Dialectal Variation in VOS Word Order in Spanish

doi:10.1017/9781108674195.012

10 - Dialectal Variation in VOS Word Order in Spanish

from III - Linearization

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 August 2019

Liliana Sánchez and

Pablo Zdrojewski

Edited by

Mónica Cabrera and

José Camacho

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Mónica Cabrera: Affiliation:
Loyola Marymount University, California
José Camacho: Affiliation:
Rutgers University, New Jersey

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Summary

The influencing work by María Luisa Zubizarreta on the syntax–prosody–information structure connection has enlightened the study of the language faculty (Zubizarreta, 1994, 1998, 1999). Her observations have led to much debate not only on general abstract properties of language but also on several empirical domains. Of particular relevance to the understanding of the relationship between syntax, sentence-level stress, and informational structure is her contribution to the debate on the mechanisms that generate VOS word order in Spanish. Zubizarreta’s (1998) pioneering work proposes a formal analysis of the connection between VOS word order, stress assignment, and focus interpretation.

According to Zubizarreta (1998), to obtain a narrow focus interpretation on the subject, Romance languages generate VOS configurations. In her proposal, Spanish VOS order is the result of a short VP-movement operation involving the verb and its complement that leaves the subject in sentence-final position.

Type: Chapter
Information: Exploring Interfaces , pp. 268 - 299

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108674195.012 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2019

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