Chapter published in:

Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 14: Selected papers from the 46th Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages (LSRL), Stony Brook, NY
Edited by Lori Repetti and Francisco Ordóñez
[Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 14] 2018
► pp. 201–213

Chapter 11. Bridging and dislocation in Catalan

Laia Mayol | Universitat Pompeu Fabra

Xavier Villalba | Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

The exact anaphoric relation between the referent of dislocates and their previous discourse referents has been a matter of much discussion. In this paper, we reexamine this relation under the light of Clark’s notion of bridging (Clark 1977), and connect different anaphoric bridging types with left (LD) and right dislocations (RD) in Catalan. We report a judgment task experiment showing that while speakers clearly perceive LD and RD as different for most kinds of bridging, they rate RD better across the board, suggesting that speakers can use RD for a wider range of uses than previously assumed. Yet, albeit the preference for RD in Catalan, LD seems to be inherently linked to contrastive readings.

Keywords: right dislocation, Catalan, contrast, bridging, left dislocation, anaphora

Published online: 13 August 2018
https://doi.org/10.1075/rllt.14.11may

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