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Article published In:
Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism
Vol. 14:3 (2024) ► pp.340–369

Syntactic outcomes of socially (un)restricted bilingualism in Spain

Word order with unergative and unaccusative verbs across two generations of Basque speakers

ORCID logo | University of Miami

The present study uses the apparent-time construct to analyze cross-generational variability of word order in unergative and unaccusative constructions in Basque (e.g., negar ein ‘to cry’ and heldu ‘to arrive’, respectively). It considers the results of an acceptability judgment as well as elicitation tasks carried out among two generations of Basque native speakers (55–75 years old, and 35–45 years old). Unlike the younger participants, the older participants lack the syntactic focus strategy. It is proposed that this lack among the older participants was conditioned by the socially restricted bilingualism that they experienced during the dictatorship of Francisco Franco (1939–1975), while the younger participants appeared to have acquired (i.e. recovered) the syntactic focus strategy because they experienced the legitimacy and vitality of Basque in public life and in formal education following the Normalization Law of 1982. Studies in Basque sociolinguistics have identified language changes through feature loss, dialectal leveling and contact-induced change, but no studies to date have identified the recovery of a previously lost syntactic structure.

Keywords: word order, intransitive verbs, societal bilingualism, language contact and change, syntax–discourse interface
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Status of Basque in the Basque Autonomous Community: Past and present
  • 3.Review of previous research
  • 4.Unergative and unaccusative verbs
    • 4.1Syntactic distinction
    • 4.2Discursive context
  • 5.The present study
    • 5.1Participants
    • 5.2Acceptability judgment task
      • 5.2.1Materials and procedure
      • 5.2.2Findings
    • 5.3Short-answer task
      • 5.3.1Materials and procedure
      • 5.3.2Findings
  • 6.Discussion
  • 7.Conclusion and further research
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 31 October 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.21042.gon
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