Unified Account for the Additive and the Scalar Uses of Italian Neppure 187
- Default Morphology in Second Language Spanish 201
- Early Object Omission in Child French and English 213
- Agreement Paradigms Across Moods and Tenses 229
- Italian Volerci 247
- Restructuring of Reverse Psychological Predicate 263
- Subject Index 279
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgements vii
- Introduction ix
- A Polarity-Sensitive Disjunction 1
- Taking a Closer Look at Romance VN Compounds 13
- Beyond Descriptivism 27
- Do Subjects Have a Place in Spanish? 51
- On the Conceptual Role of Number 67
- The Diachronic Development of a French Indefinite Pronoun 83
- A Syntactic Analysis of Italian Deverbal-Nouns 97
- V-N Compounds In Italian 113
- A Reinterpretation of Quirky Subjects and Related Phenomena in Spanish 127
- Cognitive Constraints on Assertion Scope 143
- Avant que - or Avant de -Clauses 155
- Null Directional Prepositions in Romanian and Spanish 169
- A Unified Account for the Additive and the Scalar Uses of Italian Neppure 187
- Default Morphology in Second Language Spanish 201
- Early Object Omission in Child French and English 213
- Agreement Paradigms Across Moods and Tenses 229
- Italian Volerci 247
- Restructuring of Reverse Psychological Predicate 263
- Subject Index 279
