Weight effects across verbal domains
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Roberto Mayoral Hernández
Abstract
Abundant research reports that weight affects the position of postverbal constituents (Hawkins 2004; Wasow 1997, 2002; Wasow & Arnold 2003). Weight has been analyzed both as a constraint on production and processing. Our study analyzes whether increasing weight can shift subject position, which is typically preverbal, to the postverbal domain. We focus on Spanish subjects with unaccusative and emission verbs, because they display similar percentages of preverbal and postverbal occurrences. Our sample corpus was extracted from the Corpus de Referencia del Español Actual (CREA). Data was coded as nominal and scalar data in order to compare the validity of the different methodologies adopted by Hawkins (1994) and Gries (2003) respectively. In addition, we investigate which is the most descriptive weight unit: word (Lohse, Hawkins & Wasow 2004), syllable (Gries 2003), or phoneme. Our results indicate that weight is a statistically significant factor in subject placement.
Abstract
Abundant research reports that weight affects the position of postverbal constituents (Hawkins 2004; Wasow 1997, 2002; Wasow & Arnold 2003). Weight has been analyzed both as a constraint on production and processing. Our study analyzes whether increasing weight can shift subject position, which is typically preverbal, to the postverbal domain. We focus on Spanish subjects with unaccusative and emission verbs, because they display similar percentages of preverbal and postverbal occurrences. Our sample corpus was extracted from the Corpus de Referencia del Español Actual (CREA). Data was coded as nominal and scalar data in order to compare the validity of the different methodologies adopted by Hawkins (1994) and Gries (2003) respectively. In addition, we investigate which is the most descriptive weight unit: word (Lohse, Hawkins & Wasow 2004), syllable (Gries 2003), or phoneme. Our results indicate that weight is a statistically significant factor in subject placement.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword and Acknowledgments vii
- Editors’ introduction 1
-
Part I. Sound patterns
- Sibilant voicing assimilation in peninsular Spanish as gestural blending 17
- Phonology-morphology opacity in Harmonic Serialism 39
- Morphologically conditioned intervocalic rhotacism in Algherese Catalan 63
- Muta cum liquida in the light of Tertenia Sardinian metathesis and compensatory lengthening Latin tr > Old French Vrr 77
- Schwa at the phonology/syntax interface 101
- Weight effects across verbal domains 119
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Part II. Syntax and semantics
- On truth persistence 135
- Pick some but not all alternatives! 155
- Polarity fronting in Romanian and Sardinian 173
- Degree quantification and scope in Puerto Rican Spanish 199
- ‘Minimal link constraint’ violations 213
- On subjunctives and islandhood 233
- When control can’t be a fact 255
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Part III. Historical aspects
- Prevocalic velar advancement in Chilean Spanish and Proto-Romance 277
- The role of the copula in the diachronic development of focus constructions in Portuguese 297
- The French wh interrogative system 315
- On the relation between functional architecture and patterns of change in Romance object clitic syntax 331
-
Part IV. Interactions across dialects and languages
- Investigating the effects of perceptual salience and regional dialect on phonetic accommodation in Spanish 351
- English questions, Spanish structure 379
- French oral proficiency assessment 401
- Name index 417
- Subject index 423
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword and Acknowledgments vii
- Editors’ introduction 1
-
Part I. Sound patterns
- Sibilant voicing assimilation in peninsular Spanish as gestural blending 17
- Phonology-morphology opacity in Harmonic Serialism 39
- Morphologically conditioned intervocalic rhotacism in Algherese Catalan 63
- Muta cum liquida in the light of Tertenia Sardinian metathesis and compensatory lengthening Latin tr > Old French Vrr 77
- Schwa at the phonology/syntax interface 101
- Weight effects across verbal domains 119
-
Part II. Syntax and semantics
- On truth persistence 135
- Pick some but not all alternatives! 155
- Polarity fronting in Romanian and Sardinian 173
- Degree quantification and scope in Puerto Rican Spanish 199
- ‘Minimal link constraint’ violations 213
- On subjunctives and islandhood 233
- When control can’t be a fact 255
-
Part III. Historical aspects
- Prevocalic velar advancement in Chilean Spanish and Proto-Romance 277
- The role of the copula in the diachronic development of focus constructions in Portuguese 297
- The French wh interrogative system 315
- On the relation between functional architecture and patterns of change in Romance object clitic syntax 331
-
Part IV. Interactions across dialects and languages
- Investigating the effects of perceptual salience and regional dialect on phonetic accommodation in Spanish 351
- English questions, Spanish structure 379
- French oral proficiency assessment 401
- Name index 417
- Subject index 423
