The Position of the Antecedent Strategy in null subject Romance languages

Authors

  • Alexandra Fiéis Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas, Lisboa / Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, CLUNL, Lisboa
  • Ana Madeira Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas, Lisboa / Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, CLUNL, Lisboa
  • Joana Teixeira Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Letras, Porto / Universidade do Porto, CLUP, Porto

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26334/2183-9077/rapln9ano2022a8

Keywords:

pronominal subject resolution, microvariation, animacy, null subject Romance language, Position of the Antecedent Strategy

Abstract

This study investigates the interpretation of pronominal subjects in European Portuguese, Spanish and Italian. 30 native speakers of each language completed two multiple-choice tasks (speeded and untimed), which elicited their interpretation of null and overt subject pronouns in intrasentential contexts with the order matrix‑subordinate. The tasks had a 2x2 design, crossing the following variables: animacy of the matrix object (+ animate vs. - animate) and type of pronominal embedded subject (overt vs. null). Results indicate that the PAS is consistently followed in EP but not in Italian or Spanish. In these languages, this strategy is adopted in overt subject resolution only in contexts where the antecedents are [+ animate]. In the resolution of null subjects, Italian and Spanish exhibit optionality between subject and object antecedents. Hence, there is microvariation in the resolution of pronominal subjects in these languages. Possible reasons for this are discussed in detail.

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Published

2022-10-25

How to Cite

Fiéis, A., Madeira, A., & Teixeira, J. (2022). The Position of the Antecedent Strategy in null subject Romance languages. Journal of the Portuguese Linguistics Association, (9), 109–123. https://doi.org/10.26334/2183-9077/rapln9ano2022a8

Issue

No. 9 (2022): Journal of the Portuguese Linguistics Association

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2022 Alexandra Fiéis, Ana Madeira, Joana Teixeira

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