The study of Spanish in contact with Wayuunaiki has received limited attention in generative and variationist analyses. In particular, the possible influence of this indigenous language on some parts of the Spanish language has not been investigated or has been only briefly addressed. This dissertation aims to fill this existing gap by studying two morpho-syntactic variables: (i) the distribution of null and overt subjects (NOS) as portrayed by the Null Subject Parameter and overt subject personal pronoun (SPP) expression as traditionally researched in variationist studies, and (ii) the issue of subject-verb agreement within the theory of features. To carry out these studies, we collected spontaneous data from 27 Wayuunaiki-Spanish bilinguals and five Spanish monolingual speakers. This Spanish monolingual group served as the vernacular benchmark. The NOS and SPP expression are among the most studied topics in Hispanic linguistics, but they have never been systematically researched in Guajiro Spanish. By analyzing these issues in our dissertation, we want to contribute new data to their study and to the properties and factors affecting them, in order to widen the knowledge of how they function in this Spanish language contact situation. In the generative analysis of the null/overt subjects we investigate whether the distinction that occurs in Wayuunaiki between stative and active verbs and the participants’ proficiency in Spanish have an impact on the distribution of NOS in Guajiro Spanish. In the variationist study, a number of independent variables widely believed to constrain variable SPP expression are factored into the investigation to find out how they behave in this particular language contact situation. These variables include person/number, TAM, switch reference, priming effects, etc. The second research topic is subject-verb agreement. This is only investigated from the generative grammar perspective, specifically by employing the concept of features to explain the nature of the subject-verb mismatches produced by the Wayuunaiki dominant Wayuunaiki-Spanish bilinguals. We specifically investigate whether the Spanish conjugation system poses a problem to the bilingual speakers’ ability to produce the native Spanish verb forms vis-à-vis the monolingual cohort and whether this ability is shaped by the participants’ proficiency in Spanish. The results of the three studies contribute to the field of Hispanic linguistics from three different perspectives. The study of NOS adds a new dimension to the pro-drop parameter: the possible role that Wayuunaiki’s double conjugation may play in the distribution of null and overt subject pronouns in Guajiro Spanish. The variationist study provides new data on the topic of SPP expression in a variety of Spanish which, in this specific case, has as contact language an understudied indigenous language. The analysis of the subject-verb mismatches that occur in Guajiro Spanish allows us to differentiate between the status of null and overt subjects with respect to subject-verb agreement and to differentiate between this contact variety and the Colombian vernacular benchmark.

This study incorporates insights from Usage Based Grammar (UBG) into variationist research on morphosyntactic variation in Spanish. Specifically, this dissertation investigates the impact on pronoun use of lexical frequency, or the number of times a finite verb appears in a large data set based on spontaneous speech from 221 speakers in two locales (New York City, NY and Boston, MA), as well as a series of context-based frequency metrics in a Variationist study of Spanish Subject Personal Pronoun (SPP) variation (e.g. Yo creo vs. creo ‘I think’). This investigation elucidates the nature of frequency effects (both lexical and contextual) on pronoun use and on the other linguistic factors that have been shown to impact pronoun use. Through this investigation, this dissertation is able to draw conclusions on the nature of linguistic variation and make inferences surrounding the mental representations underlying sociolinguistic patterns. In the past, frequency has been investigated in subject pronoun production as it pertains to the rate of the finite verb, with researchers counting the instances of each verb's occurrence within a corpus. This approach has produced mixed results. One study has shown that frequency modulates or amplifies the effects of other linguistic predictors, providing evidence that suggests lexical frequency does not directly impact pronoun use in a uniform or monotonic way (Erker & Guy, 2012). A few studies have replicated some version of these modulating effects, though they have not found as consistent amplification effects across linguistic constraints. Other studies have found contradictory frequency effects, showing only a main effect of frequency (high frequency corresponding to high pronoun use in some studies and low pronoun use in others) with no amplification effects, or no frequency effects at all. Further, Usage Based Grammar frameworks, which are often referenced in studies exploring lexical frequency, posit that speakers are not only sensitive to the rate of use of linguistic forms, but also the detailed contexts in which these forms appear. Such “rich memories”, as they are referred to in UBG, are said to constitute the mental representations of these forms. The mixed results in the literature, together with the UBG notion of rich memories, motivate the current study, which investigates the relationship between contextual frequency and pronoun use, since contextual frequency metrics (as opposed to overall frequency) might shed more light on frequency effects in morphosyntactic variation. The contextual frequency metrics analyzed in the current dissertation consist of the frequencies at which finite verbs appear in four combinations of the factor values of two variables, referred to as Switch Reference (i.e. whether the previous verb has a different referent or the same referent as the target site of variation) and Preceding Pronoun (i.e. whether the immediately preceding site of pronominal variation has a pronoun present or absent). The four combinations on which contextual frequency metrics are based are therefore: (1) ‘Different Referent/Preceding Pronoun Present’, (2) ‘Different Referent/Preceding Pronoun Absent’, (3) ‘Same Referent/Preceding Pronoun Present’, or (4) ‘Same Referent/Preceding Pronoun Absent’. Analysis of 88,001 tokens of pronominal presence or absence generally replicate the modulating effects of overall verb frequency observed by Erker & Guy (2012), i.e. the effects of several linguistic factors are amplified for frequent verb forms. Moreover, the analysis of contextual frequency reveals that verb forms must reach a certain overall frequency threshold in order for contextual properties to impact pronoun use. This finding aligns with the UBG prediction that the most frequent context in which a verb appears will dominate the overall pronominal tendencies of the verb, as long as that verb is sufficiently frequent in discourse. Overall, this study concludes that the linguistic variation observed in language use aligns with the usage-based approach that contextual frequency effects accumulate in the mental representations that underlie sociolinguistic patterns.

Submitted by Maicon Juliano Schmidt (maicons) on 2015-07-07T19:25:38Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Charlies Uilian de Campos Silva.pdf: 4289886 bytes, checksum: 64c03a689d1f5339db5848803021e6e7 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-07-07T19:25:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Charlies Uilian de Campos Silva.pdf: 4289886 bytes, checksum: 64c03a689d1f5339db5848803021e6e7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-01-31 / Nenhuma / Esta dissertação de mestrado consiste em uma análise linguística de um livro didático adotado por uma escola pública da rede municipal de ensino da cidade de Triunfo, Rio Grande do Sul, e licenciado pelo Ministério da Educação e Cultura (MEC) para distribuição nas escolas brasileiras. O tópico da análise será a abordagem e o tratamento feitos pelo livro em relação aos pronomes pessoais do caso reto, verificando-se se há o desenvolvimento de uma pedagogia da variação linguística e uma coerência entre os conceitos apresentados pelo livro e a realidade sociolinguística brasileira. Além disso, as concepções de homem e linguagem presentes implícita e explicitamente no livro também serão significativas para a análise. Para embasar este estudo, utilizar-se-á de uma análise epistemológica, com base em Saussure, Labov e Benveniste. A análise, além de uma revisão bibliográfica necessária a um trabalho interdisciplinar, apresentará propostas para uma possível reformulação das atividades e dos conceitos expressos no livro. As hipóteses iniciais sugerem que a variação linguística não seja um continuum no livro, pois é apresentada de maneira tópica. Também se percebe que os conceitos apresentados no livro não são totalmente coerentes com a realidade sociolinguística brasileira, o que expõe o distanciamento entre o livro didático e as pesquisas realizadas por sociolinguistas. Em relação aos pronomes pessoais, o tratamento realizado pelo livro didático não pode ser considerado amplamente adequado quanto aos conceitos, à definição e ao uso desses pronomes na realidade linguística e nas situações de uso - portanto, em situações de enunciação e de variação linguística. / This master dissertation consists of a linguistic analysis of a didactic book adopted by a public school in the municipal school system in Triunfo and licensed by the MEC for distribution in Brazilian schools. The topic of analysis will be the approach and the treatment performed by the book in relation to the subject pronouns, checking if there is the development of a pedagogy of language variation and coherence between the concepts presented in the book and sociolinguistics Brazilian reality. Besides, the conceptions of man and language implicitly and explicitly present in the book will also be significant for the analysis, and the theory of Benveniste will help in the comprehension of these aspects. To accomplish this theoretical intersection, it will be used an epistemological analysis - from Saussure - between Labov and Benveniste. The analysis, besides a literature review required to an interdisciplinary study, will present proposals for a possible reformulation of the activities and the concepts expressed in the book. The hypotheses suggest that linguistic variation is not a continuum in the book, because it is shown topically. It is also believed that the concepts presented in the book are not totally coherent with the Brazilian sociolinguistics reality, which exposes the gap between the didactic book and the research conducted by Sociolinguists. In relation to the subject pronouns, it is expected that there is not an appropriate treatment in relation to the concepts, the definition and the use of these pronouns within the linguistic reality and the situations of use - therefore situations of enunciation and language variation.

Na presente pesquisa estudamos o comportamento do sujeito pronominal no português uruguaio (PU) falado na região de fronteira entre Brasil e Uruguai (Santana do Livramento-Rivera). Associando alguns pressupostos da Teoria de Princípios e Parâmetros (CHOMSKY, 1981), mais especificamente o Parâmetro do Sujeito Nulo (pro-drop), e da Sociolinguística Variacionista (WEINREICH, LABOV e HERZOG, 1968), analisamos uma amostra de língua oral composta de falas de 37 informantes, investigando as seguintes questões: (1) no português uruguaio teríamos uma mudança linguística em curso no que se refere ao Parâmetro do Sujeito Nulo, de modo que ele venha a se tornar um sujeito pronominal pleno?; (2) quais são os fatores linguísticos e sociais condicionantes dessa produção e em que direção vai essa tendência, português brasileiro (PB) ou espanhol (E)? A análise dos fatores sociais e linguísticos selecionados permitiu observar que o PU também passa por um processo de mudança paramétrica, ainda que mais lenta, devido ao fato de estar submetido à pressão simultânea de duas línguas, e se apresenta como uma língua em que, em alguns contextos, a realização do sujeito pronominal é plena e, em outros, ainda conserva as características das línguas pro-drop. Confirma-se, ainda, que essa disputa não está terminada, embora haja indícios nos dados da geração mais nova de que as regras do espanhol vêm ganhando alguma força, talvez pela pressão da escola e dos meios de comunicação. Tudo indica, então, que a base do PU é o PB, porém algumas características do E estão presentes nesse aspecto da gramática. A análise realizada confirma a maior parte das hipóteses iniciais e dá indícios de que o PU e o PB poderiam configurar-se como duas línguas distintas, da mesma forma que o PB e o PE, como aponta Galves (1998), isto é, tudo parece indicar que, mesmo quando os enunciados superficialmente se parecem, a língua interna (Língua-I) seria diferente e os enunciados dos falantes teriam estatutos diferentes, algo que, no entanto, será necessário demonstrar com um outro modelo de coleta de dados, de natureza mais introspectiva. / In this research we study the behavior of the pronominal subject in the Uruguayan Portuguese language (PU) spoken in the border region between Brazil and Uruguay (Santana do Livramento-Rivera). Associating some assumptions from the Theory of Principles and Parameters (CHOMSKY, 1981), specifically the Null Subject Parameter (pro-drop), and from the Variationist Sociolinguistics (WEINREICH, LABOV and HERZOG, 1968), we analyze a sample of spoken language consisting of 37 informants, in order to investigate the following questions: (1) would we have in the Uruguayan Portuguese language a language change in progress with regard to the Null Subject Parameter, so that it will become a full pronominal subject? (2) what are the linguistic factors and social conditions of production and in which direction will this trend, Brazilian Portuguese (BP) or Spanish (E)? The analysis of social factors and selected language programs suggests that the PU is also undergoing a process of parametric change, albeit slower, due to the fact of being subjected to the pressure of two languages simultaneously, and is presented as a language that, in some contexts, the performance of the pronominal subject is full, and in others it still retains the characteristics of pro-drop languages. It is also confirmed that this dispute is not over, although there are indications in the data of the younger generation that the rules of Spanish are gaining some strength, maybe due to the pressure of school and the media. The analysis confirms most of our initial hypothesis and provides evidence that the PU and CP could be framed as two distinct languages, in the same way as the PB and PE, as appointed by GALVES (1998), that is, everything seems to indicate that, even when the statements superficially resemble, the internal language (Language I) would be different and the production of the speakers would have different statutes, something which, however, would just be demonstrated by means of another more introspective model of data collection.

Na presente pesquisa estudamos o comportamento do sujeito pronominal no português uruguaio (PU) falado na região de fronteira entre Brasil e Uruguai (Santana do Livramento-Rivera). Associando alguns pressupostos da Teoria de Princípios e Parâmetros (CHOMSKY, 1981), mais especificamente o Parâmetro do Sujeito Nulo (pro-drop), e da Sociolinguística Variacionista (WEINREICH, LABOV e HERZOG, 1968), analisamos uma amostra de língua oral composta de falas de 37 informantes, investigando as seguintes questões: (1) no português uruguaio teríamos uma mudança linguística em curso no que se refere ao Parâmetro do Sujeito Nulo, de modo que ele venha a se tornar um sujeito pronominal pleno?; (2) quais são os fatores linguísticos e sociais condicionantes dessa produção e em que direção vai essa tendência, português brasileiro (PB) ou espanhol (E)? A análise dos fatores sociais e linguísticos selecionados permitiu observar que o PU também passa por um processo de mudança paramétrica, ainda que mais lenta, devido ao fato de estar submetido à pressão simultânea de duas línguas, e se apresenta como uma língua em que, em alguns contextos, a realização do sujeito pronominal é plena e, em outros, ainda conserva as características das línguas pro-drop. Confirma-se, ainda, que essa disputa não está terminada, embora haja indícios nos dados da geração mais nova de que as regras do espanhol vêm ganhando alguma força, talvez pela pressão da escola e dos meios de comunicação. Tudo indica, então, que a base do PU é o PB, porém algumas características do E estão presentes nesse aspecto da gramática. A análise realizada confirma a maior parte das hipóteses iniciais e dá indícios de que o PU e o PB poderiam configurar-se como duas línguas distintas, da mesma forma que o PB e o PE, como aponta Galves (1998), isto é, tudo parece indicar que, mesmo quando os enunciados superficialmente se parecem, a língua interna (Língua-I) seria diferente e os enunciados dos falantes teriam estatutos diferentes, algo que, no entanto, será necessário demonstrar com um outro modelo de coleta de dados, de natureza mais introspectiva. / In this research we study the behavior of the pronominal subject in the Uruguayan Portuguese language (PU) spoken in the border region between Brazil and Uruguay (Santana do Livramento-Rivera). Associating some assumptions from the Theory of Principles and Parameters (CHOMSKY, 1981), specifically the Null Subject Parameter (pro-drop), and from the Variationist Sociolinguistics (WEINREICH, LABOV and HERZOG, 1968), we analyze a sample of spoken language consisting of 37 informants, in order to investigate the following questions: (1) would we have in the Uruguayan Portuguese language a language change in progress with regard to the Null Subject Parameter, so that it will become a full pronominal subject? (2) what are the linguistic factors and social conditions of production and in which direction will this trend, Brazilian Portuguese (BP) or Spanish (E)? The analysis of social factors and selected language programs suggests that the PU is also undergoing a process of parametric change, albeit slower, due to the fact of being subjected to the pressure of two languages simultaneously, and is presented as a language that, in some contexts, the performance of the pronominal subject is full, and in others it still retains the characteristics of pro-drop languages. It is also confirmed that this dispute is not over, although there are indications in the data of the younger generation that the rules of Spanish are gaining some strength, maybe due to the pressure of school and the media. The analysis confirms most of our initial hypothesis and provides evidence that the PU and CP could be framed as two distinct languages, in the same way as the PB and PE, as appointed by GALVES (1998), that is, everything seems to indicate that, even when the statements superficially resemble, the internal language (Language I) would be different and the production of the speakers would have different statutes, something which, however, would just be demonstrated by means of another more introspective model of data collection.

The aim of this paper is to study whether there is a correlation between how subject pronouns are introduced in Spanish teaching and the pupils' difficulties regarding both their use and the understanding of verb conjugation. What is being investigated is: a) to what extent and in what contexts subject pronouns appear in Spanish textbooks, and b) how secondary education teachers of Spanish work with subject pronouns in the classroom. My conclusion is that the subject pronouns are under-represented in Spanish textbooks, probably due to the interpretation of the null subject parameter and Spanish as a pro-drop language. As far as the work with subject pronouns in the classroom is concerned, a more in-depth analysis needs to be carried out in order to be able to demonstrate a reliable correlation between the teaching method and the students' results. / Syftet med detta arbete är att studera om det finns ett samband mellan hur subjektspronomina introduceras i spanskaundervisningen och elevernas svårigheter kring både användandet av dessa och förståelsen för verbböjning. Det som undersöks är: a) i vilken utsträckning och i vilka sammanhang förekommer subjektspronomina i läromedel för undervisning i spanska, och b) hur högstadielärare i spanska arbetar med subjektspronomina i klassrummet. Min slutsats är att subjektspronomina finns underrepresenterade i läroböcker i spanska, förmodligen på grund av den tolkning som görs av nollsubjektsparametern och spanska som pro-drop språk. Vad gäller arbetet med subjektspronomina i klassrummet behöver en mer fördjupad analys genomföras för att det ska kunna påvisas ett tillförlitligt samband mellan undervisningsmetod och elevernas resultat.

[pt] A presente tese apresenta um estudo exploratório sobre deficiência estrutural na esquizofrenia, no qual foi investigado o uso de sujeitos pronominais e o tipo de sentenças em narrativas produzidas por falantes nativos do Português do Brasil coloquial diagnosticados com esquizofrenia. Tomando como base a Teoria da Gramática Gerativa, na qual a gramática humana é definida como um mecanismo computacional cognitivo, exploramos a hipótese de que a esquizofrenia acarreta um empobrecimento estrutural no nível sintático. Dois corpora de relatos de sonho e de vigília foram examinados considerando o sujeito pronominal e o tipo de sentenças. No geral, nossos resultados mostram que, comparado ao grupo controle, os participantes com diagnóstico de esquizofrenia produziram uma proporção significativamente maior de sentenças matriz, de pronomes nulos, em especial de nulos referenciais de 3ª. pessoa. Nossos resultados estão de acordo com a hipótese de empobrecimento estrutural na esquizofrenia, especialmente se pronomes nulos forem considerados elementos que apresentam redução estrutural em comparação com pronomes plenos. Nossos resultados corroboram ainda com a hipótese de que a gramática em face da esquizofrenia, possivelmente, apresenta um déficit em termos de categorias funcionais, o que levaria ao empobrecimento estrutural e às anomalias no uso referencial de pronomes (Tovar et al., 2019). Nossos resultados são, portanto, evidência extra de que a deficiência estrutural e uma característica universal da esquizofrenia, ao mesmo tempo em que sugerem que a manifestação dessa deficiência depende da língua, estando, assim, sujeita à variação paramétrica. / [en] The present dissertation is an exploratory study of structural deficiency in schizophrenia, in which the usage of subject pronouns and type of sentence in narratives produced by native speakers of Colloquial Brazilian Portuguese diagnosed with schizophrenia is investigated. Couched within Generative Grammar Theory, in which human grammar is defined as a computational cognitive device, we explored the hypothesis that schizophrenia leads to structural impoverishment at the syntactic level. Two corpora of narratives of dream and waking reports were examined considering subject pronouns and type of sentences. Overall, our results showed significant higher proportion of matrix sentences and null pronouns, particularly of 3Person referential null pronouns in the schizophrenia group as compared to the control group. These findings are in line with the hypothesis of structural impoverishment in schizophrenia, especially if null pronouns are taken to be elements with reduced structure in comparison to full pronouns. Also, our results corroborate with the hypothesis that grammar in the face of schizophrenia might present a deficit in terms of functional categories, which leads to structural impoverishment and to anomalies in the referential use of pronouns (Tovar et al., 2019). Our findings are thus extra evidence that structural deficiency is a universal feature of schizophrenia, while suggesting manifestations of this deficiency is language dependent, being, thus, subject to parametric variation.