Cousins do not always agree: unagreement in Spanish and Italian
[eng] This thesis examines a Spanish agreement pattern in which the plural person subject and its counterpart plural verb do not match in person, as in "Los lingüistas [3PL] leemos [1PL] mucho" (We linguists read a lot.). This structure, known as “Unagreement”, occurs in a variety...
| Autor: | |
|---|---|
| Tipo de recurso: | tesis doctoral |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2025 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universidad de Barcelona |
| Repositorio: | Dipòsit Digital de la UB |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:dnet:ubarcelona__::fa89754b6caa980f020920b3ade61320 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/2445/229336 https://hdl.handle.net/10803/697413 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Sintaxi Castellà (Llengua) Electroencefalografia Syntax Spanish language Electroencephalography |
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Cousins do not always agree: unagreement in Spanish and Italian |
| title |
Cousins do not always agree: unagreement in Spanish and Italian |
| spellingShingle |
Cousins do not always agree: unagreement in Spanish and Italian Cantú Sánchez, Myriam Sintaxi Castellà (Llengua) Electroencefalografia Syntax Spanish language Electroencephalography |
| title_short |
Cousins do not always agree: unagreement in Spanish and Italian |
| title_full |
Cousins do not always agree: unagreement in Spanish and Italian |
| title_fullStr |
Cousins do not always agree: unagreement in Spanish and Italian |
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Cousins do not always agree: unagreement in Spanish and Italian |
| title_sort |
Cousins do not always agree: unagreement in Spanish and Italian |
| dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv |
Cantú Sánchez, Myriam |
| author |
Cantú Sánchez, Myriam |
| author_facet |
Cantú Sánchez, Myriam |
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author |
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Grinstead, John Rosselló Ximenes, Joana Universitat de Barcelona. Departament de Filologia Catalana i Lingüística General |
| dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv |
Sintaxi Castellà (Llengua) Electroencefalografia Syntax Spanish language Electroencephalography |
| topic |
Sintaxi Castellà (Llengua) Electroencefalografia Syntax Spanish language Electroencephalography |
| description |
[eng] This thesis examines a Spanish agreement pattern in which the plural person subject and its counterpart plural verb do not match in person, as in "Los lingüistas [3PL] leemos [1PL] mucho" (We linguists read a lot.). This structure, known as “Unagreement”, occurs in a variety of languages of different families; as for Romance languages, it is observed in Spanish, Galician or Catalan but not in others, like Italian, Portuguese, or Romanian. Various accounts have been considered to explain Unagreement. Some authors state that it is an irregular or exceptional case of subject-verb agreement (Hurtado, 1985; Richards, 2005; Villa-García, 2010 et al.); others state that it is due to the particular structure of its Determiner Phrase (Bosque and Moreno, 1984; Olarrea, 1994; Höhn 2016; et al.). In our study we explore an alternative explanation, the hypothesis proposed by Ordoñez and Treviño (1999) and Ordoñez (1997, 2000), which suggests that Unagreement is a piece of evidence in favor of the Subject Agreement Clitic Hypothesis (SACH), which assumes that in Spanish subject-verb agreement is a pronominal clitic. To test this hypothesis, this dissertation presents two types of experimental data on Spanish Unagreement across two experiments: first, Experiment 1 collects behavioral data from grammaticality judgment of 60 sentences presented in three conditions: Standard Agreement, Agreement Clash and Unagreement (20 sentences of each type). This data were gathered through an online survey. The 5-point Likert-scale survey administered to 154 neurotypical adult Italian speakers and 114 Spanish speakers. Second, Experiment 2 collects electrophysiological data from the event-related potentials (ERPs) of 120 sentences (the same 3 conditions as in the survey, this time with 40 sentences for each condition) involving 19 Spanish-speaking neurotypical adults (female=16, mean age =21.4). This ERPs experiment collects a) grammaticality-judgment data, b) reaction time data for the judgments and c) event-related potentials data. Experiment 1 data shows that Spanish-speakers perceive Unagreement sentences as acceptable as Standard Agreement sentences; while they judge Agreement Clash as highly unacceptable; furthermore, reaction time data for these judgments show that Unagreement and Standard Agreement are not significantly different from one another in Spanish. Italian-speakers on the other hand, judge both Agreement Clash and Unagreement as significantly less acceptable than Standard Agreement sentences. Experiment 2 data suggests that Unagreement sentences in Spanish are processed first as syntactically ill-formed, and then, at around 250 or 300 ms, there is a change. Although initially the brain's response to Unagreement sentences closely resembles the response to Agreement Clash sentences, after 300ms of the presentation of the verb it differs significantly from it and more closely resembles the brain's response to sentences that are typical of Standard Agreement. |
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2025 |
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2025 |
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info:eu-repo/semantics/doctoralThesis info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion |
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https://hdl.handle.net/2445/229336 https://hdl.handle.net/10803/697413 |
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https://hdl.handle.net/2445/229336 https://hdl.handle.net/10803/697413 |
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cc by-nc-nd (c) Cantú Sánchez, Myriam, 2025 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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cc by-nc-nd (c) Cantú Sánchez, Myriam, 2025 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ |
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Cousins do not always agree: unagreement in Spanish and ItalianCantú Sánchez, MyriamSintaxiCastellà (Llengua)ElectroencefalografiaSyntaxSpanish languageElectroencephalography[eng] This thesis examines a Spanish agreement pattern in which the plural person subject and its counterpart plural verb do not match in person, as in "Los lingüistas [3PL] leemos [1PL] mucho" (We linguists read a lot.). This structure, known as “Unagreement”, occurs in a variety of languages of different families; as for Romance languages, it is observed in Spanish, Galician or Catalan but not in others, like Italian, Portuguese, or Romanian. Various accounts have been considered to explain Unagreement. Some authors state that it is an irregular or exceptional case of subject-verb agreement (Hurtado, 1985; Richards, 2005; Villa-García, 2010 et al.); others state that it is due to the particular structure of its Determiner Phrase (Bosque and Moreno, 1984; Olarrea, 1994; Höhn 2016; et al.). In our study we explore an alternative explanation, the hypothesis proposed by Ordoñez and Treviño (1999) and Ordoñez (1997, 2000), which suggests that Unagreement is a piece of evidence in favor of the Subject Agreement Clitic Hypothesis (SACH), which assumes that in Spanish subject-verb agreement is a pronominal clitic. To test this hypothesis, this dissertation presents two types of experimental data on Spanish Unagreement across two experiments: first, Experiment 1 collects behavioral data from grammaticality judgment of 60 sentences presented in three conditions: Standard Agreement, Agreement Clash and Unagreement (20 sentences of each type). This data were gathered through an online survey. The 5-point Likert-scale survey administered to 154 neurotypical adult Italian speakers and 114 Spanish speakers. Second, Experiment 2 collects electrophysiological data from the event-related potentials (ERPs) of 120 sentences (the same 3 conditions as in the survey, this time with 40 sentences for each condition) involving 19 Spanish-speaking neurotypical adults (female=16, mean age =21.4). This ERPs experiment collects a) grammaticality-judgment data, b) reaction time data for the judgments and c) event-related potentials data. Experiment 1 data shows that Spanish-speakers perceive Unagreement sentences as acceptable as Standard Agreement sentences; while they judge Agreement Clash as highly unacceptable; furthermore, reaction time data for these judgments show that Unagreement and Standard Agreement are not significantly different from one another in Spanish. Italian-speakers on the other hand, judge both Agreement Clash and Unagreement as significantly less acceptable than Standard Agreement sentences. Experiment 2 data suggests that Unagreement sentences in Spanish are processed first as syntactically ill-formed, and then, at around 250 or 300 ms, there is a change. Although initially the brain's response to Unagreement sentences closely resembles the response to Agreement Clash sentences, after 300ms of the presentation of the verb it differs significantly from it and more closely resembles the brain's response to sentences that are typical of Standard Agreement.[cat] Aquesta tesi examina un patró de concordança en castellà en el qual el subjecte exhibeix el tret de 3a persona plural i el verb exhibeix el tret de 1a persona plural, com en "Los lingüistas[3PL] leemos[1PL] mucho". Aquesta estructura, coneguda com “Unagreement” (Hurtado, 1985) es produeix en una varietat de llengües de diferents famílies; pel que fa a les llengües romàniques, es pot observar en el castellà, el gallec o el català però no en altres, com l'italià, el portuguès o el romanès. Alguns autors sostenen que es tracta d’una concordança subjecte-verb irregular o excepcional (Hurtado, 1985; Richards, 2005; Villa-García, 2010, et al.), altres autors afirmen que Unagreement es deu a l’ estructura particular del seu Sintagma Determinant (Bosque and Moreno, 1984; Olarrea, 1994; Höhn 2016; i altres). En aquest estudi explorem una hipòtesi alternativa, proposada per Ordoñez i Treviño (1999) i Ordoñez (1997, 2000), que suggereix que Unagreement és una evidència en favor de la Hipòtesi del Clític de la Concordança de Subjecte (“Subject Agreement Clitic Hypothesis, SACH), que assumeix que en castellà la concordança subjecte-verb és un clític pronominal. Per provar aquesta hipòtesi, presento dos tipus de dades experimentals sobre Unagreement en castellà. L’Experiment 1 recull dades de judicis de acceptabilitat gramatical de 60 frases en 3 condicions: Concordança Estàndard, Concordança Falllida i Unagreement (20 oracions de cada tipus), mitjançant una enquesta en línia amb una escala Likert de 5 punts administrada a 154 adults neurotípics parlants d'italià i 114 parlants de castellà. En segon lloc, l'Experiment 2 recull dades electrofisiològiques dels Potencials Relacionats amb Esdeveniments (ERP) de 120 oracions (les mateixes 3 condicions de l'enquesta, aquesta vegada amb 40 oracions per a cada condició) administrades a 19 adults neurotípics de parla castellana (dones=16, mitjana d'edat=21,4). Aquest experiment d’ERPs recull tres tipus de dades: a) judicis de gramaticalitat, b) dades de temps de reacció d’aquests judicis de gramaticalitat i c) potencials relacionats amb esdeveniments. Les dades de l'experiment 1 mostren que els castellanoparlants troben les oracions de Unagreement tan acceptables com les frases de Concordança Estàndard; mentre que troben com altament inacceptables les oracions de Concordança Fallida; a més, les dades de temps de reacció per a aquestes oraciones mostren que les oraciones Unagreement i les oraciones de Concordança Estàndard no són significativament diferents entre sí. D'altra banda, els italoparlants jutgen que tant les oraciones d’Unagreement com les oraciones de Concordança Fallida són significativament menys acceptables que les oracions de Concordança Estàndard. Les dades de l'Experiment 2 suggereixen que les oracions del tipus Unagreement en castellà es processen primer com a sintàcticament mal formades, i al cap d'uns 250 o 300 ms hi ha un canvi; després de 300 ms de la presentació del verb, el senyal elèctric difereix significativament i s'assembla més a la resposta del cervell a les oracions que són típiques de la Concordança Estàndard.[spa] Esta tesis examina un patrón de concordancia del español en el que el sujeto de tercera persona plural difiere en la concordancia del rasgo de persona del verbo, como en "Los lingüistas[3PL] leemos[1PL] mucho". Esta estructura, conocida como "Unagreement" (Hurtado, 1985) se puede encontrar en una variedad de lenguas de diferentes familias; en lo que respecta a las lenguas romances, se puede encontrar en español, gallego o catalán, pero no en otras, como el italiano, el portugués o el rumano. Algunos autores sostienen que se trata de una concordancia sujeto-verbo irregular o excepcional (Hurtado, 1985; Richards, 2005; Villa-García, 2010; y otros), otros autores afirman que se debe a la estructura particular de su Sintagma Determinante (Bosque y Moreno, 1984; Olarrea, 1994; Höhn 2016; et al.); en este estudio exploramos una hipótesis alternativa, propuesta por Ordoñez y Treviño (1999) y Ordoñez (1997, 2000), que sugiere que Unagreement es una evidencia a favor de la Hipótesis del Clítico de Concordancia de Sujeto (Subject-Agreement Clitic Hypothesis SACH), que asume que en español la concordancia sujeto-verbo es un clítico pronominal. Para probar esta hipótesis, presento dos tipos de datos de dos experimentos sobre Unagreement. El experimento 1 recoge datos conductuales de juicios de aceptabilidad gramaticalidad de 60 oraciones en 3 condiciones: Concordancia Estándar, Concordancia Fallida y Unagreement (20 oraciones de cada tipo), mediante una encuesta de escala Likert de 5 puntos administrada a 154 adultos neurotípicos hablantes de italiano y 114 de español. El segundo experimento recoge datos electrofisiológicos de los Potenciales Relacionados con Eventos (ERPs) de 120 oraciones (las mismas 3 condiciones usadas en la encuesta; esta vez con 40 oraciones para cada condición) administradas a 19 adultos neurotípicos hablantes de español (mujeres =16, edad media =21,4). Este experimento de ERP recoge tres tipos de datos: a) juicios de gramaticalidad, b) tiempo de reacción de esos juicios de gramaticalidad y c) potenciales relacionados con eventos. Los datos del Experimento 1 muestran que los hispanohablantes juzgan las oraciones tipo Unagreement tan aceptables como las oraciones de Concordancia Estándar, y juzgan las de Concordancia Fallida como altamente inaceptables; además, los datos de tiempo de reacción muestran que las oraciones Unagreement y las de Concordancia Estándar no difieren significativamente entre sí. Los hablantes de italiano, por su parte, juzgan tanto las oraciones Unagreement como las de Concordancia Fallida como significativamente menos aceptables que las oraciones de Concordancia Estándar. Los datos del Experimento 2 sugieren que las oraciones tipo Unagreement en español se procesan primero como sintácticamente mal formadas, y alrededor de los 250 o 300 ms, hay un cambio; después de 300 ms de la presentación del verbo, la señal eléctrica difiere significativamente y se asemeja más a la respuesta del cerebro a las oraciones que son típicas de la Concordancia Estándar.https://hdl.handle.net/10803/697413Grinstead, JohnRosselló Ximenes, JoanaUniversitat de Barcelona. Departament de Filologia Catalana i Lingüística General2025info:eu-repo/semantics/doctoralThesisinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionapplication/pdfhttps://hdl.handle.net/2445/229336https://hdl.handle.net/10803/697413Tesis Doctorals - Departament - Filologia Catalana i Lingüística Generalreponame:Dipòsit Digital de la UBinstname:Universidad de BarcelonaIngléscc by-nc-nd (c) Cantú Sánchez, Myriam, 2025http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:dnet:ubarcelona__::fa89754b6caa980f020920b3ade613202026-05-27T06:46:51Z |
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