Contrastive pronouns in null subject Romance languages

Overt subject pronouns in Romance null subject languages are mandatory in order to express contrast, while null subject pronouns are generally prohibited in these contexts. However, most of the literature remains vague of what is meant by contrast. This paper argues that non-focal Romance contrastiv...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Mayol, Laia
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión enviada para evaluación y publicación
Fecha de publicación:2010
País:España
Institución:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
Repositorio:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
OAI Identifier:oai:recercat.cat:10230/33941
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10230/33941
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2010.04.009
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Contrast
Pronouns
Contrastive topics
Romance languages
Null-subject languages
Game theory
Descripción
Sumario:Overt subject pronouns in Romance null subject languages are mandatory in order to express contrast, while null subject pronouns are generally prohibited in these contexts. However, most of the literature remains vague of what is meant by contrast. This paper argues that non-focal Romance contrastive pronouns are Contrastive Topics, which trigger topic alternatives and it is implicated that the truth of the alternatives is not known to the speaker (Hara and van Rooij (2007)). This implicature gives rise to an ‘uncertainty contrast’, which can be strengthened into an ‘exhaustive contrast’, in certain circumstances. The pairing between forms and meanings is derived using the mathematical framework of game theory.