Competing constraints on the variable placement of direct object clitics in Mexico City Spanish

2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 514-536 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott A. Schwenter ◽  
Rena Torres Cacoullos
Keyword(s):  
Mexico City ◽  
Direct Object ◽  
Verb Constructions ◽  
Speech Corpora ◽  
Object Clitics ◽  
Direct Objects ◽  
Clitic Placement ◽  
Finite Verb

We utilize variationist methodology to explore the conventionalization and pragmatics of 3rd person direct object clitic placement in Spanish periphrastic constructions. Analysis of 652 tokens extracted from three Mexico City speech corpora indicates that while proclitic position is the majority variant, the rate of enclitic position depends on particular [finite + non-finite verb] constructions, distinguished by frequency measures and more grammaticalized meanings. At the same time, enclisis is favored by propositional or non-referential direct objects and by direct objects of low topic persistence, measured by subsequent mentions. In contrast, proclitic position is favored more by inanimate than human referents, especially those that show topic persistence and whose previous mention was in the syntactic role of direct object in the same or preceding clause. These quantitative patterns suggest that proclisis indicates prototypical DOs in non-prototypical use, i.e. topical inanimates. Thus, despite conventionalization of the general proclitic schema, particular constructions and semantic-pragmatic considerations are operative factors in the variation.

On the role of input for children’s early production of bare infinitives in German and French

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-90
Author(s):  
Sabine Laaha ◽  
Dominique Bassano
Keyword(s):  
Developmental Phase ◽  
Lexical Effects ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
Verb Constructions ◽  
Early Production ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Input Variables ◽  
Early Developmental ◽  
Finite Verb

The “optional infinitive” phenomenon, i.e. the existence of an early developmental phase in which children show a strong preference for using bare non-finite verb forms, has been the subject of many studies and much controversy. The aim of this study is to assess the role of distributional characteristics of the input for children’s early production of bare infinitives in two languages, German and French. For this purpose, three different input variables are investigated: the frequency, informativeness and salience of infinitives in child-directed speech. Results show that salience is the best predictor for the distribution of bare infinitives in the very early phase of development. Furthermore, lexical effects of individual verb forms on the patterning of bare infinitives in child speech are found which further support the constructivist idea that bare infinitives reflect the child’s learning of verb forms from compound finite verb constructions in the input.

scholarly journals A Usage-Based Perspective on Spanish Variable Clitic Placement

Languages ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 33
Author(s):  
Pablo E. Requena
Keyword(s):  
High Frequency ◽  
Analogical Model ◽  
Argentine Spanish ◽  
Frequency Of Use ◽  
Verb Constructions ◽  
Clitic Placement ◽  
Finite Verb

This study provides a usage-based analysis of Spanish Variable Clitic Placement (VCP). A variationist analysis of VCP in spoken Argentine Spanish indicates that VCP grammar is constrained by lexical (finite verb) and semantic (animacy) factors. Considering the finite effect, the study focuses on usage-based accounts for the gradience attested across finite verb constructions. Grammaticalized meaning and increased frequency tend to account for VCP in general. However, one [tener que + infinitive] construction is found exceptional in that it favors enclisis despite its grammaticalized meaning of obligation and its high frequency of use. Data from a larger corpus indicate that the [tener que + infinitive] construction lacks unithood, signaling great analyzability of its component elements. Through an exemplar analysis, the [haber que ‘must’ + infinitive] construction that categorically takes enclisis and which is strongly linked to [tenerque + infinitive] diachronically, semantically, and structurally emerges as a likely analogical model for VCP with tener que, pushing tener que towards enclisis. This study not only illustrates how usage-based linguistics can capture VCP more generally, but also how this framework provides powerful tools to discover the constraints on VCP in naturalistic use in order to account for individual construction behavior.

Verbi a supporto nel latino tardo: il caso di facio

2020 ◽  
Vol 59 (1-4) ◽  
pp. 145-160
Author(s):  
Giovanbattista Galdi
Keyword(s):  
Direct Object ◽  
Late Period ◽  
Present Contribution ◽  
Verbal Noun ◽  
Verb Constructions ◽  
History Of ◽  
Semantic Evolution

SummarySupport verb constructions are documented throughout the history of Latin. These syntagms are characterized by the presence of a support verb with a more or less reduced semantic force, and a predicative (abstract or verbal) noun that often constitutes its direct object. The present contribution deals, specifically, with the use of facio as a support verb (as in bellum facere, iter facere, insidias facere etc.), focussing on the post-classical and late period. Two main questions shall be discussed: (a) whether, and if so, how facio becomes more productive in later centuries in both non-Christian and Christian sources; (b) what type of semantic evolution the verb undergoes in later Latin and whether, in this respect, continuity or rupture should be assumed with regard to the earlier period. This last point will enable us to suggest a more convincing explanation of an often-quoted passage of Cicero (Phil. 3. 22), in which the expression contumeliam facere is found.

scholarly journals Stimmen: A citizen science approach to minority language sociolinguistics

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (s1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nanna Haug Hilton
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Science ◽  
Smartphone Application ◽  
Minority Language ◽  
Phonological Variation ◽  
Methodological Issues ◽  
Speech Corpora ◽  
Societal Context ◽  
Smartphone Technology ◽  
Language Areas

Abstract This paper presents the project Stimmen fan Fryslân ‘Voices of Fryslân’. The project relies on a smartphone application developed to involve local communities in the creation of speech corpora, particularly of lesser used languages. This paper lays out the scientific and societal context of the project, showcases the smartphone application and gives an overview of the results from the project that attracted more than 15,000 users. Some key methodological issues are considered, and the paper discusses the role of smartphone technology for citizen science in minority language areas while also showing new maps with distributions of lexical and phonological variation in Frisian.

Romance Object Clitics

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diego Pescarini
Keyword(s):  
Previous Literature ◽  
Romance Languages ◽  
Ongoing Debate ◽  
Generative Theory ◽  
Morphological Aspects ◽  
Object Clitics ◽  
Clitic Placement ◽  
Theoretical Side

This book focuses on the evolution of object clitic pronouns in the Romance languages. It aims to explore the empirical facets of cliticization and elaborate on the theoretical ramifications of the topic. On the empirical side, the book deals with data ranging from Latin to modern languages and less well-known dialects from all areas of Romance. Medieval vernaculars take centre stage both in the reconstruction of the evolution from Latin to Romance and in the modelling of clitic placement in the modern languages. Syntactic, phonological, and morphological aspects are examined, but the main focus is on syntactic placement, which is the hallmark of Romance clitics. On the theoretical side, the books engage with the previous literature, in particular with Generative literature. In recent decades, our understanding of Romance clitics has grown in symbiosis with the Generative theory, and the importance of most empirical findings cannot be fully appreciated without being acquainted with the terms of the ongoing debate. The book challenges the received idea that cliticization resulted from a form of syntactic deficiency. Instead, it proposes that clitics resulted from the feature endowment of discourse features, which caused freezing of certain pronominal forms first and—through reanalysis—their successive incorporation into verbal hosts. This approach entails revising analyses of well-known phenomena such as interpolation, climbing, and enclisis/proclisis alternations (the so-called Tobler-Mussafia law), and addressing orthogonal phenomena such as V2 syntax, scrambling, and stylistic fronting.

scholarly journals Grammaticalization in Oceanic languages

2018 ◽  
pp. 282-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire Moyse-Faurie
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Representation ◽  
Original Function ◽  
Serial Verb Constructions ◽  
Grammatical Morphemes ◽  
Oceanic Languages ◽  
Verb Constructions ◽  
Serial Verb

This chapter investigates the main grammaticalization processes found in Oceanic languages. In connection with verbs of posture and localization (‘sit’, ‘be at a place’), of motion (‘go up/down’, ‘come’, ‘return’, ‘follow’) and with verbs such as ‘take’, ‘make’, ‘do’ as sources, different paths of development will be described that give rise to various grammatical morphemes, often preserving the original function and meaning of the verb. A few cases of grammaticalization involving nouns, as well as cases of relexification and unusual developments such as ‘degrammation’, will be discussed as well. The perspective of my analysis will be both a typological and a semantic one, underlining the importance of spatial representation, the contribution of serial verb constructions, and the role of metonymy and reanalysis in the grammaticalization processes found in Oceanic languages.

scholarly journals Penggunaan Ungkapan Beri-Terima Bahasa Jepang dalam Novel Shiro no Naka no Hito Karya Hoshi Shin’ichi

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-197
Author(s):  
Ana Wuri Retnaningrum
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
Social Distance ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Direct Object ◽  
Indirect Object ◽  
Vertical Distance ◽  
Pragmatic Analysis ◽  
Data Source

This paper discusses the use of yari-morai phrase (jujuhyougen) found in a novel data source titled Shiro no Naka no Hito. The purpose of this study is to describe the use of expressions of acceptance using Natsuko Tsujimura's theory. The items analyzed in this study are the function, role, and social distance of each argument. From the data analysis, it is found that when analyzed in a syntactic way, each argument functions as a subject and is a direct object or an indirect object. In semantic analysis, from the use of his verb, every argument plays the role of agent and beneficiary. Whereas from the use of passive expressions, each argument acts as a source and a goal. If pragmatic analysis is used, the use of the expressions is influenced by the vertical distance. However, formal situations are more important than existing vertical distances. So that also affects the use of proper expressions.

Urban Mobility and Politics in Mexico City

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 184-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oscar Sosa López
Keyword(s):  
Social Movement ◽  
Mexico City ◽  
The State ◽  
Urban Mobility ◽  
Infrastructure Projects ◽  
Toll Road ◽  
The City

Study of the struggle of a social movement, the Frente Amplio contra la Supervía, to stop the construction of an urban toll road in the southwestern end of Mexico City reveals that investments in transportation assumed to benefit the larger public are in fact creating new landscapes of infrastructural and democratic exclusion. Examination of the forms of citizen mobilization, alliances among diverse actors, and the role of accountability institutions as spaces for democratic experimentation suggests that struggles against large infrastructure projects allow citizens and the state to redraw the limits of authoritarianism and the meaning of sustainability and democracy in the city. El movimiento social Frente Amplio contra la Supervía se organizó para detener la construcción de una autopista de peaje urbana en el extremo suroeste de la Ciudad de México. El análisis de las luchas del Frente revela que las inversiones en la transportación que se suponía que beneficiarían a un público amplio en realidad están creando nuevos espacios de exclusión infraestructural y democrática. El análisis de las formas de movilización ciudadana, de las alianzas entre diferentes actores y del rol de las instituciones de rendición de cuentas como espacios de experimentación democrática sugiere que las luchas contra los grandes proyectos de infraestructura les permiten a los ciudadanos y al estado volver a trazar los límites del autoritarismo y el significado de la sostenibilidad y la democracia en la ciudad.

Null Direct Object Clitics in Basque Spanish: A Study Across Four Generations

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 349-384
Author(s):  
Ager Gondra
Keyword(s):  
Formal Education ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Acceptance Rate ◽  
Direct Object ◽  
Semantic Features ◽  
Linguistic Variables ◽  
Differential Behavior ◽  
Generational Effects ◽  
Object Clitics ◽  
Different Levels

Abstract The null direct object clitic is described as one of the distinctive morphosyntactic features of Basque Spanish (e.g., compré el libro i , pero se me ha olvidado traer øi). However, no study to date has explored the variable usage of this form in cross-generational terms. The present inquiry aims to fill this void by analyzing and contrasting the results of two studies by four generations of Spanish-Basque bilinguals with the following age ranges: 85–96 (Generation 1), 55–75 (Generation 2), 35–45 (Generation 3), 18–25 (Generation 4). The education level of the participants was also taken into consideration. The first study consisted of an acceptability judgment task, in which the participants rated the acceptability of sentences with a null direct object using a 5-point Likert scale. The independent linguistic variables in this study were the semantic features [+/-definiteness] and [+/-specificity]. The acceptance rate of null direct object clitics was significantly higher among Generation 1 and 2 speakers than among those of Generation 3 and 4, with no effect of definiteness or specificity. In the second study, based on an elicitation task, older speakers (Generation 1 and 2) produced significantly more null direct object clitics than their younger counterparts (Generation 3 and 4). By contrasting the differential behavior of the participants across and within the same generation, it is shown that the generational effects observed are mainly due to the participants’ different levels of formal education.

Trendy urbanists, innovation laboratories and best practices: in pursuit of ‘progressive’ urban planning in Mexico City

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (0) ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Ryan A. Whitney
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Urban Planning ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Mexico City ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Cutting Edge ◽  
Sustainable City ◽  
The City

This research explores the role of trendy urbanists in best practice uptake within an innovation laboratory in Latin America. Trendy urbanists are the privileged professionals who aspire to be on the cutting edge of urban planning, frequently referencing best practice policies and programmes that they see as supporting ‘livable’ and ‘sustainable’ city building. Taking the case of the Laboratory for the City in Mexico City, I illustrate that the preferred best practices of trendy urbanists are reflective of their own privilege. I conclude that, by relying on best practices and trendy urbanists, innovation laboratories are susceptible to fostering inequitable planning outcomes.

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