On word order in Spanish copular sentences
This paper deals with the interaction between the ser/estar distinction and word
order. In Spanish the VSX order imposes a thetic, wide focus interpretation
(Leonetti, 2014a). This word order pattern is compatible with estar predication.
In contrast, ser predication is typically excluded with VSX in spoken Spanish,
with the only exception of a small set of cases that share an exclamative/mirative/
emphatic interpretation. The well-formedness of estar VSX sentences
can be explained assuming that thetic constructions always include a stage
topic: as estar requires the predication to be dependent on a topical situation
(Maienborn, 2005), and such situation is identified as a possible stage topic, the
conditions for a thetic interpretation are easily met. With ser, in contrast, the
predication is not connected to a topical situation, and thus cannot be linked to
a stage topic. Exceptions are accounted for by invoking a strategy of mismatch
resolution that leads the hearer to interpret the utterance as a manifestation of
an exclamative/mirative attitude.
References (48)
Alexiadou, A
(
2000)
Some remarks on word order and information structure in Romance and Greek.
ZAS Papers in Linguistics, 20, 119–136.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Brucart, J.M
(
2010)
La alternancia ser y estar y las construcciones atributivas de localización. In
A. Avellana (Ed.),
Actas del V Encuentro de Gramática Generativa (pp. 115–152). Neuquén, Argentina: Editorial Universitaria del Comahue.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Calabrese, A
(
1992)
Some remarks on focus and logical structures in Italian.
Harvard Working Papers in Linguistics, I, 91–127.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Camacho, J
(
2012)
Ser and estar: Individual/stage level predicates or aspect? In
J.I. Hualde,
A. Olarrea &
E. O’Rourke (Eds.),
The handbook of hispanic linguistics (Blackwell Handbooks in Linguistics) (pp. 453–476). Oxford, England: Wiley-Blackwell.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Castroviejo, E
(
2008)
Deconstructing exclamations.
Catalan Journal of Linguistics, 7, 41–90.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Clements, J.C
(
1988)
The semantics and pragmatics of Spanish <COPULA+ADJECTIVE> construction.
Linguistics, 26, 779–822.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Costa, J
(
2004)
Subject positions and interfaces: The case of European Portuguese. Berlin, Germany: Mouton De Gruyter.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Diesing, M
(
1992)
Indefinites. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Erteschik-Shir, N
(
1997)
The dynamics of focus structure. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Escandell-Vidal, M.V
(
2015)
Evidentiality effects and the ser/estar distinction.
Journal of Pragmatics (submitted).
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Escandell-Vidal, M.V., & Leonetti, M
(
2014)
Fronting and irony in Spanish. In
A. Dufter &
Á Octavio de Toledo (Eds.),
Left sentence peripheries in Spanish: Diachronic, variationist and typological perspectives (pp. 309–342). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Escandell-Vidal, M.V., & Leonetti, M
(
2002)
Coercion and the stage/individual distinction. In
J. Gutierrez-Rexach (Ed.),
From words to discourse: Trends in Spanish semantics and pragmatics (pp. 159–179). Oxford, England: Elsevier Science.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Fábregas, A
(
2012)
A guide to IL and SL in Spanish: Properties, problems and proposals.
Borealis. An International Journal of Hispanic Linguistics, 1(2), 1–71.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Fernández Leborans, M.J
(
1999)
La predicación: las oraciones copulativas. In
I. Bosque &
V. Demonte (Dir.),
Gramática descriptiva de la lengua española (pp. 2357–2460). Madrid, Spain: RAE/Espasa.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Floricic, F
(
2013)
Les énoncés événementiels et l’ordre verbe-sujet en italien. In
D. Budor (Ed.),
L’ événement à l’èpreuve des arts (pp. 101–122). Paris, France: PSN.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Gallego, Á
(
2013)
Object shift in Romance.
Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, 31, 409–451.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Gallego, Á., & Uriagereka, J
(
2011)
The lexical syntax of ser and estar
(Unpublished manuscript). Barcelona, Spain: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and College Park, MD: University of Maryland.
Geist, L
(
2006)
Copular sentences in Russian vs Spanish at the syntax-semantics interface. In
C. Ebert &
C. Endriss (Eds.),
Proceedings of Sinn und Bedeutung 10. ZAS Papers in Linguistics, 44, 99–110.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Giurgea, I., & Remberger, E.M
(
2012)
Left peripheral interactions in Romance and the syntactic representation of information-structural features (Unpublished manuscript). Constance, Germany: University of Constance.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Higginbotham, J., & G. Ramchand
(
1997)
The stage-level/individual-level distinction and the mapping hypothesis. In
D. Willis (Ed.),
Oxford working papers in linguistics, philology, and phonetics, vol. 2, (pp. 53–83). Oxford, England: Oxford University.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Jacobs, J
(
1999)
Informational autonomy. In
P. Bosch &
R. van der Sandt (Eds.),
Focus (pp. 56–81). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Jäger, G
(
2001)
Topic-Comment structure and the contrast between stage level and individual level predicates.
Journal of Semantics, 18, 83–126.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Jäger, G
(
1997)
The stage/individual contrast revisited. In
B. Agbayani &
S.W. Tang (Eds.),
The Proceedings of the Fifteenth West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics (pp. 225–239). Stanford, CA: Center for the Study of Language and Information, Stanford University.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Jiménez-Fernández, Á
(
2012)
What information structure tells us about individual/stage-level predicates.
Borealis. An International Journal of Hispanic Linguistics, 1, 1–32. Retrieved from
[URL] DOI:
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kennedy, R
(
1999)
Focus constituency.
Journal of Pragmatics, 31, 1203–1230.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kratzer, A
(
1995)
Stage-level and individual-level predicates. In
G.N. Carlson &
F.J. Pelletier (Eds.),
The generic book (pp. 125–175). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ladusaw, W
(
1994)
Thetic and categorical, stage and individual, weak and strong. In
M. Harvey &
L. Santelmann (Eds.),
Proceedings of the 4th Semantics and Linguistic Theory (pp. 220–229). Ithaca, NY: Cornell University.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lahousse, K
(
2008)
Implicit stage topics in French: A case study.
Discours (On line), 1.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Leonetti, M
(
2014a)
Spanish VSX. In
K. Lahousse &
S. Marzo (Eds.),
Romance languages and linguistic theory 2012 (pp. 37–64). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Leonetti, M
(
2014b)
Variation in informational partitions in Romance (Unpublished manuscript). Alcalá de Henares, Spain: Universidad de Alcalá.
Leonetti, M., & Escandell-Vidal, M.V
(
2015)
Metarrepresentación y conflictos interpretativos (Unpublished manuscript). Madrid y Alcalá de Henares, Spain; Universidad de Alcalá and Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia.
Maienborn, C
(
2005)
A discourse-based account of Spanish ser/estar
.
Linguistics, 43(1), 155–180.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Maleczki, M
(
1999)
Weak subjects in fixed space.
Acta Linguistica Hungarica, 46(1–2), 95–117.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Martin, F
(
2006)
Prédicats statifs, causatifs et résultatifs en discurs. Sémantique des adjectifs évaluatifs et des verbes psychologiques. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation. Bruxelles, Belgium: Université Libre de Bruxelles.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
McNally, L
(
1998)
Stativity and theticity. In
S. Rothstein (Ed.),
Events and grammar (pp. 293–307). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ordóñez, F
(
2007)
Observacions sobre la posiciò dels subjectes postverbals en català i castellà.
Caplletra, 42, 251–272.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ordóñez, F
(
1998)
Postverbal asymmetries in Spanish.
Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, 16(2), 313–346.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
RAE-ASALE
(
2009)
Nueva gramática de la lengua española. Madrid, Spain: RAE/Espasa.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Raposo, E., & Uriagereka, J
(
1995)
Two types of small clauses (toward a syntax of theme/rheme relations). In
A. Cardinaletti &
M.T. Guasti (Eds.),
Small clauses (pp. 179–206). New York, NY: Academic Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sæbø, K.J
(
2007)
Focus interpretation in thetic statements: Alternative semantics and OT pragmatics.
Journal of Logic, Language and Information, 16, 15–33.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sasse, H.J
(
1996)
Theticity (Arbeitspapier 27). Köln, Germany: Institut für Sprachwissenschaft, Universität Köln.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
de Saussure, L
(
2013)
Perspectival interpretations of tenses. In
K. Jaszsczolt &
L. de Saussure (Eds.),
Time: Language, cognition and reality (pp. 46–70). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
de Saussure, L
(
2003)
Temps et pertinence. Bruxelles, Belgium: De Boeck.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sperber, D., & Wilson, D
(
1986)
Relevance. Oxford, England: Blackwell.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sthioul, B
(
1998)
Temps verbaux et point de vue. In
J. Moeschler (Ed.),
Les temps des événements (pp. 197–220). Paris, France: Kimé.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Vallduví, E
(
2002)
L’oració com a unitat informativa. In
J. Solà,
M.R. Lloret &
J. Mascaró (Dir.),
Gramàtica del català contemporani (pp. 1221–1279). Barcelona, Spain: Empúries.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Wilson, D
(
2000)
Metarepresentation in linguistic communication. Reprinted in D. Sperber & D. Wilson (2012),
Meaning and relevance (pp. 230–258). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cited by (2)
Cited by 2 other publications
Escandell-Vidal, M. Victoria
2023.
Estar+ILP.
Spanish in Context 20:2
► pp. 257 ff.
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
Silvagni, Federico
2022.
Whenestaris not there: A cross-linguistic analysis of individual/stage-level copular sentences in Romance.
Open Linguistics 8:1
► pp. 108 ff.
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 23 june 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.