How Portuguese children interpret subject pronouns in complement clauses

2018 ◽  
pp. 361-392
Author(s):  
Carolina Silva
Keyword(s):  
Subject Pronouns ◽  
Complement Clauses

scholarly journals Subjunctive and subject pronoun realization: a study of "no creo que"

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie Harrington ◽  
Ana Teresa Pérez-Leroux
Keyword(s):  
First Person ◽  
Subject Pronouns ◽  
Subjunctive Mood ◽  
Oral Speech ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Complement Clauses ◽  
Subject Pronoun ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Embedded Clause ◽  
Dependent Clause

Subjunctive mood in complement clauses is licensed under selection from certain predicates or under the scope of a modal or negation. In contexts where mood choice varies, such as the complement of a negated epistemic verb no creer, it introduces a contrast in interpretation. The subjunctive is thought to contribute to a shift in the modal anchoring of the embedded clause, and is consequently interpreted as indicative of a dissociation between the epistemic models of the speaker and the subject. We provide evidence that these uses also interact with pragmatic context. Given independent claims that 1) the overt realization of first person subject pronouns is contrastive and 2) it generally serves to anchor discourse to the speaker’s perspective and 3) overt use is particularly frequent with epistemic verbs, we examined the interaction between negation, first person subject pronoun realization, and mood of the dependent clause for the verb creer.  An analysis of oral speech from the Proyecto de Habla Culta revealed that for negative sentences (no creo que), yo is overtly realized more frequently for cases with exceptional indicative dependents than for those with canonical subjunctive dependents; there was no association with mood for affirmative uses of creer. These results support analyses where negation has specific scope over the contrastive subject, rather than over the epistemic clause. As a consequence, the matrix proposition remains an assertion and use of indicative complements is licensed.

scholarly journals ONLINE PRONOUN RESOLUTION IN L2 DISCOURSE: L1 Influence and General Learner Effects

2008 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 333-357 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leah Roberts ◽  
Marianne Gullberg ◽  
Peter Indefrey
Keyword(s):  
First Language ◽  
Pronoun Resolution ◽  
Subject Pronouns ◽  
Online Processing ◽  
L2 Processing ◽  
Overt Pronouns ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
L1 Influence ◽  
Final Interpretation ◽  
Subject Pronoun

This study investigates whether advanced second language (L2) learners of a nonnull subject language (Dutch) are influenced by their null subject first language (L1) (Turkish) in their offline and online resolution of subject pronouns in L2 discourse. To tease apart potential L1 effects from possible general L2 processing effects, we also tested a group of German L2 learners of Dutch who were predicted to perform like the native Dutch speakers. The two L2 groups differed in their offline interpretations of subject pronouns. The Turkish L2 learners exhibited a L1 influence, because approximately half the time they interpreted Dutch subject pronouns as they would overt pronouns in Turkish, whereas the German L2 learners performed like the Dutch controls, interpreting pronouns as coreferential with the current discourse topic. This L1 effect was not in evidence in eye-tracking data, however. Instead, the L2 learners patterned together, showing an online processing disadvantage when two potential antecedents for the pronoun were grammatically available in the discourse. This processing disadvantage was in evidence irrespective of the properties of the learners' L1 or their final interpretation of the pronoun. Therefore, the results of this study indicate both an effect of the L1 on the L2 in offline resolution and a general L2 processing effect in online subject pronoun resolution.

Faetar null subjects: a variationist study of a heritage language in contact

2017 ◽  
Vol 2018 (249) ◽  
Author(s):  
Naomi Nagy ◽  
Michael Iannozzi ◽  
David Heap
Keyword(s):  
Heritage Language ◽  
Southern Italy ◽  
Null Subjects ◽  
Subject Pronouns ◽  
Greater Toronto Area

AbstractFaetar is an under-documented variety descended from Francoprovençal and spoken in two isolated Apulian villages in southern Italy as well as in the emigrant diaspora, especially in the Greater Toronto Area. Speakers use two series of subject pronouns (

On the (African) origins of Palenquero subject pronouns

Diachronica ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 273-332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Armin Schwegler
Keyword(s):  
Dominant Role ◽  
European Descent ◽  
Subject Pronouns ◽  
Pronominal System

Summary A principal aim of this paper is to show that (1) the Palenquero (Colombia) pronominal system in toto needs to be revised in the direction of greater Africanicity, and (2) speakers of Kikongo must have played a dominant role in the formation of Palenquero. This study offers evidence for the multiple (European, African, and Euro-African) origins of the Palenquero person/number markers. I argue that the traditional etymological analyses of these markers are fundamentally flawed in two respects: First, i- (1sg.), o- (2sg.), and e- (3sg.) — allegedly Spanish-derived pronouns — are actually of African rather than European descent; and second, the genesis of y- ‘I’ involved convergence instead of direct linear descent from a single language (i.e., Spanish yo). This investigation revindicates earlier studies that have sought to emphasize the importance of the African substrate to the evolution of Atlantic contact vernaculars in general. Résumé Le but principal de cet article est de montrer (1) que le système pronominal du palenquero (Colombie) est globalement plus africain qu’on ne l’admet généralement, et (2) que le kikongo a dû jouer un rôle important dans la formation de cette langue. Cette étude offre des arguments en faveur d’origines multiples (européennes, africaines et euro-africaines) pour le système pronominal palenquero, et montre que les analyses étymologiques traditionnelles des pronoms palenqueros souffrent de plusieurs défauts (par exemple, je montre que i- (1sg.), o- (2sg.) et e- (3sg.) ne sont pas d’origine européenne, mais africaine). Cet article tend donc à confirmer les études antérieures qui ont cherché a souligner l’importance du substrat africain dans l’évolution des langues de contact atlantiques en général. Zusammenfassung Ein Hauptziel dieser Studie ist zu zeigen, dass (1) das Pronominalsystem im Palenquero (Kolumbien) in toto stärker von afrikanischen Sprachen als bisher angenommen beinflusst wurde, und (2) Kikongo eine wichtige Rolle in der Genese des Palenquero gespielt hat. Dieser Beitrag liefert Beweise für den unterschiedlichen (afrikanischen, europäischen, und euroafrikanischen) Ursprung verschiedener Palenquero-Pronomen. Die Studie zeigt auch, dass die traditionellen etymologischen Analysen dieser Pronomen revidiert werden müssen (die Pronominalformen i- (1sg.), o- (2sg.), und e- (3sg.) zum Beispiel haben keinen europäischen sondern einen afrikanischen Ursprung). Meine Schlussfolgerungen unterstützen diejenigen Studien, die versucht haben, die Wichtigkeit des afrikanischen Substrats in der Genese der atlantischen Kontaktsprachen ganz allgemein hervorzuheben.

Anaphoric devices in written and spoken narrative discourse

2010 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 236-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aurora Bel ◽  
Joan Perera ◽  
Naymé Salas
Keyword(s):  
Age Groups ◽  
Narrative Discourse ◽  
Subject Position ◽  
Narrative Texts ◽  
Discourse Function ◽  
Subject Pronouns ◽  
Overt Pronouns ◽  
Written Texts ◽  
Pronominal Anaphora ◽  
Selection Of

In this study, we focus on pronominal anaphora and we investigate the referential properties of null and overt subject pronouns in Catalan, in the semi-spontaneous production of narrative spoken and written texts by three groups of speakers/writers (9–10, 12–13, and 15–16 year olds). We aimed at determining (1) pronoun preferences for a specific type of antecedent; (2) their specialization in a certain discourse function; and (3) whether the pattern is affected by text modality (spoken vs. written texts). We analyzed 30 spoken and 30 written narrative texts, produced by the same 30 subjects, divided into the age groups mentioned above. Results seem fairly consistent across age groups and modalities, showing that null pronouns tend to select antecedents in subject position and are well specialized in maintaining reference, while overt pronouns offer a less clear pattern both in their selection of antecedents and in the discourse function they perform. Our findings partially support those of previous research on other null-subject languages, in particular, the Position of Antecedent Hypothesis (PAH) formulated by Carminati (2002) for Italian.

scholarly journals When Bilingualism is the Common Factor: Switch Reference at the Junction of Competence and Performance in Both Second Language and Heritage Language Performance

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 590-616 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiffany Judy ◽  
Michael T. Putnam ◽  
Jason Rothman
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Adult Learners ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Common Factor ◽  
Language Performance ◽  
Subject Pronouns ◽  
Different Populations ◽  
The Common ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Heritage Language Speakers

In this paper we take a closer look at the oft-touted divide between heritage language speakers and adult second language (L2) learners. Here, we explore whether some properties of language may display general effects across different populations of bilinguals, explaining, at least partially, why these two groups show some common differences when compared with monolinguals. To test this hypothesis, we adduce data from two unique populations of bilinguals: a moribund variety of heritage German spoken in southwestern Kansas (Moundridge Schweitzer German) and L2 adult learners of Spanish. Empirically, we investigate whether the confound of switch reference adds an additional cognitive burden to these bilinguals in licensing object control predicates in the former and referential subject pronouns in the latter. Our preliminary findings support the view that overarching concepts such as incomplete acquisition cannot capture the variability observed in these populations, thus further supporting approaches that interpret findings such as these to be the result of specific variables.

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