Subject Pronouns in Second Language Spanish

Quesada, Margaret Lubbers

doi:10.1002/9781118584347.ch15

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…In pro-drop languages such as Spanish, phonologically null subject pronouns (pro) signal more accessible referents than overt subject pronouns (él/ella, 'he/she'). In discourse terms, it can generally be said that null pronouns express topic continuity, while overt pronouns convey a change of topic (see Quesada 2014 for an overview).…”

Section: Pronominal Anaphora Resolution In Null Subject Languagesmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the impact of clause order on pronoun resolution: evidence from Spanish

Rocafiguera

Bel

2021

Folia Linguistica

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In research on intra-sentential pronominal anaphora resolution in null subject languages, it has been argued that null pronouns tend to be biased towards subject antecedents, whereas overt pronouns tend to prefer object antecedents, as predicted by Carminati’s ‘Position of the Antecedent Hypothesis’. However, these studies have mainly focused on only one of the two possible clause orders (main-subordinate or subordinate-main), which have not been overtly contrasted. This paper investigates the effects of clause order on the interpretation of third-person subject pronouns in globally ambiguous intra-sentential contexts by 49 native speakers of Spanish. The results of an acceptability judgment task explicitly comparing both clause orders indicate that relative clause order is a key factor affecting the interpretation of pronouns: while a preference of overt pronouns for object antecedents holds across clause orders, null pronouns show a bias towards subject antecedents only in subordinate-main sequences. These findings refine the Position of the Antecedent Hypothesis predictions by restricting them to subordinate-main complex sentences.

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Section: Pronominal Anaphora Resolution In Null Subject Languagesmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the impact of clause order on pronoun resolution: evidence from Spanish

Rocafiguera

Bel

2021

Folia Linguistica

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“…But with the current emphasis on interfaces in generative theory (see Montrul, 2011; Sorace, 2011; White, 2011) both approaches are now looking at similar facets of the problem. Accordingly, it is worthwhile to examine if generative and usage-based researchers converge on the same basic insights, albeit from different conceptual vantage points (for a comprehensive overview from multiple perspectives, see also Lubbers Quesada, 2014, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Subject expression in L2 Spanish: Convergence of generative and usage-based perspectives?

Zyzik

2016

Second Language Research

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The extensive literature on subject expression in Spanish makes for rich comparisons between generative (formal) and usage-based (functional) approaches to language acquisition. This article explores how the problem of subject expression has been conceptualized within each research tradition, as well as unanswered questions that both approaches must consider in order to strengthen and refine their positions. The discussion focuses on convergence between the approaches, which stems from the contemporary interest in the syntax–pragmatics interface and some methodological overlap that results from a joint focus on discourse data.

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“…Previous research on the L2 acquisition of the Spanish null and overt subject pronoun investigates the subject from various perspectives (cf. for example, Liceras & Díaz 1999, Lubbers Quesada & Blackwell 2009, Lubbers Quesada 2014, Pérez Leroux & Glass 1999, Lozano 2002. Traditional grammars indicate that the use of the subject pronoun in Spanish, a pro-drop language, is reserved to cases that express contrast/opposition or emphasis, as illustrated by the following In the corpus, several examples can be found wherein the subject pronouns are correctly used, i.e.…”

Section: (2) "áLvaro Entra Y Lo Dicen Que Lo [= Bea] Encontraron En Ementioning

confidence: 99%

A Pilot Study on the Use of Pronouns in Oral Productions of Spanish as a Second Language

Collewaert¹,

Casteele²

EPiC Series in Language and Linguistics

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In this paper, some preliminary results on the use of pronouns in oral discourse of language learners of Spanish will be discussed. The article mainly focuses on the use of different kinds of personal pronouns and the pro-drop phenomenon, namely the existence of a null subject, typical of the Spanish language. The absence of an explicit subject due to a rich verbal conjugation opposes Spanish to other languages, such as French, English and Dutch, where an explicit subject pronoun is obligatory.As to investigate the use of the pronouns by language learners of Spanish, we compiled a corpus of oral productions of second language learners of Spanish who are all native speakers of Dutch and also learned French and English, which means that for them the pro-drop phenomenon is new. We will investigate which kinds of pronouns are used in which syntactic contexts and indicate in what contexts the use of a pronoun is not required. Next to this, we observe in our learners' corpus an unnecessary repetition of proper names and an over-use of personal pronouns as subjects. This can be related to the concept of "over-explicitation" or "overspecification", whereby learners of a second language tend to use more explicit forms than necessary.

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Subject Pronouns in Second Language Spanish

Cited by 3 publications

References 20 publications

On the impact of clause order on pronoun resolution: evidence from Spanish

On the impact of clause order on pronoun resolution: evidence from Spanish

Subject expression in L2 Spanish: Convergence of generative and usage-based perspectives?

A Pilot Study on the Use of Pronouns in Oral Productions of Spanish as a Second Language

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