This thesis studies the problem of language learnability in relation to two different but related sets of structures in Spanish, both involving multifunctional clitic pronouns. The first of these is the reflexive clitic se which is used in impersonal and inchoative constructions. The second is the dative clitic le which appears in certain clitic doubling constructions. In both cases the structures exhibit subtle properties which cannot be readily inferred from the input. / In the first place, this study provides a syntactic analysis of the structures related to each of these clitics. Regarding the first of these, the reflexive se, it is suggested that it can be generated in at least two functional positions: as the head of AgrO in impersonal constructions, and as the head of Inner Aspect in the case of inchoatives. In the impersonal construction the theme argument NP moves to check case and &phis; features with se in AgrO, thus triggering agreement on the verb. In the case of the inchoative, the NP moves into the specifier of AgrS. Thus, the NP in the impersonal construction is an object with some subject-like properties, which derive from agreement with the verb. The NP in the inchoative construction is a subject. / Regarding the dative clitic le, it is generated as the head of Inner Aspect. The NP which is stranded after a preposition incorporates into the verb must move to Inner Aspect to check case and &phis; features with le. As a result, the NP is interpreted as affected. The process of incorporation in Spanish is subject to several constraints which fall out naturally from this account. / In the second place, the problem of learnability is investigated empirically in relation to second language acquisition (SLA) with two empirical studies which look at the grammar of speakers who appear to have reached an end state in their second language. The tasks used in these studies were designed to test the speakers' knowledge of the properties related to the two multifunctional clitics. The subjects included two groups of near-native Spanish speakers, that is, speakers who can pass or almost pass for native speakers, but who learned Spanish as a second language after puberty. One group was made up of English speakers, the other of French speakers. The reason for choosing near-natives is that data from learners who appear to have reached a very high level of proficiency are crucial in determining whether adult learners can in fact acquire a grammar which is indistinguishable from a native speaker grammar. It has been suggested [Bley-Vroman, 1990] that L2 learning is fundamentally different from L1 acquisition and that, as a result, the final state L2 grammar differs in important ways from native speaker grammars. This thesis argues against this position. Results show that L2 learners are able to acquire subtle properties not evident in the input. This suggests that L2 acquisition is constrained by Universal Grammar in the same way as L1 acquisition is.

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Orientador: Maria Filomena Spatti Sandalo / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-26T12:18:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 CamachoRamirez_RafaelMartin_M.pdf: 1317388 bytes, checksum: 82c5afa27221425fbb08dfdfde8e0049 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014 / Resumo: Esta tese tem como objetivo principal dar conta do assim chamado Se aspectual no espanhol, especificamente no dialeto falado na cidade de Lima. Fundamentalmente tem tido duas aproximações para explicar ao clítico: semântico-aspectual e sintático. Neste trabalho trata-se de combinar as duas perspectivas através da hipótese de que há um nó Causa nas construções com o clítico aspectual. Baseados nos trabalhos de Pylkkänen (2002, 2008) postulamos que o espanhol é uma língua voice-bundling e root-selecting, isto é, os nós Causa e Voice aparecem juntos, fundidos, e Causa seleciona diretamente a uma raiz que será verbalizada. Construções com o Se aspectual com verbos como Morir(se) ou Beber(se) seriam casos de um processo de causativización (opcional) do verbo. Para a parte aspectual, baseamos-nos no trabalho de de Miguel y Fernández (2000). As autoras argumentam que as construções com o Se aspectual têm duas fases. A segunda fase, que inclui a culminação do evento e a mudança do estado, é focalizada pelo clítico Se. Na tese trata-se de fazer equivaler essas duas fases com os eventos causante e causado, respectivamente. A análise, por outro lado, ajudará a mostrar qual é a função do clítico Se e qual posição ocuparia na sintaxe; especificamente, postulamos que o clítico é um reflexivo que se geraria no Sv, adotando a hipótese base-generated dos clíticos. Também se pretende no trabalho dar conta de maneira exaustiva de todos os contextos verbais nos que aparece o clítico em questão: com verbos inacusativos e transitivos / Abstract: This thesis has like main aim give account of the called aspectual Se in Spanish, specifically in the dialect spoken in the city of Lima. Fundamentally there have been two approaches to explain to the clitic: semantic-aspectual and syntactic. In this work, I try to combine the two perspectives through the hypothesis that there is a Cause node in the constructions with the aspectual clitic. Based in the Pylkkänen's work (2002, 2008), I posit that the Spanish is a voice-bundling and root-selecting language, this is, the Cause node and Voice appear together, merged, and Cause selects directly to a root that will be verbalize. Constructions with the aspectual Se with verbs like Morir (Die) or Beber (Drink) would be cases of a optional causation process of the verb. For the aspectual part, I have based in the de Miguel and Fernández (2000) work. The authors argue that constructions with the aspectual Se have two phases. The first phase is the process (or equivalent) expressed by the verb. The second phase, that includes the culmination of the event and the change of state, is focalized by the clitic. In the thesis, I treat to be equivalent these two phases with the causing event and caused event, respectively. The analysis, on the other hand, will help us to elucidate the function of the Se, and which position would occupy in the syntax; specifically, I posit that the clitic is one reflexive that would have been generated in the Sv, adopting the base-generated hypothesis of the clitics. Also I pretend in this thesis give account, of exhaustive way, of all the verbal contexts in which the clitic appears: with unacussative, inergative, and transitive verb / Mestrado / Linguistica / Mestra em Linguística