Javier Gutiérrez-Rexach

The Formal Semantics of Clitic Doubling

This article presents a study of the semantics of clitic pronouns and clitic doubling in Spanish and related languages. Its main hypothesis is that the co-occurrence restrictions that are observed between the clitic element and its quantifier associate can be properly characterized within Generalized Quantifiers Theory. Clitics are treated as generalized quantifier functions which are restricted to a context set. In clitic doubling constructions, the context set is retrieved from the doubled NP-quantifier. Three main constraints are formulated that restrict this mechanism: the Principal Filter Constraint, the Presuppositionality Constraint, and the Context Dependence Constraint. The resulting interactions are studied in a variety of configurations with respect to generalized quantifiers of different properties, namely clitic doubling of existential, universal, negative quantifiers and doubling in questions.

The structure and interpretation of Spanish degree neuter constructions

This paper shows that apparent agreement mismatches in constructions headed by the neuter determiner in Spanish are actually instances of specifier-head agreement at different stages in the derivation of relative cluses and related constructions. The proposed analysis incorporates Kaynes (1994) theory of adjective raising within DPs and a detailed study of the semantic interpretation of resulting interface configurations. It is also claimed that the neuter determiner has to be treated as a maximality operator, in the sense of Rullmann (1995), which may bind either a degree variable or an individual variable.

A Minimalist approach to gender agreement in the Afro-Bolivian DP: Variation and the specification of uninterpretable features

This article analyzes gender-agreement variation in the Determiner Phrase (DP) of Afro-Bolivian Spanish (ABS). We claim that this is an instance of crossgenerational change, consisting in the systematic substitution of stigmatized basilectal Afro-Bolivian features with more prestigious Bolivian Spanish ones. In light of recent minimalist models, the variability encountered in the corpus can be accounted for systematically as a by-product of the differential specification of uninterpretable features in a derivation. This study highlights an on-going process of post-bozal Spanish approximation to a more prestigious Spanish variety. Such transition seems to be driven by social factors and is significantly regulated by syntactic constraints.

Current issues in Spanish syntax and semantics

This text is a compilation of articles on different aspects of Spanish grammar in the areas of current theoretical syntax and semantics. Topics covered include: the syntax and semantics of clitics and clitic doubling; the structure of noun phrases, with special attention to adjectives; the position of subjects; tense and causation. The approaches fall within generative grammar, broadly understood, with some contributions cast in the perspective of the minimalist program. Thus, the book attempts to offer a balanced picture of state of the art research in these areas. Luis Silva-Villar is Assistant Professor of Hispanic Linguistics at Mesa State College, USA.

Varieties of Indefinites in Spanish

The study of Spanish plural indefinites has been shown to be of great interest to the general theory of indefiniteness and the semantics of Spanish quantification. This article first presents an overview of the relevant empirical data and potential accounts of the semantic properties at stake. Finally, the differential behavior of these indefinites with respect to implicature generation is discussed in the framework of recent debates on this issue.

Conceptual structure and social change : the ideological architecture of democratization

Introduction Categorization and Social Agents: The Case of Democratization A Cognitive Model of Concepts and Ideology Ideological Systems, Dynamics, and Constraints Mass Attitudes in the Transition to Electoral Democracy Governing Elites, Counter-Elites and the Struggle to Shape Mass Opinion Concluding Remarks Bibliography Index

Spanish Bare Plurals, Multiple Specifiers and the Derivation of Focus-Related Features

The distribution of Spanish focused and depreciative bare plurals presents a problem for standard syntactic accounts within the Government & Binding paradigm, either based on the notion of government or on incorporation mechanisms. It is argued that a minimalist account is superior to the previous ones because the licensing of focused and depreciative bare plurals can be integrated in the general theory of feature movement. This operation takes place in constituent structures allowing multiple specifiers and relating the focus feature with other features of the D and the C systems. Evidence is provided of the checking of a focus feature in these two domains, a fact that supports the symmetric pattern of licensing of focused (and depreciative) bare plurals in matrix and embedded contexts

Indirect Reports, Information, and Non-declaratives

The study of indirect reports has gained momentum in the last few years and a variety of philosophical and linguistic proposals have provided a very intriguing picture of what appears to be a very complex phenomenon, comprising several interrelated properties. As is usual in the literature, we can distinguish the utterance of a proposition such as (1) by an agent (John) at a given time from a quotation of said utterance (2) and an indirect report of it (3)

The Pragmatics of Embedded Exclamatives

In this chapter, taking into consideration the evidence from Spanish, the pragmatic and semantic content of exclamative expressions in embedded contexts is analyzed. It is argued that embedding is not a straightforward and transparent process. Rather, several very specific pragmatic conditions have to be satisfied. They mostly relate to grounding. Grounding is a contextually dependent process involving de re reference and proper anchoring of a fact. The proposition associated with this fact is the one that would trigger the relevant emotive attitude if such an exclamative was unembedded. The landscape of possible exclamative embedders is charted and it is shown that predicates in other classes, such as directive miratives, are also able to subordinate or embed exclamatives.

Cognitive impairment and pragmatics

BackgroundOne of the most important ingredients of felicitous conversation exchanges is the adequate expression of illocutionary force and the achievement of perlocutionary effects, which can be considered essential to the functioning of pragmatic competence.FindingsThe breakdown of illocutionary and perlocutionary functions is one of the most prominent external features of cognitive impairment in Alzheimer’s Disease, with devastating psychological and social consequences for patients, their family and caregivers.ConclusionsThe study of pragmatic functions is essential for a proper understanding of the linguistic and communicative aspects of Alzheimer’s disease.