Linguistic Transfer in Andean Spanish: Syntax or Pragmatics?

Muntendam, Antje G.

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/14597 Copy

Description

Title

Linguistic Transfer in Andean Spanish: Syntax or Pragmatics?

Author(s)

Muntendam, Antje G.

Issue Date

2010-01-06T16:13:41Z

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Arregui-Urbina, Karlos

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Arregui-Urbina, Karlos

Committee Member(s)

• Bhatt, Rakesh M.
• Montrul, Silvina A.
• Muysken, Pieter

Department of Study

Department of Spanish, Italian and Portuguese

Discipline

Spanish

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• Spanish
• Andean Spanish
• Quechua
• Transfer
• Word order
• focus
• syntax of focus
• pragmatics of focus

Abstract

This dissertation uses the generative framework to study the syntax and pragmatics of word order variation in the Andean Spanish of Bolivia and Ecuador. While Standard Spanish has basic order SVO, in Andean Spanish the object frequently appears in preverbal position, resulting in alternative orders (e.g. OVS). Previous studies have attributed this phenomenon to an influence of Quechua, where the object typically precedes the verb, but they do not discuss which linguistic properties have been transferred. The alternative orders are also possible in Standard Spanish, but in Standard Spanish fronted elements encode topic/focus. Since focus fronting could explain the high frequency of preverbal objects in Andean Spanish, this dissertation examines whether focus fronting in Andean Spanish has the same properties as in Standard Spanish. The main syntactic properties of focus fronting in Standard Spanish are its sensitivity to weak crossover effects and long distance movement. Elicitation studies were designed to test for these properties in Spanish and Quechua. In addition, naturalistic data were collected and an elicitation study on wh-questions and answers was created to study the pragmatics of focus in Spanish and Quechua. The subjects for the study were Quechua-Spanish bilinguals from Bolivia and Ecuador, and adult Spanish monolinguals. The results reveal that the transfer from Quechua into Andean Spanish is restricted to the domain of pragmatics, and does not affect the syntax. In other words, syntactically Andean Spanish is identical to Standard Spanish. The study has implications for syntactic theory, and studies in language contact and second language acquisition. Specifically, it contributes to our understanding of the nature of cross-linguistic influence and linguistic vulnerability in second language acquisition and language contact. It also contributes to syntactic theory by providing a better understanding of word order and focus in Spanish and Quechua.

Graduation Semester

2009-12

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/14597

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2009 Antje G. Muntendam

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