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

Authors

  • Alice Corr University of Cambridge

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24201/clecm.v3i1.27

Keywords:

syntax-pragmatics interface, language change, overt expletive subjects, pragmaticization, Ibero-Romance languages

Abstract

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: 2015/05/28

Review sent to author: 2015/08/07

Accepted: 2015/09/10

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Published

2016-08-02

How to Cite

Corr, A. (2016). Linguistic change and the syntax-pragmatics interface: evidence from Ibero-Romance languages. Cuadernos De Lingüística De El Colegio De México (CLECM), 3(1), 73–118. https://doi.org/10.24201/clecm.v3i1.27
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Issue

Vol. 3 No. 1 (2016): Volume 3, Number 1 (January-June 2016)

Section

Research Articles

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