Variation in subject expression in Western Romance
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Ana de Prada Pérez
Abstract
Syntactic-theoretic accounts report variation across languages on the availability of null pronominal subjects. As a result, languages are classified as null and non-null subject languages. However, the homogeneity or heterogeneity of null subject languages is not discussed. Variationist research, on the other hand, indicates that variation is attested across different varieties of null subject languages. This paper expands on this research comparing the distribution of null and overt pronominal subjects in two null subject Western Romance languages: Spanish and Catalan. Naturalistic data collected via sociolinguistic interviews in Valladolid and Minorca, Spain, were explored using a variationist approach, with a total of 7,025 tokens. The weight of eleven different internal factors relevant to this distribution were analyzed and ranked, revealing differences between the two languages. This variationist analysis succeeds in locating the contexts where the languages differ in their favoring of overt and null forms.
Abstract
Syntactic-theoretic accounts report variation across languages on the availability of null pronominal subjects. As a result, languages are classified as null and non-null subject languages. However, the homogeneity or heterogeneity of null subject languages is not discussed. Variationist research, on the other hand, indicates that variation is attested across different varieties of null subject languages. This paper expands on this research comparing the distribution of null and overt pronominal subjects in two null subject Western Romance languages: Spanish and Catalan. Naturalistic data collected via sociolinguistic interviews in Valladolid and Minorca, Spain, were explored using a variationist approach, with a total of 7,025 tokens. The weight of eleven different internal factors relevant to this distribution were analyzed and ranked, revealing differences between the two languages. This variationist analysis succeeds in locating the contexts where the languages differ in their favoring of overt and null forms.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword & acknowledgements ix
- List of contributors xi
- Editors’ introduction 1
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Part I. Phonetics/Phonology
- Correcting the record on Dominican [s]-hypercorrection 15
- V-to-V assimilation in trisyllabic words in French 25
- The production and provenance of palatal nasals in Portuguese and Spanish 43
- Lenition and phonemic contrast in Majorcan Catalan 63
- Alveolar laterals in Majorcan Spanish 81
- Units of speech production in Italian 95
- Pitch polarity in Palenquero 111
- Word-minimality and sound change in Hispano-Romance 129
- Multiple opacity in Eastern Regional French 153
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Part II. Syntax
- Syntactic variation in Colombian Spanish 169
- Anaphoricity, logophoricity and intensification 187
- More on the clitic combination puzzle 203
- The Spanish dative alternation revisited 217
- Romanian genderless pronouns and parasitic gaps 231
- To agree or not to agree 249
- Variation in subject expression in Western Romance 267
- A phase-based analysis of Old French genitive constructions 285
- V2 loss in Old French and Old Occitan 301
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Part III. Morphology, and interfaces
- The loss and survival of inflectional morphology 323
- Allomorphy in pre-clitic imperatives in Formenteran Catalan 337
- Preverbal vowels in wh-questions and declarative sentences in Northern Italian Piacentine dialects 353
- Pitch accent, focus, and the interpretation of non- wh exclamatives in French 369
- Detours along the perfect path 387
- Grammaticalization of commencer/cominciare “to begin” in French and Italian 405
- Index of subjects, terms and languages 423
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword & acknowledgements ix
- List of contributors xi
- Editors’ introduction 1
-
Part I. Phonetics/Phonology
- Correcting the record on Dominican [s]-hypercorrection 15
- V-to-V assimilation in trisyllabic words in French 25
- The production and provenance of palatal nasals in Portuguese and Spanish 43
- Lenition and phonemic contrast in Majorcan Catalan 63
- Alveolar laterals in Majorcan Spanish 81
- Units of speech production in Italian 95
- Pitch polarity in Palenquero 111
- Word-minimality and sound change in Hispano-Romance 129
- Multiple opacity in Eastern Regional French 153
-
Part II. Syntax
- Syntactic variation in Colombian Spanish 169
- Anaphoricity, logophoricity and intensification 187
- More on the clitic combination puzzle 203
- The Spanish dative alternation revisited 217
- Romanian genderless pronouns and parasitic gaps 231
- To agree or not to agree 249
- Variation in subject expression in Western Romance 267
- A phase-based analysis of Old French genitive constructions 285
- V2 loss in Old French and Old Occitan 301
-
Part III. Morphology, and interfaces
- The loss and survival of inflectional morphology 323
- Allomorphy in pre-clitic imperatives in Formenteran Catalan 337
- Preverbal vowels in wh-questions and declarative sentences in Northern Italian Piacentine dialects 353
- Pitch accent, focus, and the interpretation of non- wh exclamatives in French 369
- Detours along the perfect path 387
- Grammaticalization of commencer/cominciare “to begin” in French and Italian 405
- Index of subjects, terms and languages 423
