The D(emonstrative)-construction: A newly-identified left-dislocated configuration in Spanish

Gabrielle Isgar; Antje Muntendam; Lara Reglero

doi:10.5565/rev/isogloss.403

The D(emonstrative)-construction

A newly-identified left-dislocated configuration in Spanish

Authors

Gabrielle Isgar Florida State University https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3956-7189
Antje Muntendam Florida State University https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0842-1681
Lara Reglero Florida State University https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9460-243X

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Abstract

This paper explores a newly identified contrastive topic configuration in Spanish. Coined by de Andrade (2018) for Galician and European Portuguese, the D(emonstrative)-construction features a left-dislocated topic and d(emonstrative)-pronoun resumptive. This study investigates whether the D-construction exists in Spanish, and if so, with which syntactic properties.

We administered an acceptability judgment task on the D-construction, Clitic Left Dislocation (CLLD), Hanging Topic Left Dislocation (HTLD) and Focus Fronting (FF) to Spanish speakers. The task tested the role of the left-dislocate, case connectivity, subject-verb inversion, embedding, recursivity, and sensitivity to island constraints.

Simple instances of the D-construction received consistently high ratings, demonstrating that it exists in Spanish. There was individual variation regarding the role of the left-dislocate and case connectivity. The D-construction did not require subject-verb inversion, was non-recursive and demonstrated selective island sensitivity. Findings for CLLD, HTLD and FF were mostly in line with previous literature.

The D-construction did not exactly pattern with CLLD, HTLD, nor FF; it is characterized by a unique set of syntactic properties. We propose that both left-dislocated elements are base-generated at Spec, TopP: the fronted DP is a hanging topic, and its resumptive d-pronoun is linked to a clitic within the main clause via an A'-chain.

Keywords

Spanish, D-construction, clitic left dislocation, focus fronting, hanging topic, information structure

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Author Biographies

Antje Muntendam, Florida State University

Antje Muntendam (MA Leiden University, Ph.D. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) is an Associate Professor of Linguistics and Spanish at Florida State University. Before joining Florida State University in August 2014, she worked as an Assistant Professor at Middlebury College and Radboud University Nijmegen (the Netherlands). Her research focuses on the linguistic outcomes of bilingualism and language contact, both in production and comprehension. Specifically, she is interested in the nature and direction of cross-linguistic influence and in code-switching. She has worked on several language pairs, including Quechua and Spanish Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador, Turkish and Dutch in the Netherlands, and Spanish and English in the United States. She is also the co-founder and co-organizer of the international conference on Bilingualism in the Hispanic and Lusophone world (BHL).

Lara Reglero, Florida State University

Lara Reglero (Ph.D., University of Connecticut) specializes in syntax. Her research focuses on interrogative clauses, their interaction with discourse-related notions such as focus and topic, and the adjacency requirement between the interrogative word and the verb. The languages she has studied in more depth are Spanish and Basque, but she has drawn numerous cross-linguistic comparisons using other languages, such as English, French, and a variety of Slavic languages.