Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

Prepositions are a source of error for English-speakers learning Spanish throughout many years of study. Other than contrasts of por and para, very little emphasis is given to the semantics of prepositions in current SLA practices. However, a preposition in either Spanish or English may have several meanings associated with it which a native speaker would know and use. Since prepositions in both languages have multiple meanings which do not entirely equate to the most similar preposition in the other language, at times there is a match (equivalency) and at other times there is a mismatch between the two languages. English-speaking learners of Spanish may attempt to equate the prepositions across languages if unaware of the differences in spatial relations coded by the prepositions in the two languages. / This dissertation examines the prepositions en, a, and de in consideration of the subset of spatial relations that they form within the Spanish language, their primary meanings, and the semantic network of meanings associated with them. By using illustrations and explanations of spatial relations for the three Spanish prepositions as determined by Whitley, explanations of the system provided by Bull, semantic descriptions provided by the Diccionario de la Real Academia Espanola and the Diccionario de Construccion y Regimen de la Lengua Castellana, and by applying the model of principled polysemy for analyzing English prepositions proposed by Tyler and Evans, the current work provides a thorough description of en, a, and de from a cognitive perspective, that is, in terms of the concepts they convey. In order to provide a more complete analysis for the learner and educator, this work also includes a very brief description of grammaticalized usages of these prepositions. / From the detailed examination of en, a, and de, this work concludes with a summary of the various potential spatial configurations of the entities (trajector and landmark) in a relation conveyed by these prepositions, a summary of their network of senses, and some suggestions for application of this knowledge in the classroom. While approaches to vocabulary acquisition are many and varied, knowledge of the potential spatial configurations conveyed by en, a, and de may facilitate and hasten what is often a lengthy process of acquisition.

This dissertation is a variationist account of two non-standard relative clause (RC) structures in Spanish: resumptive pronouns (RPs) and prepositional-phrase (PP) chopping. Previous typological studies considered RP explanations based on difficulty of processing (Hawkins, 1994), while Spanish-specific quantitative studies proposed a number of factors regarding the relationship between the RC and its antecedent (Silva-Corvalan, 1996; Bentivoglio, 2003; Samper et al., 2003). To my knowledge, there are no previous studies of PP-chopping in Spanish RCs, and the only study of a Romance language, Portuguese, suggests that RPs and PP-chopping stand in complementary distribution (Tarallo, 1986). I argue that the factors favoring RP presence vary according to the syntactic position relativized, and that oblique RPs and PP-chopping are processes independent from each other. / Early in the development of variationist methodology, Labov (1972) had pointed out the difficulties in studying syntactic variables; in particular, their low frequency, compared to phonological variables. RP-containing RCs in Spanish are very infrequent: they represent only 14.5 per cent of the total number of RCs in my data. In order to study the occurrence of RPs in subject, direct object (DO), and oblique RCs separately and extensively, I gathered data from two different sources: (1) twenty-six hour-long sociolinguistic interviews of native speakers of the Lima (Peru) Spanish dialect; and (2) data from twelve hours of sessions of the Peruvian Congress. / Since 70 per cent of the proposed factors did not equally affect the presence of RPs in subject, DO, and oblique RCs, this study suggests that RP occurrence is favored by different factors depending on the syntactic function relativized within the RC. However, some factors are common to the three syntactic positions relativized, in particular, sentential antecedent, a factor that was omitted in most of the previous studies. In addition, the results show that there is a subject-specific type of RP that performs the pragmatic function of contrast. With regard to PP-chopping in oblique RCs, the results suggest that, unlike Brazilian Portuguese, this strategy is not in complementary distribution with RPs, but rather obeys factors related to the characteristics of the RC antecedents. / This study contributes to the understanding of non-standard RC structures in Spanish, and supports the general variationist assumption (Labov, 1972) that linguistic variation can hardly ever be explained by a single factor. Regarding RPs, this study presents evidence against implicational universal proposals like Comrie's (1981) and Hawkins.s (1994), suggesting that language-specific constraints must not be overlooked. With respect to PP-chopping, this is the first study of such a phenomenon in Spanish, and it shows that PP-chopping is favored by different factors than those shown to be valid for Portuguese, and that it is a structure completely independent from RP occurrence.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1983. / Vita. Bibliography: leaves [139]-142.

Thesis--University of Chicago. / Also paged: 29-61. Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1983. / Vita. Bibliography: leaves [215]-220.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Tartu Ülikool, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, 1896. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 5-6). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M.A.)--York University, 2004. Graduate Programme in French Studies. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 137-143). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL:http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url%5Fver=Z39.88-2004&res%5Fdat=xri:pqdiss&rft%5Fval%5Ffmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft%5Fdat=xri:pqdiss:MQ99294

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Toledo, 2006.