Spanish Consecutio Temporum: Myths and Reality

Jerzy Kowal
York University

The aim of this monograph is twofold: (1) to study the actual state of the Consecutio Temporum (Ct) in modern Spanish and see how the rules of the most recent Spanish grammar of the Real Academia Española (Esbozo de una nueva gramática de la lengua española, 1973) reflect that actual state of CT, and (2) to propose improvements and make those rules more precise. To study the actual state of CT in modern Spanish, the author has examined some 5,000 articles from twelve Spanish-language newspapers from seven Spanish-speaking countries. The compiled corpus of combinations of tenses proves that it is not sufficient to base the rules solely on the tense of the main verb because the main verb (V1) can combine with the subordinate verb (V2) almost in any tense.

After considering the excerpts from the newspapers, it becomes evident that the main factor in selecting the tense for V2 is the lexical meaning of V1 which holds the information on how both verbs should temporarily combine. The temporal orientation conveyed by the lexical meaning of V1 can however be modified by a series of elements (temporal adverbs, level of privacy of V1, subject of V2, telicity of V2, eternal truth, etc.) that are implied in the sentence.

Dr. Jerzy Kowal is an Assistant Professor of Hispanic Linguistics in the Department of Hispanic Studies at York University and works in the field of myths and realities of the Spanish Grammar. In addition to this publication, he has recently published in Hispanic Horizon an article on the myths and realities of use of the Spanish subjunctive.

ISBN 9783895865022. LINCOM Studies in Romance Linguistics 52. 131pp. 2007.

Pronunce straniere dell'italiano (ProSIt)

Luciano Canepari
Università cà Foscari di Venezia

In a few short initial chapters, Natural Phonetics and Tonetics are presented, including neutral (or 'standard') Italian pronunciation (and a concise indication of regional pronunciations, which are very remarkable, in Italy). Very accurate descriptions of 43 language groups of foreign accents of Italian follow, with precise figures and symbols. Starting from the single chapters, teachers and students can identify and prevent pronunciation problems, by preparing general or personalized phono-tonetic teaching strategies.

Although a basic knowledge of the Italian language is highly welcome, the many illustrations and transcriptions can speak for themselves.

Presentazione della fonetica e tonetica naturali in alcuni capitoli iniziali, che comprendono anche la pronuncia italiana neutra (o 'standard') e sinteticamente quelle regionali. Seguono le descrizioni molto accurate di 43 gruppi d'accenti stranieri dell'italiano, coll'impiego di figure e simboli precisi. Insegnanti e studenti, partendo dai singoli capitoli, possono identificare i problemi di pronuncia e prevenirli, preparando strategie fonodidattiche generali o personalizzate.

La pronuncia italiana
0.1. Generalità. 0.2. Vocali. 0.3. Consonanti. 0.4. Strutture prosodiche. 0.5. Strutture intonative. 0.6. Testo in trascrizione. 0.7. Pronuncia tradizionale e altro.

Accenti germanici
1.1. Inglese (con varianti). 1.2. Tedesco (con varianti). 1.3. Nederlandese (olandese e fiammingo). 1.4. Danese. 1.5. Norvegese 1.6. Svedese. 1.7. Islandese.

Accenti romanzi
2.1. Francese (con varianti) 2.2. Spagnolo (con varianti) 2.3. Portoghese (lusitano e brasiliano) 2.4. Romeno (e moldavo)

Accenti slavi
3.1. Russo (con ucraino e bielorusso). 3.2. Polacco. 3.3. 'Ex-cecoslovacco' (ceco e slovacco). 3.4. 'Ex-iugoslavo' (croato, serbo, bosníaco, macedone, sloveno). Bulgaro.

Accenti bàltici
4.1. Lèttone. 4.2. Lituano.

Accenti uràlici
5.1. Ungherese. 5.2. Finlandese. 5.3. Estone

Accenti isolati
6.1. Albanese (tosco e ghego). 6.2. Greco (e cipriota). 6.3. Armeno e georgiano.

Accenti afro-asiatici
7.1. Maltese. 7.2. Arabo (e berbero). 7.3. Ebraico (Israele). 7.4. Amarico (Etiopia). 7.5. Somalo

Accenti indo-irànici
8.1. Persiano (Iran). 8.2. Hindi (India &c). Accenti austronesiani 9.1. Filippino. 9.2. Indonesiano.

Accenti altaici
10.1. Turco. 10.2. Mongolo. 10.3. Coreano. 10.4. Giapponese.

Accenti sino-tibetani
11.1. Cinese (mandarino &c).

Accenti austro-asiatici
12.1. Cambogiano (khmer). 12.2. Vietnamita.

Accenti niger-congo
13.1. Africano centroccidentale

Accenti neo-melanesiani
14.1. Tok pisin (pidgin)

Accenti tai
15.1. Tailandese (siamese)

16. Bibliografia

ISBN 9783895867309. LINCOM Studies in Romance Linguistics 53. 334pp. 2007.

The Attitudinal Factor in Language Planning

The Valencian Situation

Manuel Triano López
University of North Carolina, Greensboro

A number of researchers have argued that speakers’ attitudes mediate the outcome of language-planning measures. This study aims to contribute to the literature by exploring the role of attitudes in purism, a language-planning orientation which seeks to preserve a language from putative foreign items. More specifically, the study focuses on Valencian, a dialect of Catalan spoken in eastern Spain. The colloquial register of this variety is heavily Castilianized at the lexical level, despite two decades of governmental action aimed at reducing the number of Spanish borrowings (also known as Castilianisms).

A strong relationship between Valencian speakers’ attitudes and their linguistic behavior (i.e., their use of either Castilianisms or native equivalents) would direct local planners to heed speakers’ attitudes as a prerequisite to the success of lexical de-Castilianization. The author analyzes attitudinal and behavioral data from 80 Valencian-speaking subjects and discusses the implications of the results for language planning in the area.

The author earned a PhD degree in Hispanic Linguistics from Indiana University in 2005. His main research areas are Sociolinguistics, Language Planning, Language and the Law, and Second Language Acquisition. Dr. Triano López is currently an Assistant Professor of Spanish in the Department of Romance Languages at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where he also served as Director of Language Instruction of the Basic Language Program in Spanish.

ISBN 9783895861413. LINCOM Studies in Romance Linguistics 54. 133pp. 2007.

The Grammatical Thought and Linguistic Behaviour of Juan de Valdés

K. Anipa
St Andrews University

At the mention of Spanish Renaissance grammarians or linguistic thinkers, the figure that readily comes to mind is the great Elio Antonio de Nebrija, whilst one of the least recognized is Juan de Valdés, whose only work on language has failed to impress modern scholars and, thus, achieve such a high status. There is a combination of factors that has contributed to this state of affairs. But there also exists a paradox around Valdés’s Diálogo de la lengua: notwithstanding its unfortunate circumstances, it has been a special favourite of scholars, who frequently use it as an authoritative reference on 16th-century Castilian. Curiously, this paradox has so far gone unnoticed. Moreover, how the Diálogo is used constitutes another level of the problem.

It can be contended that, from a sociolinguistic standpoint, the way Valdés’s work has generally been used impedes, rather than improves, our knowledge of what the objective usage picture of the language must have been at the time. This is because his comments are invariably cited, unquestioned, to confirm, explicitly or implicitly, the status of features in the language that have already been established by traditional scholarship via the narrow medium of literature and other formal written sources. This book has systematically addressed all three levels of this major problem in scholarship concerning the history of Castilian. It first defines the problem (which seems to have hitherto evaded scholars) through critical reviews of some of the influential works on Valdés and on the language, and proceeds to recast the Diálogo in a completely new light by classifying its linguistic content from Valdés’s viewpoint.

Finally, it investigates his linguistic behaviour, which unveils the reality behind his severe sociolinguistic value judgements, and, consequently, challenges the reader to seriously consider the inescapable implications of his pervasive linguistic self-correction for our knowledge of 16th-century Castilian.

K. Anipa is Lecturer in the Department of Spanish, at St Andrews University, in Scotland, UK. He received his Ph.D. in historical sociolinguistics from the University of Cambridge. He specializes in Renaissance linguistic thought in the Iberian Peninsula and variation in Early Modern Castilian. In addition to articles in professional journals, he is the author of A Critical Examination of Linguistic Variation in Golden-Age Spanish (2001).

ISBN 9783895861819. LINCOM Studies in Romance Linguistics 55. 263pp. 2007.

FORMAÇÃO DE VERBOS EM PORTUGUÊS

AFIXAÇÃO HETEROCATEGORIAL

Rui Abel Rodrigues Pereira
Universidade Católica Portuguesa

Neste estudo descreve-se a formação de verbos heterocategoriais (denominais ou deadjectivais) através de operações de afixação: prefixação (com a(d)-, en- e es-), sufixação (com -e-, -ej-, -iz-, -ific-, -e(s)c-, -it-, -ic-) e parassíntese/circunfixação (a…e-, a…ej-, a…e(s)c-, a…ent-, a…iz-, en…e-, en…ej-, en…e(s)c-, en…ent-, en…iz-, es…e-, es…ej-, es…e(s)c-, es…iz-).

Em primeiro lugar, analisam-se as condições de natureza fonológica, morfológica, categorial e semântica que caracterizam as bases lexicais seleccionadas por cada processo/afixo (cap. II). Em seguida, descrevem-se, em capítulos específicos, as propriedades semânticas (cap. III), argumentais (cap. IV), aspectuais e eventivas (cap. V) que caracterizam os verbos derivados. A investigação realizada permitiu verificar que a formação de verbos heterocategoriais resulta de um processo de co-composição em que participam as bases e os afixos. Cada afixo possui propriedades fonológicas, distribucionais, sintáctico-categoriais, argumentais, semântico- -aspectuais e socio-dialectais que se repercutem em vários domínios da estrutura dos produtos derivacionais. Por outras palavras, a especificidade de cada afixo não assenta apenas no acréscimo formal da base, mas também no tipo de restrições/condições que impõe sobre as bases que selecciona e na informação sintáctica, semântica e aspectual que transporta para os produtos que integra.



In this research project we describe the formation of denominal and deadjectival verbs in contemporary Portuguese language using affixation processes: prefixation (with a(d)-, en- e es-), suffixation (with -e-, -ej-, -iz-, -ific-, -e(s)c-, -it-, -ic-) and parasynthesis/circumfixation (a…e-, a…ej-, a…e(s)c-, a…ent-, a…iz-, en…e-, en…ej-, en…e(s)c-, en…ent-, en…iz-, es…e-, es…ej-, es…e(s)c-, es…iz-). First, we analysed the phonological, morphological, categorical and semantic conditions that characterize the lexical bases selected by each derivational process/affix (chapter II). Secondly, in specific chapters, we describe the semantic (chapter III), argumental (chapter IV), aspectual and eventive (chapter V) properties that characterize derived verbs.

The research done permitted us to verify that the formation of denominal and deadjectival verbs results from a process of co-composition where both bases and affixes participate. Each affix contains phonological, distributional, syntactic-categorical, argumental, semantic-aspectual and socio-dialectical properties that have repercussions on various domains of the derivational products’ structure. In other words, the specificity of each affix is not based solely on the formal increase of the base, but also on the type of restrictions/conditions that it imposes on the bases it selects and on the syntactic, semantic and aspectual information it transports to the products that it integrates (written in Portuguese).

ISBN 9783895860829. LINCOM Studies in Romance Linguistics 56. 396pp. 2007.

FORMAÇÃO DE SUBSTANTIVOS DEVERBAIS SUFIXADOS EM PORTUGUÊS

Alexandra Soares Rodrigues
Instituto Politécnico de Bragança

O presente estudo visa descrever e explicar a formação lexical dos substantivos deverbais sufixados do português europeu. Sob uma perspectiva léxico-mental desenvolve-se um modelo genolexical designado por “RFPs em interfaces”. Com este modelo, mantém-se a importância da base derivacional, seguindo perspectivas orientadas para o input. Contudo, a base derivacional não é delimitada sintacticamente. Na nossa abordagem, cabe às estruturas semânticas da base a construção do novo lexema. A maior inovação do nosso modelo consiste na assunção de que a formação de palavras é simultaneamente orientada para o output, seguindo abordagens que reconhecem a identidade e a operacionalidade semânticas dos afixos. No nosso modelo, o mesmo afixo pode ser agregado a diferentes tipos de bases sem ter de ser multiplicado em afixos homónimos. Os produtos lexicais construídos a partir de diferentes bases partilham um determinado componente pelo qual é responsável a carga semântica do afixo. Simultaneamente, há diferenças entre os produtos de acordo com os componentes semânticos de cada tipo de base.

O modelo “RFPs em Interfaces” é concebido como um domínio dinâmico em que as regras de formação de palavras são entendidas como subdomínios dinâmicos onde todas as operações concernentes às diferentes estruturas linguísticas são combinadas para formar itens lexicais.

Estes postulados teóricos só poderiam ser alcançados através de uma alimentação contínua entre dados empíricos e problemas teóricos. Os dados empíricos provêm de 8414 substantivos sufixados deverbais e 8414 bases e dos 13708 semantismos desses produtos. A relação entre os produtos e as bases foi avaliada morfológica e semanticamente.

This study aims to describe and explain the lexical formation of Portuguese suffixed deverbal nouns. Under a lexical-mental perspective, we develop a genolexical model called “Word Formation Rules in Interfaces”. With this model we maintain the importance of the deriving base, following input-oriented perspectives. However, the deriving base is not syntactically delimited. Under our approach, it is the semantic structures of the base which play a role in the construction of the new word. The major innovation of our model consists of the assumption that word formation is simultaneously output-oriented, following approaches that recognise the semantic identity and the operationality of affixes. In our model, the same affix may be adjoined to different kinds of bases without having to be multiplied in homonymous affixes. The lexical products constructed from different bases share some semantic component which the semantic charge of the affix is responsible for. Simultaneously, there are differences between the products according to the semantic components of each kind of base.

The “WFRs in Interfaces” model is conceived as a lexical-mental dynamic domain where word formation rules are assumed to be dynamic subdomains where all the operations concerning different language structures are combined to form lexical items.

These theoretical postulates could only be achieved by an ongoing intercourse between empirical data and theoretical problems. The empirical data come from the analysis of 8414 suffixed deverbal nouns and their 8414 bases and 13708 meanings of those products. The relation between products and bases was evaluated using a morphological and a semantic analysis.

ISBN 9783895866012. LINCOM Studies in Romance Linguistics 57. 420 pp. + CD-ROM. 2008.

HISTORIA DE LA LENGUA GALLEGA

Ramón Mariño Paz
Universidade de Santiago de Compostela

Hacia el siglo XIII el romance que se había originado en la antigua Gallaecia inició un proceso de emergencia en el que la ocupación de ámbitos funcionales anteriormente vinculados en exclusiva al latín se acompañó de significativos avances en lo relativo a la elaboración del instrumento lingüístico. En Galicia este proceso ganó fuerza durante los siglos XIII y XIV, pero durante el XV resultó bloqueado por la interposición del romance castellano como lengua de prestigio para toda la Corona de Castilla.

Desde entonces, el gallego padeció una asimilación lingüística que afectó tanto a sus hablantes (con deserciones al principio limitadas a las élites civiles y eclesiásticas) como al propio sistema lingüístico, el cual se convirtió en la conciencia metalingüística de muchos en una simple variedad regional y vulgar del castellano. La reivindicación y el cultivo de que ha venido gozando desde mediados del siglo XIX ha posibilitado que hoy se haya consolidado la idea de que el gallego es una lengua autónoma, pero esta tendencia regeneradora convive dialécticamente con el avance del uso social del castellano, que se ha hecho especialmente rápido e intenso a partir de la década de 1960, cuando Galicia entró en rápido un proceso de modernización y urbanización.

Introducción

1. Lenguas paleohispánicas y latinización del noroeste ibérico
1.1. Los sustratos del latín galaico
1.1.1. Fuentes de estudio y métodos de investigación
1.1.2. Unidad y variedad lingüísticas en la Hispania prerrorromana
1.1.3. Los sustratos indoeuropeos
1.1.4. Los sustratos no indoeuropeos
1.2. Características y consecuencias lingüísticas de la romanización de la Gallaecia
1.2.1. Conquista y reconocimiento romano de la Gallaecia
1.2.2. Reconocimiento administrativo y alcance territorial de la Gallaecia
1.2.3 Adopción del latín y abandono de las lenguas paleohispánicas
1.2.4. La “latinidad vulgar galaica” en el contexto hispánico
1.3. Los superestratos germánico y árabe
1.3.1. El superestrato germánico
1.3.1.1. La latinización de suevos y visigodos
1.3.1.2. El legado léxico germánico
1.3.1.3. El legado onomástico germánico
1.3.2. El superestrato árabe

2. Emergencia y decadencia de la lengua gallega durante la Edad Media
2.1. De la formación de la sociedad feudal a la crisis de los siglos XIV y XV
2.2. Del latín tardío al romance gallego
2.2.1. La disgregación de la Romania y la aparición de los primeros textos en romance gallego
2.2.1.1. La ruptura de la unidad del espacio románico
2.2.1.2. Los primeros textos en romance producidos en los reinos de Galicia y Portugal
2.2.1.3. El romance gallego en la documentación latina anterior al siglo XIII
2.2.1.4. La lengua de los primeros textos escritos en romance gallego
2.2.2. La maduración de la concepción individualizada del gallego y de los romances ibéricos circundantes
2.2.2.1. Planteamiento de la cuestión
2.2.2.2. Las denominaciones medievales del gallego y de otras variedades lingüísticas ibéricas
2.2.2.3. Comercio cultural y traducciones medievales en el centro y en el occidente ibéricos
2.2.2.4. Los textos gallego-leoneses
2.2.2.4.1. Los fueros de Castelo Rodrigo
2.2.2.4.2. Las versiones gallego-leonesas del Fuero Real y de las Flores de Derecho
2.2.2.4.3. Documentos notariales gallego-leoneses
2.2.2.4.4. Conclusión
2.3. Gallego y portugués en la Edad Media
2.3.1. Historia sociopolítica y sociolingüística del occidente ibérico durante la Edad Media
2.2.3. Las diferencias entre gallego y portugués en los textos medievales
2.2.3.1. Diferencias gráficas
2.2.3.2. Diferencias fonéticas y fonológicas
2.2.3.3. Diferencias morfológicas y sintácticas
2.2.3.4. Diferencias léxicas
2.2.3.5. Diferencias en cuanto a la variación interna de la lengua Escrita
2.3.3. Conclusión
2.4. El cultivo de la lengua gallega del siglo XIII al siglo XV
2.4.1. El cultivo literario e historiográfico
2.4.2. El cultivo de la prosa curialesca y de la prosa técnica
2.4.3. El ocaso del cultivo escrito del gallego y los inicios de la penetración del castellano en Galicia

3. La dialectalización de la lengua gallega (siglos XVI, XVII y XVIII)
3.1. El Reino de Galicia durante el Antiguo Régimen
3.2 La limitada penetración del castellano
3.2.1. Los agentes castellanizadores
3.2.1.1. Las élites civiles y eclesiásticas
3.2.1.2. La enseñanza
3.2.2. Las disposiciones oficiales en materia lingüística
3.2.3. El alcance real de la castellanización
3.2.3.1. Las élites civiles y eclesiásticas
3.2.3.2. El pueblo iletrado
3.2.3.3. El castellano, lengua urbana
3.3. Menosprecio y apología de la lengua gallega
3.3.1. El gallego como dialecto
3.3.2. Apología de la lengua gallega
3.3.2.1. Apología y demandas del padre Sarmiento
3.3.2.2. Elogios y defensas de importancia menor
3.4. Cultivo y estudio de la lengua gallega
3.4.1. Géneros cultivados
3.4.1.1. Poesía
3.4.1.2. Prosa
3.4.1.3. Teatro
3.4.1.4. Géneros cultivados fuera de Galicia
3.4.2. Variedades del gallego escrito
3.4.2.1. Gallego natural
3.4.2.2. Gallego de artificio
3.4.2.3. El portugués como referente para la escritura del gallego
3.4.2.3.1. Opiniones sobre la identidad o alteridad del gallego y el portugués
3.4.2.3.2. Rasgos portugueses en textos gallegos de la época
3.4.3. Los orígenes de la lingüística gallega
3.4.3.1. La obra del padre Sarmiento
3.4.3.2. Las obras del padre Sobreira y de José Cornide
3.4.3.3. Obras menores y obras perdidas del siglo XVIII
3.5. Los cambios lingüísticos

4. La reemergencia contemporánea (siglos XIX, XX y XXI)
4.1. La tardía transformación de Galicia y la construcción del Estado nacional español
4.1.1. Panorama general
4.1.2. La transformación política y administrativa
4.1.3. La transformación socioeconómica y cultural
4.2. La tardía caída del monolingüismo en gallego
4.3. La ampliación funcional
4.3.1. La ampliación funcional antes de la constitución de Galicia como Comunidad Autónoma
4.3.2. La ampliación funcional desde la constitución de Galicia como Comunidad Autónoma
4.4. La gramatización y elaboración formal del instrumento lingüístico y la construcción de su variedad estándar
4.4.1. Planteamiento general de la cuestión
4.4.2. La gramatización y la elaboración de la lengua antes de la década de 1980
4.4.2.1. De principios del siglo XIX al final del Rexurdimento
4.4.2.2. De principios del siglo XX a 1936
4.4.2.3. De la posguerra a 1980
4.4.3. La gramatización y la estandarización a partir de 1980
4.5. El aumento de la variación social y contextual
4.6. La evolución de la conciencia metalingüística

Abreviaturas empleadas

Bibliografía

ISBN 9783895860812 (Hardcover). LINCOM Studies in Romance Linguistics 58. 298pp. 2008.

The Development of Phonology in Spanish and Portuguese

Eduardo D. Faingold
University of Tulsa

The Development of Phonology in Spanish and Portuguese applies Mayerthaler and Bailey’s seminal work in linguistic naturalness and markedness to child language development. The book focuses on Spanish and Portuguese in their many varieties, including their ‘daughter’ creole and fusion and koine languages, as it systematically examines the acquisition of a range of phonological constructions. The account is further enhanced by reference to historical language change, contact language phenomena and creolization. This highly integrated study demonstrates the impetus and predictive force of markedness theory. It is shown that first-language phonological acquisition, creole phonology, and historical phonology share a large number of universal features. Biological constraits such as language universals and markedness considerations interact in a significant manner in child language, creolization, and historical change with superstrate/substrate languages, and all are affected by the age of the speaker and sociocommunicational constraints such as literacy, borrowing, decreolization, and hypercorrection.

Contents

1 Introduction
1.1 Background assumptions
1.2 Research procedures
1.3 Sources of data
1.4 Contents

2 Phonological Markedness

2.1 The notion of markedness
2.2 Markedness and phonological universals
2.3 An integrated model of markedness
2.4 Summary

3 Spanish and Portuguese phonology

3.1 Input languages: La Plata Argentine Spanish and São Paulo Brazilian Portuguese
3.2 Source languages: Uruguayan Spanish and Southern Brazilian Portuguese
3.3 Substratum languages: Iberian Spanish and Portuguese

4 First language acquisition of Spanish and Portuguese phonology

4.1 The use of case-study methodology
4.2 Biological mechanisms of change in child language
4.3 Summary

5 Creolization of Spanish and Portuguese Phonology

5.1 Papiamentu
5.2 Palenquero
5.3 Reconstructing segmental inventories
5.4 Biological mechanisms of change in creolization
5.5 Sociocommunicational mechanisms in creolization
5.6 Summary

6 Fusion and compartmentalization of Spanish and Portuguese phonology

6.1 Selected dialects of Judeo-Ibero-Romance
6.2 Judeo-Ibero-Romance: The language spoken by Spanish and Portuguese Jews
6.3 Judeo-Ibero-Romance as a Spanish koine
6.4 Fusion in Judeo-Ibero-Romance
6.5 Diffusion, fusion, and compartmentalization
6.6 The psychological and social reality of linguistic fusion
6.7 Summary

7 Summary and Conclusions

References
Index

Eduardo D. Faingold is Associate Professor of Spanish at the University of Tulsa. He is the author of Child Language, Creolization, and Historical Change. Spanish in Contact with Portugues; Códice de Composición. Guía para Escribir Trabajos; The Development of Grammar in Spanish and the Romance Languages; Multilingualism from Infancy to Adolescence. Noam’s Experience and Diáspora y Exilio. Crónica de una Familia Argentina. Dr. Faingold has held visiting appointments at UCLA, SUNY Stony Brook, the University of Hawaii, the Technical University of Berlin, the University of Lüneburg, Hebrew University, the University of Cape Town and the Max Planck Institute.

ISBN 9783895867125. LINCOM Studies in Romance Linguistics 59. 150pp. 2008.

A sociolinguistic analysis of /s/-aspiration in Madrid Spanish

Natasa B. Momcilovic
Southern Illinois University Carbondale

This volume provides a description of the sociolinguistic distribution of /s/-aspiration in the speech of second-generation Madrid native speakers living in the neighborhoods of Madrid proper. Geographically Madrid is situated in the center of the Iberian Peninsula, on the border between the non /s/-aspirating conservative varieties of Spanish in the north (Castile-Leon), from the /s/-aspirating innovative varieties of Spanish in the south (Castile-La Mancha and Andalusia). Spanish spoken within the Madrid limits is generally considered standard Spanish, however, rates of /s/-aspiration present in the speech of Madrid subjects is strong evidence that this dialect belongs to the group of non-standard Spanish dialects.

This book contributes to broadening the limited sociolinguistic knowledge we have about the relative status of Madrid Spanish on a standard vs. non-standard variant continuum. /s/- aspiration is analyzed as it relates to the intralinguistic variable phonetic environment and extralinguistic variables as well, pointing to specific social groups that seem to be leaders in this innovative change.

Chapter 1 introduces the research topic, addresses research questions and motivations for the study. Chapter 2 provides a synchronic and diachronic description of /s/-aspiration from a theoretical perspective as well as an overview of previous studies on Castilian Spanish. In Chapter 3 the procedures, material, and criteria used in interviewing and data collection are described. Chapter 4 displays the results derived from frequency tables and statistical analysis of the data. Chapter 5 provides a discussion of these results as they pertain to each intralinguistic and extralinguistic variable used in the study. Chapter 6 summarizes the findings, underlines contributions of the present study and suggests directions for future research.

ISBN 9783895865695. LINCOM Studies in Romance Linguistics 60. 144pp. 2009.

LA TRANSITIVIDAD EN CONSTRUCCIONES SUBORDINADAS INTRODUCIDAS POR “QUE”

Armando Mora Bustos
Escuela Nacional de Antropología e Historia (ENAH)

En este trabajo se describe y tipifica la naturaleza morfosintáctica, semántica y pragmática de los parámetros actor, undergoer, aspecto y modo, a través de los cuales se determina el grado de transitividad de una construcción constituida por un verbo matriz y una oración subordinado introducido por 'que'.

La propuesta de Hopper y Thompson (1980) es el punto de partida para este trabajo, en el sentido de que la transitividad debe estar caracterizada a partir de un continuum de parámetros, por medio de los cuales se determina la alta o la baja transitividad de una construcción; pero, contrario al planteamiento de estos lingüistas, sugiero que el continuum debe estar integrado sólo por cuatro parámetros y sus respectivos rasgos, a saber actor [agentividad, prominencia y animacidad], undergoer [delimitación, focalización y afectación], aspecto [frontera, perfectividad y telicidad] y modo [modalidad, negación, fuerza ilocucionaria, realis e irrealis].

Téngase en cuenta que la novedad en los rasgos que hacen parte del actor radica en el hecho de que he reorganizado composicionalmente a la agentividad, y a ésta la he integrado junto a rasgos igualmente compositivos como son la prominencia y la animacidad. Respecto de los rasgos del undergoer, planteo una serie de nuevos rasgos a través de los cuales doy cuenta de la naturaleza lingüística de este macrorrol. Para explicar el aspecto integro, sin explicitar que se trata del mismo concepto, significaciones aspectuales, flexión aspectual y modo de acción, y para el modo correlaciono la modalidad, los sentidos realis-irrealis con la fuerza ilocucionaria y con el sentido de la negación y de los adverbios modales. Todo esto se orienta a que la coocurrencia de estos rasgos permite dar cuenta del mayor o menor grado de transitividad que presenta una construcción oracional. El modelo a través del cual se sustenta esta idea es el de la gramática de Rol y Referencia (Van Valin LaPolla 1997).

ISBN 9783895866197. LINCOM Studies in Romance Linguistics 61. 241pp. 2008.