Core intentional features in the syntactic computation: Deriving the position of the subject in Spanish

Abstract

This work introduces a subset of informational features (termed core intentional features), different from standard pragmatic features such as topic and focus. Adopting the basic tenets of the Minimalist program, core intentional features are defined as edge features which sit in the relevant phases and are subject to parametric variation. They are assumed to drive the derivation of the sentence so that it constitutes an intentionally-adequate object (i.e. a categorical or a thetic statement) even in the absence of a particular communicative situation. The paper specifically focuses on one of these features, [DI] (discourse intention), and on how it determines the eventual position of the subject in a discourse-prominent language such as Spanish. A preliminary distinction is made between sentences that inaugurate the discourse (dsentences) and sentences which are integrated in a particular context (context-dependent sentences). It is argued that the SV/VS order in Spanish follows from the conditions of valuation of [DI] in each case; in particular, valuation of [DI] in d-sentences will be a matter of structural and semantic prominence whereas in context-dependent sentences it will depend on pragmatic conditions. The paper also addresses a number of significant contrasts in the muchdebated issue of the placement of the subject in Spanish, which receive a principled explanation under the theory of core intentional features proposed here.

Microvariation at the Interfaces: The Subject of Predication of Broad Focus VS Constructions in Turinese and Milanese

“…Importantly, the analysis pursued in this article considers discourse to be an integral part of grammar, an idea which has always been defended in RRG ( Van Valin and LaPolla 1997;Bentley 2023b), and which is also shared by work of other theoretical persuasions (Lambrecht 1994;Erteschik-Shir 1997;Ojea 2017). Discourse is directly involved in the interpretation of utterances and in patterns of variation and processes of change, as evidenced by the reanalysis and consequent re-grammaticalization of the locative clitic of the dialects under scrutiny into a presentational clitic, which is a change in the interfaces that are relevant to the interpretation of the construction.…”

“…In the past, however, the aboutness features of the clause have been associated with a subject position, regardless of the framework adopted in the analysis or the languages studied (Aissen 1999;Saccon 1993;Tortora 1997Tortora , 2014Cardinaletti 2004;Parry 2013). In syntactic research, the debate has centred around the issue of whether and how this position is activated in all-new constructions (Cardinaletti 2004;Ojea 2017).…”

Fronting in Old Spanish

“…In Modern Spanish, as well as in several other languages, fronting of temporal and locative expressions -(3) and (4), respectively -anchors the meaning of the sentence in a particular time or place of the narration providing a scene setting topic value (see Erteschik-Shir 1997), and it is usually produced in the absence of a canonical "aboutness topic" (in the sense of Frascarelli & Hinterhölzl 2007). Ojea (2017) argues that in Modern Spanish (3)-(4), the discourse legible features of these expressions are edge features that are targeted by T and thus occupy spec-TP. 14 3Modern Spanish (Ojea 2017: 80) Hoy llegaron los turistas franceses.…”

EPPSatisfaction on Discourse Grounds: The Case of Locative Inversion

“…EPP Satisfaction on Discourse Grounds: The Case of Locative Inversion 3 I have argued elsewhere (Ojea 2017) that canonical preverbal subjects in Spanish do in fact sit in Spec,TP and that the EPP feature they value in this projection is not formal but informational in nature. 2 This feature, termed [DI] (for discourse intention), codifies the intentional status of a sentence as a categorical or thetic statement and must be adequately valued for the sentence to be a legible object at the conceptual-intentional interface.…”