Linguistic change and the syntax-pragmatics interface: evidence from Ibero-Romance languages

This article analyses the function and distribution of the so-called "overt subject expletive" ello/ele/ell in certain non-standard Ibero-Romance varieties. Novel empirical facts are presented to illustrate the phenomenon’s heterogeneous characterization, the present-day variation of which...

ver descrição completa

Detalhes bibliográficos
Autor: Corr, Alice
Formato: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2016
País:México
Recursos:EL COLEGIO DE MÉXICO
Repositorio:Cuadernos de Lingüística de El Colegio de México
Idioma:español
OAI Identifier:oai:oai.cuadernoslinguistica.colmex.mx:article/27
Acesso em linha:https://cuadernoslinguistica.colmex.mx/index.php/cl/article/view/27
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:syntax-pragmatics interface
language change
overt expletive subjects
pragmaticization
Ibero-Romance languages
interfaz sintaxis-pragmática
cambio lingüístico
sujetos expletivos visibles
pragmatización
lenguas ibero-románicas
Descrição
Resumo:This article analyses the function and distribution of the so-called "overt subject expletive" ello/ele/ell in certain non-standard Ibero-Romance varieties. Novel empirical facts are presented to illustrate the phenomenon’s heterogeneous characterization, the present-day variation of which is argued to be explained by the different degrees of change undergone by the expletive element in each Ibero-Romance variety. The pragmatic import of today’s Iberian expletive resembles the semantic value of the oldest and most commonly attested examples of the phenomenon in the historical corpora used. This observation serves as the point of departure for the diachronic reconstruction of the element’s development from its proposed origin in epistemic contexts to the present day, where the alleged Iberian expletive exhibits both expletive and pragmatic characteristics even within the same variety Original received: 2015/05/28Review sent to author: 2015/08/07Accepted: 2015/09/10