The role of information structure in the instantiation of objects: Evidence from Amazonian Spanish

Abstract

This study analyzes the instantiation of objects in Peruvian Amazonian Spanish (PAS) discourse in two communities with distinct linguistic contexts. We examine the impact of two social variables (gender and place) and nine linguistic variables (transitivity, animacy, definiteness, anaphora function, anaphora expression, cataphora function, cataphora expression, activation, topic persistence) on the speech of eight participants. Our findings indicate that null instantiation in PAS is pervasive, occurring with a range of verb lexemes. While neither gender nor place are significant predictors of null objects, various linguistic variables contribute to the instantiation of objects. The five significant variables as determined by a mixed model regression analysis include the following: animacy, definiteness, anaphora expression, cataphora expression, and activation status. Several findings are consistent with previous research (e. g. human and definite referents disfavor null objects), while other results differ (e. g. PAS propositions disfavor null objects). Activation status and anaphora expression are the most significant predictors of null objects in PAS. In particular, highly accessible referents in discourse and anaphoric null objects favored null objects in subsequent clauses. Thus, the results in the present study demonstrate the pivotal role of information structure in object instantiation, furthering the discussion on syntax-discourse interplay phenomena.

Está abriendo, la abrió: Lexical knowledge, verb type, and grammatical aspect shape child heritage speakers’ direct object omission in Spanish

“…One possible reason for this difference is that the current study only included inanimate direct object referents, whereas Castilla-Earls et al included both inanimate and animate referents. Animacy influences the form that direct objects take in Spanish (Vallejos et al, 2020), including among child heritage speakers of Spanish (Shin et al, in press). Jacobson (2012, Table 3, lower grades) found that 7-year-old child heritage speakers of Spanish omitted only 7% of their direct objects in response to an elicited production task.…”

“…Indeed, the nature of the direct object referent is crucial for understanding patterns of direct object omission among adults and children alike. In Spanish, object omission with non-specific or generic referents is common across dialects (Schwenter, 2006; Vallejos et al, 2020). The relevance of referent individuation is also evident in Pérez-Leroux et al’s (2008) study in which participants were prompted to use mixed verbs.…”