LINGUIST List 19.54

Tue Jan 08 2008

Diss: Linguistic Theories/Pragmatics/Spanish: Belloro: 'Spanish Cli...'

Editor for this issue: Luiza Newlin Lukowicz <luizalinguistlist.org>

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        1.    Valeria Belloro, Spanish Clitic Doubling. A study of the syntax-pragmatics interface

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Message 1: Spanish Clitic Doubling. A study of the syntax-pragmatics interface
Date: 26-Dec-2007
From: Valeria Belloro <vb2237columbia.edu>
Subject: Spanish Clitic Doubling. A study of the syntax-pragmatics interface
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Institution: University at Buffalo Program: Department of Linguistics Dissertation Status: Completed Degree Date: 2007

Author: Valeria A. Belloro

Dissertation Title: Spanish Clitic Doubling. A study of the syntax-pragmatics interface

Linguistic Field(s): Linguistic Theories                             Pragmatics
Subject Language(s): Spanish (spa)
Dissertation Director:
Jean-Pierre Koenig Rodert D. Van Valin David A. Zubin
Dissertation Abstract:

This dissertation is a study of the interpretive effects of the so-called"clitic doubling" constructions in Spanish. Clitic doubling constructionsare those in which a weak pronoun, cliticized to the verb, co-occurs in theclause with a nominal phrase coreferential with it, as illustrated in (1).

(1)a. La invité a Mabel. ACC.3FS invited.1S ANIM Mabel 'I invited Mabel.'

b. Le di un regalo a Mabel. DAT.3S gave.1S a gift DAT Mabel. 'I gave a gift to Mabel.'

In recent decades there have been many studies which propose grammaticalanalyses of these structures. These studies are for the most part based onexamples constructed ad hoc and, as it will be shown, cannot adequatelyaccount for the empirical data presented here. On the other hand,corpus-based accounts of the "clitic doubling" phenomenon are scarce andadvance seemingly contradictory conclusions, some linking doubling with theparticipants' topicality, and others with the participants' newness.

In this dissertation it is argued that Spanish clitic doublingconstructions are dependent on the particular cognitive accessibility ofthe target referent. Specifically, that clitic doubling structures mark thedeviation of the target referent from its expected accessibility levelgiven the case-role chosen to encode it.

This claim is supported by the analysis of a corpus of spontaneousinteractions among native speakers of a prototypical "doubling dialect"(Buenos Aires Spanish), and formalized using the tools of Role andReference Grammar.

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