Spanish subject pronoun usage and verb semantics revisited: First and second person singular subject pronouns and focusing of attention in spoken Peninsular Spanish

Posio, Pekka

doi:10.1016/j.pragma.2010.10.012

Cited by 83 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…It appears that a random effects analysis using a lexical frequency approach can help us provide a more detailed account of how verbs condition SPE. Moreover, these results concur with recent findings (Posio 2011(Posio , 2015Orozco 2015, under review;Orozco et al 2014) in providing mounting evidence that despite four decades of research, we are yet to know the real effects of the verb on SPE. It appears that by using analyses that take into account the configuration of the corpus at hand, and, most importantly, lexical frequency, we will be able to obtain more conclusive answers as to the effects of the verb on SPE and, perhaps, other linguistic variables.…”

Section: Another Take At the Effects Of The Verb On Spe Using Lexicalsupporting

confidence: 90%

“…On the other hand, the second person singular and all plural grammatical persons combined favor null subjects with probability values of .44 and .21, respectively. These findings are largely commensurate with the wide-ranging tendency (Abreu 2009(Abreu , 2012Bayley & Pease-Álvarez 1997;Carvalho & Child 2011;Erker & Guy 2012;Flores-Ferrán 2002Orozco 2015, under review;Otheguy, Zentella, & Livert 2007;Posio 2011;Ortiz López 2011, among others) that singular SPPs occur more frequently as overt subjects than plural pronouns.…”

Section: Grammatical Person and Number Of The Subjectsupporting

confidence: 69%

“…Concurrently, I seek to test the following hypothesis: Different verbs within a single semantically-based category condition SPE differently. This hypothesis has been informed by studies indicating that we lack conclusive information as to the effects of the verb on SPE (cf., Erker & Guy 2012;Orozco 2015;Orozco, Méndez Vallejo, & Vidal-Covas 2014;Orozco & Guy 2008;Posio 2011;inter alia). I additionally test a series of hypotheses that directly address each one of the predictors explored here and discussed below.…”

Section: Research Questions and Hypothesismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the present analysis verbs of speech (probability value .35) favor null subjects while in Barranquilla, Cali, New Mexico, and among NYC Colombians (cf. Posio 2011Posio , 2015Travis 2005bTravis , 2007; among others imply that verb class, or for that matter another classification based on syntactic or semantic criteria, does not constitute the most accurate way to explore the effects of the verb on SPE. Moreover, our findings appear to suggest that the effect of the verb on SPE may be idiosyncratic.…”

Section: Grammatical Person and Number Of The Subjectmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Subject pronoun expression in Mexican Spanish: ¿Qué pasa en Xalapa?

Orozco

2016

Proc Ling Soc Amer

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Abstract. This study is the first variationist analysis of subject personal pronoun expression (SPE) in the Spanish of Xalapa, Mexico. The overall pronominal rate (25%)-the highest such rate found in Mexican Spanish so far-also constitutes one of the highest in a mainland Spanish variety. Six predictors-four internal and two external-significantly condition SPE. The internal conditioning-congruent with what occurs elsewhere-reveals grammatical number and person of the subject as the strongest predictor. It also shows that verb class has tendencies similar to those found in other communities. However, further analysis uncovers that lexical frequency provides more definite answers regarding how verbs condition SPE, as within the copulative verb class category ser 'be' favors overt subjects but estar 'be' favors null subjects. Moreover, the unusually robust effect of age sets Xalapa Spanish apart from most other varieties. Interestingly, the pronominal rate among teenagers (11%)-below the lowest overall pronominal rate anywhere-is consistent with what occurs in other Spanish varieties such as Colombian, European, Dominican, and Mexican. These findings call for further research on the effects of verb semantics and age on SPE.

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Section: Another Take At the Effects Of The Verb On Spe Using Lexicalsupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Grammatical Person and Number Of The Subjectsupporting

confidence: 69%

Section: Research Questions and Hypothesismentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Grammatical Person and Number Of The Subjectmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Subject pronoun expression in Mexican Spanish: ¿Qué pasa en Xalapa?

Orozco

2016

Proc Ling Soc Amer

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“…These data support that features of lower transitivity (the absence of an object or non-individuated/inanimate objects, imperfective aspect, verbs that refer to non-energetic events; Hopper & Thompson 1980) favor <spp Verb>, whereas features typical of higher transitivity favor <Verb> (Posio 2011). This pattern is highly favorable to the view that speakers prefer <Verb> when relatively more attention is focused on the event, whereas they prefer <spp Verb> when relatively more attention is focused on the subject, as hypothesis 1 predicts.…”

supporting

confidence: 71%

Probabilistic Grammar: The view from Cognitive Sociolinguistics

Claes

2017

Glossa: A Journal of General Linguistics

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In this paper, I propose that Probabilistic Grammar may benefit from incorporating theoretical insights from Cognitive (Socio)Linguistics. I begin by introducing Cognitive Linguistics. Then, I propose a model of the domain-general cognitive constraints (markedness of coding, statistical preemption, and structural priming) that condition language (variation). Subsequently, three case studies are presented that test the predictions of this model on three distinct alternations in English and Spanish (variable agreement with existential haber, variable agreement with existential there be, and Spanish subject pronoun expression). For each case study, the model generates empirically correct predictions. I conclude that, with the support of Cognitive Sociolinguistics, Probabilistic Grammar may move beyond description towards explanation. This article is part of the special collection: Probabilistic grammars: Syntactic variation in a comparative perspective

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Referential and Non-referential Uses of the Third Person Pronominal Subject in Spanish

Salido

2017

J Psycholinguist Res

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This paper studies the role of two different types of motivation that have been proposed to explain the use of subject personal pronouns in Spanish, namely their function as indications for the addressee to identify the subject's referent, and their suitability for expressing informational values such as contrastiveness or focus. This study focuses exclusively on third-person forms and relies on conversational data. The distribution of third-person pronouns is analysed combining qualitative and quantitative approaches. It will be argued that the informational and referential properties of subject personal pronouns are by themselves insufficient to account for their expression, their occurrence depending crucially on their activation through the previous use of units of the same type.

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Spanish subject pronoun usage and verb semantics revisited: First and second person singular subject pronouns and focusing of attention in spoken Peninsular Spanish

Cited by 83 publications

References 17 publications

Subject pronoun expression in Mexican Spanish: ¿Qué pasa en Xalapa?

Subject pronoun expression in Mexican Spanish: ¿Qué pasa en Xalapa?

Probabilistic Grammar: The view from Cognitive Sociolinguistics

Referential and Non-referential Uses of the Third Person Pronominal Subject in Spanish

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