Journal article
The realization of information focus in monolingual and bilingual native Spanish
Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, Vol.8(2), pp.217-251
2018
DOI: 10.1075/lab.16009.lea
Abstract
Abstract
The strategies used to signal information focus — the non-presupposed part of a sentence — in Spanish are under debate. The literature suggests that focus must appear rightmost; however, empirical evidence shows that speakers also realize focus in-situ. Moreover, there is limited research investigating the effects of language variety or knowledge of another language on focus marking. We address these questions via a paced elicited production task, testing speakers who learned Spanish naturalistically in infancy, including two groups of monolinguals and two groups of Spanish/English bilinguals: (a) Spanish natives who learned English after childhood, and (b) early bilinguals exposed to English in early childhood (heritage speakers). Confirming previous empirical studies, results show that all participant groups choose a similar range of focus-marking strategies, vastly preferring in-situ marking with rightmost marking used rarely. Results challenge both theoretical accounts of Spanish focus realization and expectations of special vulnerability at the syntax-discourse interface for bilinguals.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- The realization of information focus in monolingual and bilingual native Spanish
- Creators
- Tania LealEmilie DestruelBradley Hoot
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, Vol.8(2), pp.217-251
- DOI
- 10.1075/lab.16009.lea
- ISSN
- 1879-9264
- eISSN
- 1879-9272
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 2018
- Academic Unit
- French and Italian; Linguistics
- Record Identifier
- 9984222745702771
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