A Construction Grammar approach to analogical extensions of Spanish possessives

Presenter Information

Mark HoffFollow

Author ORCID Identifier

Mark Hoff, mark.hoff@qc.cuny.edu, Queens College CUNY

Document Type

Paper Presentation

Presenter Language

English

Research Area

Language variation and change; Variation and change; Syntax

Location

MBSC Council Room 306

Start Date

18-10-2024 3:30 PM

End Date

18-10-2024 4:00 PM

Abstract

Variationist studies have analyzed the use of tonic possessives (TP) in Spanish locative constructions (cerca mío vs. cerca de mí). However, scholars have yet to adequately explore a related case of variation wherein speakers apply TP to a variety of syntactically similar yet semantically varied constructions. Bertolotti (2014, 2017) mentions the existence in Rioplatense of TP with decir (de mí/mío), gustar, pensar, and hablar but provides little detail about this variation. Here I analyze these and 35 additional, heretofore unexamined verbs (acordarse, cuidar, depender, enamorarse, fiarse, reirse, etc.) which allow TP in Rioplatense.

Given the infrequency of TP with these verbs, I pair data from the Spanish Web Corpus (Kilgarriff & Renau 2013) with social media. My qualitative analysis is grounded in Construction Grammar (Goldberg 2019, Goldberg & Herbst 2021), which emphasizes the importance of speakers’ linguistic experiences and pattern-forming abilities. My analysis reveals that the same predictors favoring TP in previous studies of locatives (Author 2020, Marttinen Larsson 2023, Salgado & Bouzouita 2017) also condition TP use here. Specifically, these verbs permit TP almost exclusively with animate possessors and clearly prefer 1SG and 2SG.

This analysis makes several theoretical contributions related to analogy, constructional relationships, and linguistic creativity (Goldberg 2019). First, my data complement Martinnen Larsson and Bouzouita’s (2022) analysis of feminine TP with locatives (delante mía) in Andalusia by highlighting similar patterns among verbs taking masculine TP in Rioplatense. Second, my analysis adds support to claims about the role of analogy in TP (Bertolotti 2014, 2017; Marttinen Larsson & Bouzouita 2022). These authors present instances such as la casa de él > la casa suya as the basis of TP spread; I discuss several additional constructions (Lo que me gusta de vos ~ Lo que me gusta tuyo, Algo que no entiendo de vos/tuyo, Recibí un regalo de vos/tuyo, etc.) which reinforce this extension through greater constructional coverage (De Smet 2012, Suttle & Goldberg 2011). Finally, I propose an implicational hierarchy wherein acceptance of TP in verbal constructions entails acceptance in locative constructions, but importantly not vice versa since the former is a less frequent, more sociolinguistically restricted extension of the latter.

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Oct 18th, 3:30 PM Oct 18th, 4:00 PM

A Construction Grammar approach to analogical extensions of Spanish possessives

MBSC Council Room 306

Variationist studies have analyzed the use of tonic possessives (TP) in Spanish locative constructions (cerca mío vs. cerca de mí). However, scholars have yet to adequately explore a related case of variation wherein speakers apply TP to a variety of syntactically similar yet semantically varied constructions. Bertolotti (2014, 2017) mentions the existence in Rioplatense of TP with decir (de mí/mío), gustar, pensar, and hablar but provides little detail about this variation. Here I analyze these and 35 additional, heretofore unexamined verbs (acordarse, cuidar, depender, enamorarse, fiarse, reirse, etc.) which allow TP in Rioplatense.

Given the infrequency of TP with these verbs, I pair data from the Spanish Web Corpus (Kilgarriff & Renau 2013) with social media. My qualitative analysis is grounded in Construction Grammar (Goldberg 2019, Goldberg & Herbst 2021), which emphasizes the importance of speakers’ linguistic experiences and pattern-forming abilities. My analysis reveals that the same predictors favoring TP in previous studies of locatives (Author 2020, Marttinen Larsson 2023, Salgado & Bouzouita 2017) also condition TP use here. Specifically, these verbs permit TP almost exclusively with animate possessors and clearly prefer 1SG and 2SG.

This analysis makes several theoretical contributions related to analogy, constructional relationships, and linguistic creativity (Goldberg 2019). First, my data complement Martinnen Larsson and Bouzouita’s (2022) analysis of feminine TP with locatives (delante mía) in Andalusia by highlighting similar patterns among verbs taking masculine TP in Rioplatense. Second, my analysis adds support to claims about the role of analogy in TP (Bertolotti 2014, 2017; Marttinen Larsson & Bouzouita 2022). These authors present instances such as la casa de él > la casa suya as the basis of TP spread; I discuss several additional constructions (Lo que me gusta de vos ~ Lo que me gusta tuyo, Algo que no entiendo de vos/tuyo, Recibí un regalo de vos/tuyo, etc.) which reinforce this extension through greater constructional coverage (De Smet 2012, Suttle & Goldberg 2011). Finally, I propose an implicational hierarchy wherein acceptance of TP in verbal constructions entails acceptance in locative constructions, but importantly not vice versa since the former is a less frequent, more sociolinguistically restricted extension of the latter.