The Afro-Bolivian Spanish determiner phrase : a microparametric account / Sandro Sessarego.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sessarego, Sandro.

Series:

Theoretical developments in Hispanic linguistics

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Spanish language--Dialects--Bolivia--Determiners.

Spanish language.

Spanish language--Dialects--Bolivia--Grammar.

Spanish language--Dialects--Bolivia.

Spanish language--Bolivia--Foreign elements--African.

African languages--Influence on Spanish.

African languages.

Black people--Bolivia--Languages.

Black people.

Black people--Bolivia--History.

Sociolinguistics--Bolivia.

Sociolinguistics.

History.

Language and languages.

Spanish language--Dialects.

Grammar.

Bolivia.

Physical Description:

xv, 164 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Columbus : The Ohio State University Press, [2014]

Summary:

"In this important new study, Sandro Sessarego provides a syntactic description of the Afro-Bolivian Spanish determiner phrase. Afro-Bolivian Spanish is one of the many Afro-Hispanic dialects spoken across Latin America and, from a theoretical point of view, is rich in constructions that would be considered ungrammatical in standard Spanish. Yet these constructions form the core grammar of these less-prestigious, but equally efficient, syntactic systems. Because of the wide variety of their usages, Sessarego's study of these contact varieties is particularly valuable in developing and refining theories of syntactic microvariation. This dialect presents phenomena that offer a real challenge to current linguistic theory. The Afro-Bolivian Spanish Determiner Phrase elaborates on the importance of enhancing a stronger dialogue between formal generative theory and sociolinguistic methodology, in line with recent work in the field of minimalist syntax. Sessarego's study combines sociolinguistic techniques of data collection with generative models of data analysis to obtain more fine-grained, empirically testable generalizations"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Chapter 1 Introduction 1

1.1 General Introduction and Objectives of This Study 1

1.2 Theoretical Framework 2

1.3 Organization of the Volume 3

Chapter 2 A Sociohistorical and Linguistic Sketch of Afro-Bolivian Spanish 5

2.0 Introduction 5

2.1 Terminological Clarifications 6

2.2 Processability Theory and the Interlanguage Hypothesis 7

2.3 Vernacular Universal 9

2.4 Afro-Bolivian Spanish Traditional Features 10

2.5 On the Scarcity of Spanish Creoles in Latin America 17

2.6 Black Slavery in Bolivia 22

2.6.1 First Phase: From the Sixteenth to the Mid-Seventeenth Century 24

2.6.2 Second Phase: From the Mid-Seventeenth to the Mid-Twentieth Century 29

2.7 Black Slavery in Mizque 30

2.8 Black Slavery in Los Yungas 33

2.9 Conclusion 38

Chapter 3 Language Variation and the Minimalist Program 41

3.0 Introduction 41

3.1 Accounting for Variation 42

3.2 Approaches to the Study of Language Variation 42

3.2.1 The Formal Approach 42

3.2.2 The Sociolinguistic Approach 44

3.2.3 The Diachronic Approach 45

3.2.4 The Microparametric Approach 46

3.2.5 Variability in the Minimalist Program 47

3.3 Variability across Closely Related Dialects: The Afro-Hispanic Case 49

3.4 Data Collection and Methodology 50

3.5 Conclusion 51

Chapter 4 From NP to DP 52

4.0 Introduction 52

4.1 The Determiner Phrase Hypothesis 53

4.1.1 Abney (1987) 53

4.1.2 Szabolcsi (1983, 1987, 1989, 1994) 55

4.2 In between N and D 57

4.2.1 Ritter (1991, 1993) 57

4.2.2 Picallo (1991) 60

4.2.3 Cinque (1990, 1993) 61

4.2.4 Valois (1991) 62

4.2.5 Carstens (2000) 65

4.3 The Status of NPs and DPs 65

4.3.1 Longobardi (1994) 66

4.3.2 Chierchia (1998) 67

Chapter 5 Semantic and Syntactic Properties of "Bare" Nouns 68

5.0 Introduction 68

5.1 ABS Nouns and Chierchia's Nominal Mapping Parameter 69

5.2 Number and Mass Interpretation 71

5.3 Bare Nouns as Names of Kinds 73

5.4 The Semantics of (In)definiteness 74

5.4.1 Bare Nouns and Indefiniteness 75

5.4.2 Bare Nouns and Definiteness 79

5.5 Bare Nouns in ABS: A Unified Account 81

5.6 Conclusion 82

Chapter 6 N-Ellipsis 83

6.0 Introduction 83

6.1 Data 84

6.2 Preposition Uses in ABS and stSp 89

6.3 Previous Analyses 93

6.3.1 Brucart & Gràcia (1986) 93

6.3.2 Brucart (1987) 95

6.3.3 Kester & Sleeman (2002) 95

6.3.4 Ticio (2003, 2005) 101

6.4 Toward a New Proposal 105

6.5 Conclusion 110

Chapter 7 Gender and Number Agreement 111

7.0 Introduction 111

7.1 Data 111

7.2 Agree and Agreement 112

7.3 Applying the Theory to the Data 115

7.4 Conclusion 122

Chapter 8 Variation in the Determiner Phrase 123

8.0 Introduction 123

8.1 Methodology 124

8.2 Qualitative Data 125

8.3 Quantitative Data 129

8.4 A Formal Analysis 132

8.5 The Local Agreement Gradience Function 135

8.6 Conclusion 141

Chapter 9 Conclusion 143.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 147-158) and index.

ISBN:

9780814212653

0814212654

OCLC:

875520900