In this work, the primary goal will be to construct the most descriptively and explanatorily adequate analysis possible to account for the complementary distribution of the Spanish copula verbs ser and estar. Over the past several decades, numerous theoretical accounts have been put forth in an attempt to accomplish this goal. Though such accounts accurately predict most types of stative sentences with the two copulas, they often fall short of predicting a significant number of them that are used in everyday speech. The first chapters of this dissertation will be devoted to reviewing a number of existing approaches that have been taken to account for the uses of ser and estar by testing their theoretical viability and descriptive adequacy. Among these are traditional conventions such as the inherent qualities vs. current condition distinction and the analysis of estar as an indicator of change. Those of a more recent theoretical framework, which will receive the most attention, include the application of Kratzer's (1995) individual-level vs. stage-level distinction to stative predicates and Maienborn's (2005) discourse-based interpretation of Spanish copulative predication. Schmitt's (2005) compositionally-based analysis of Portuguese ser and estar, which treats only estar as an aspectual copula, will be of special interest. After testing each of these analyses, it will be shown that the least costly and most accurate course to take for analyzing ser and estar is to treat both verbs as aspectual morphemes along the lines of Luján (1981). As aspectual copulas, ser and estar denote the aspectual distinction [±Perfective]. In my proposed analysis, I will argue that aspect applies to both events and states, but does so internally and externally respectively. By adapting Verkuyl's (2004) feature algebra to states, I will posit that aspect for stative predication is compositionally calculated, and the individual aspectual values for ser and estar remain constant in co-composition. In light of its descriptive adequacy for Spanish stative sentences and universality in natural language, it will also be shown that the [±Perfective] aspectual distinction is very strong in terms of explanatory adequacy as well. / text

published_or_final_version / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics

This study explored language attitudes of high-school-level heritage learners of Spanish. Five varieties of Spanish and English, namely, standard Mexican, non-native and local Southern Arizona Spanish, code-switching, and Chicano-accented English were presented to heritage learners using audio-recorded voice samples. Evaluations were recorded on semantic differential scales designed to reflect two distinct attitude dimensions, solidarity and socio-intellectual status/prestige. In addition to quantifying language attitudes, the study attempted to establish correlations with demographic factors. Demographic surveys and student interviews further yielded information to develop a current description of heritage learners in a formal, classroom setting. Teacher interviews provided insights into program structure and teacher preparation. The ultimate pedagogical goal of this investigation was to define implications for heritage language instruction and for the preparation of teachers for this relatively new, yet growing field. A total of 238 students from programs for Spanish heritage learners in ten schools encompassing four districts, public and private, took part in the study. Structure and practices of heritage programs were found to differ widely, with teachers exercising considerable discretion over curriculum. Students were found to be 90% recently arrived or second-generation students of Mexican, mostly Sonoran, background. Students expressed largely instrumental motivation for their pursuit of Spanish in school and 85% planned to pursue higher education. Results indicate significant differences in students' attitudes between the normative and vernacular language varieties tested. In this academic setting, students' attitudes reflected a distinct preference for more standard varieties. The English test variety was ranked below these and above the vernaculars. Student-participants also showed sensitivity to fine distinctions in register and style. Gender of both speaker and listener were shown to affect language attitudes. Students' habits of language use, in particular the extent of outside reading and radio listening in Spanish, were significantly correlated with more positive language attitudes toward standard varieties. These habits also correlated with higher proficiency levels. These results engendered three salient implications for teaching and teacher preparation: the need to enhance students' outside reading and listening habits, the need to extend students' familiarity with divergent speech styles, the necessary inclusion of sociolinguistic underpinnings in teacher preparation.

No description available.

The Nature of Syntactic Gender Processing in Spanish: An ERP StudySyntactic gender as a lexical feature has been studied via picture-word interference paradigms in many languages. While effects have been found for noun phrase production in many languages, no effects have been found in Spanish, despite the fact that articles, nouns, and adjectives have a syntactic gender. Cubelli et al. (2005) found inhibitory effects in bare noun production in Italian which led to the hypothesis that such effects could be found for Spanish. Experiments 1 and 2 represented attempts replicate Cubelli et al.'s findings (Experiment 1 used an auditory distractor word and Experiment 2 a visual distractor), however no gender congruency effects were found. Experiment 3 attempted to generate congruency effects by requiring subjects to utilize gender-marked demonstratives and adjectives but still no effects were found. The lack of effects gave rise to the proposal that gender is not accessed during noun phrase production in Spanish and that the extreme regularity of the gender-marking system makes an article-plus-noun phrase more akin to a single lexical unit that can be accessed without an explicit synthetic process. Experiment 4 contrasted simple noun phrases that might be directly retrieved to constructions with long-distance dependencies, for which access to abstract gender features is relevant to parsing hierarchical sentence structure and aimed to distinguish these distinct cognitive processes via event-related potentials. The hypothesis was that a local gender violation in a sentence like "la piano" (the-fem piano-masc) would elicit a LAN as compared to the correct alternative, while a long-distance violation like "el piano que compré ayer es antigua" (the-masc piano-masc that I bought yesterday is antique-fem) would elicit a P600. All violations elicited a LAN and all violations involving adjacent segments elicited a P600; critically, the long-distance violation did not elicit a P600. It was concluded that the P600 reflects a repair process which occurs when such repair is not costly to the parser. Experiment 5 was a behavioral study using the stimuli from Experiment 4 with an error detection task which confirmed that subjects were sensitive to all error types.

This dissertation examines the figure of the father in autobiographies published in Spain after the death of the Spanish dictator, Francisco Franco, in 1975. It analyzes how four well-known Spanish authors born in Barcelona, Carlos Barral, Juan Goytisolo, Clara Janés, and Terenci Moix, portray the figure of the father in their memoirs. I consider first and foremost the authors’ depiction of the biological father. Nonetheless, I read this father in relation to the political figurehead of Franco, who was portrayed by many as father to the Spanish nation. The four authors either blame their fathers for being an authoritarian figure in the shadow of the dictator or present him as an absent but alternative model to the singular vision of the patriarchal household promoted by the regime. I argue that these four writers question Franco’s paternity and foster other conceptions of fatherhood in the newly democratic Spain. This dissertation addresses several interrelated questions: To what extent do real fathers collapse and step away from the ever-present figure of the Spanish dictator as a censoring father? How do father figures influence one’s own gender subjectivity and what is the relationship between fathers and the transformation of gender models during the Spanish transition to democracy? In which ways are fathers central in the construction of selfhood in autobiographical writings in general and in post-Franco Spain in particular? The close reading of these four writers illuminates the strong bonds between father figures, autobiographical writing and Oedipal narratives in the literary scene of the Spanish Transition and more broadly in the three decades following Franco’s death. Drawing from psychoanalysis, feminism and theory on autobiography, I analyze how the language, space, body, and death of the father are essential to the construction of an autobiographical self. I also contend that the reading of these authors’ melancholic state after the death of their fathers offers a new way of understanding the politics of mourning in Spain. These authors’ considerations of the figure of the father illustrate divergent attempts to deal with desired and undesired legacies of Franco’s dictatorship and, in this sense, this dissertation establishes a dialogue with current debates about memory, generational replacement, and the politics of inheritance and legacy in Spain.

This dissertation examines the figure of the father in autobiographies published in Spain after the death of the Spanish dictator, Francisco Franco, in 1975. It analyzes how four well-known Spanish authors born in Barcelona, Carlos Barral, Juan Goytisolo, Clara Janés, and Terenci Moix, portray the figure of the father in their memoirs. I consider first and foremost the authors’ depiction of the biological father. Nonetheless, I read this father in relation to the political figurehead of Franco, who was portrayed by many as father to the Spanish nation. The four authors either blame their fathers for being an authoritarian figure in the shadow of the dictator or present him as an absent but alternative model to the singular vision of the patriarchal household promoted by the regime. I argue that these four writers question Franco’s paternity and foster other conceptions of fatherhood in the newly democratic Spain. This dissertation addresses several interrelated questions: To what extent do real fathers collapse and step away from the ever-present figure of the Spanish dictator as a censoring father? How do father figures influence one’s own gender subjectivity and what is the relationship between fathers and the transformation of gender models during the Spanish transition to democracy? In which ways are fathers central in the construction of selfhood in autobiographical writings in general and in post-Franco Spain in particular? The close reading of these four writers illuminates the strong bonds between father figures, autobiographical writing and Oedipal narratives in the literary scene of the Spanish Transition and more broadly in the three decades following Franco’s death. Drawing from psychoanalysis, feminism and theory on autobiography, I analyze how the language, space, body, and death of the father are essential to the construction of an autobiographical self. I also contend that the reading of these authors’ melancholic state after the death of their fathers offers a new way of understanding the politics of mourning in Spain. These authors’ considerations of the figure of the father illustrate divergent attempts to deal with desired and undesired legacies of Franco’s dictatorship and, in this sense, this dissertation establishes a dialogue with current debates about memory, generational replacement, and the politics of inheritance and legacy in Spain.

There is no abstract available for this thesis.

The purpose of this study is to explore and analyze the ars poetica in the work of Eladia Blázquez (1936-2005), and to appreciate to what extent it converges or separates detaches itself from the traditional tango lyrics. Due to her numerous pieces, she is the first and only woman to write both music and lyrics consistently, while proposing a different viewpoint in tone and themes in order to update them to current times. Among them, the major are Buenos Aires, life and identity. The researcher proposes that Blázquez nourished herself on the classics, recreating them while offering new expressive possibilities, shifting at times from their melancholic tone and the moaning sound of the bandoneón, tango’s soul-haunting instrument, to a more hopeful one. Definitely, Blázquez’s renovated vanguard brought about change in Argentinean tango poetry, and the genre back to life when it was agonizing. INDEX WORDS: Tango, Lyrics, Eladia Blázquez, Buenos Aires, Life, National identity.

No description available.