Volume 36, Issue 4 -

This paper is concerned with a conditional construction in Spanish, which we call echoic contrastive conditional , ecc for short. In ecc s, the consequent is entailed, the antecedent echoes the content of a previous assertion, and both antecedent and consequent are marked with a Contrastive Topic. Our goal is to fit these properties in a formal explanation compatible with a simple analysis of conditionals. We claim that ecc s are a subtype of biscuit conditional, in that antecedent and consequent are independent (i.e. do not express a hypothetical relation). Additionally, we assume that pragmatic reasoning has to explain why a conditional is used to express an adversative relation between the two clauses. First, a proposition that has already been proposed to increase the Common Ground is placed in the antecedent of a conditional in which there is no hypothetical relation between p and q . Thus, the addressee needs to reason as to the pragmatic function the speaker wants to achieve. Second, the Contrastive Topic marking signals that both conjuncts are answers to a multiple wh -question, proposed by the speaker as the current Question Under Discussion (QUD). Third, the answer provided by the second conjunct is a stronger argument for the speaker’s communicative goal than the one provided by the first conjunct. The joint occurrence of echoicity, lack of dependence and Contrastive Topic marking leads to an adversative rhetorical relation between the conjuncts.

Based on the theory proposed in Frascarelli (2007), according to which the interpretation of null subjects depends on an Agree relation between pro and a specific type of Topic (i.e. the A-Topic, cf. Frascarelli & Hinterhölzl 2007), the first objective of this paper is to evaluate this theory from an acquisitional perspective on children from 3 to 9 years old. Furthermore, since the A-Topic is argued to be systematically associated to specific discourse, prosodic and syntactic properties, a second objective of this paper is to check whether the relevant acquisition correlates with information-structural and interface-related competences. Based on an original experiment designed to examine Topic chains in children’s narrative, evidence is provided that this productive ability is not fully acquired at the age of 9 and that its progress proceeds in three steps, involving different levels of grammar. Specifically, in a first phase children tend to assume their personal experience and discourse intentions as familiar to their interlocutors. Hence, they start their narration linking null subjects to silent A-Topics, without overt links for their interpretation (‘Emperor Strategy’). Then, at the age of 6 the creation of Topic chains seems to be part of children’s competence at a discourse-syntactic level and overt copies are progressively produced in the chains. Nevertheless, since children still assume their ‘hero’ to be a familiar entity, G[iven]-Topics are frequently realised as first link for null subjects. Finally, at around 7–7.11 the adult-like association between discourse-syntactic and prosodic properties is attested.

We investigate the pronunciation of English compounds ending in -man (e.g. policeman, clergyman, mailman ), some of which are usually pronounced with a full vowel in - man ( mailman ), some usually with a reduced vowel ( policeman ), while other words vary between the two ( businessman, gunman ). Is it possible to predict when the vowel is reduced or not? We investigate a number of factors that could play a role in this issue: (i) the age of introduction of the word into the English language, (ii) the frequency of the word in the synchronic language, (iii) the meaning of - man in the specific compound, (iv) number of syllables, (v) stress pattern and (vi) spelling variation. Although some of these points have been discussed in the literature before, we present the first large full-scale quantitative investigation of the question whether any of these factors are reliable predictors of the pronunciation (and if so, which one predicts the pronunciation best), as well as the interaction between these factors.

The present paper discusses the problem of deriving quotational expressions (QEs) – a relatively unexplored field in the generative tradition – in the context of phase theory (PT). QEs are taken to be built within Narrow Syntax. While this fact is empirically well-motivated, it turns out to be conceptually problematic for cyclic derivations driven by feature makeup. Empirical data show that QEs represent a unique mixture of conflicting properties. On the one hand, they must be interpretable as both atomic and not. This extends to two readings of the embedding of enquotation, which are argued to follow from recursive and purely iterative, non-recursive interpretation. On the other hand, having no limits in length and scope, QEs are more challenging for PT than other non-compositional chunks. I argue that these effects unearth an important conceptual contrast. While they pose certain problems for the Minimalist approach, they naturally follow from the account of Narrow Syntax proposed by Jan-Wouter Zwart. In this regard the gap in applicability of each account to the discussed phenomenon sheds new light on the role of features in PT.