Spanish unos and the article hypothesis

1. Spanish unos and the article hypothesis Going Romance 2008 | Bert Le Bruyn

2. CHALLENGE 1

3. Facts 1 Spanish unos doesn’t allow for proportional readings. ?Unos estudiantes son abogados. unos students are lawyers Intended: ‘Some students are lawyers.’ ?UNOS estudiantes son abogados. UNOS students are lawyers Intended: ‘Some students are lawyers.’ 1 I take unos...otros to be a fixed expression (see also Gutiérrez-Rexach 2001 and Martí 2007).

4. Questions Why is it that unos behave in this way ? What is it that makes unos special compared to other determiners ?

5. Previous analyses Why is it that unos behaves in this way ? What is it that makes unos special compared to other determiners ? Martí 2007 Syntactic / semantic decomposition of indefinites • number • existential quantification • positive polarity • partitivity implicature unos algunos Claim: Alg- adds the partitivity implicature. Unos lacks alg- and therefore does not give rise to partitive readings.

6. Previous analyses Why is it that unos behaves in this way ? What is it that makes unos special compared to other determiners ? Martí 2007 Question that remains: Why is unos the only determiner that needs alg- to get a partitive reading ? ok Dos estudiantes son abogados. * Algodos estudiantes son abogados. -> Back to where we were...

7. Previous analyses Why is it that unos behaves in this way ? What is it that makes unos special compared to other determiners ?

8. My analysis Why is it that unos behaves in this way ? What is it that makes unos special compared to other determiners ? Unos is the default plural indefinite determiner in Spanish. Unos is the indefinite plural article in Spanish. -> in as far as indefinite articles are grammaticalized markers of argumenthood they are expected not to give rise to derived interpretations (such as the partitive one) Parallel with the singular indefinite article: ? A student is a lawyer.

9. Argumentation -> in as far as indefinite articles are grammaticalized markers of argumenthood they are expected not to give rise to derived interpretations (such as the partitive one) Can we show that unos underwent a grammaticalization process comparable to that of an indefinite article ? -> what does the grammaticalization process of an indefinite article look like ? -> what predictions does this make for unos ? -> are these predictions borne out ?

10. Argumentation 1. The indefinite article loses part of its semantic content -> partitive reading possible One student came to see me. -> partitive reading impossible A student came to see me. Prediction: unos did allow for partitive readings in Early Spanish.

11. Argumentation Prediction: unos did allow for partitive readings in Early Spanish. Following Gutiérrez-Rexach (2001) I assume non-partitive Ds cannot appear in the upstairs D position of (standard) partitives. Present day Spanish: ??? He visto a unos de los familiares de Pedro. have seen a some of the relatives of Pedro Intended: ‘I saw some of Pedro’s relatives.’ Early Spanish: E ellas yendo se, fueron unos de los guardadores a la ciudat. And they going went unos of the guards to the city ‘And while they were going, some of the guards went to the city.’ < manuscrito escurialense I.I.6. (between 1254 and 1270)

12. Argumentation Two potential problems: • only 1 example It might be an accident... - it’s a translation The original text might have had some influence...

13. Argumentation • only 1 example It might be an accident... -> Are there any texts that contain more than one instance of unos de los ? YES Alfonso X 5 General Estoria +/- 1270 Anonymous 8 Manuscrito Escurialense +/- 1260 translations! Casiodoro de Reina 6 Biblia Reina-Valera +/- 1570

14. Argumentation - it’s a translation The original text might have had some influence... -> Can we safely assume that there is no real interference of the original text ? YES -> Compare examples to the source text Manuscrito Escurialense Vulgata Reina-Valera Textus Receptus (Stephanus 1550)

16. thanks to Corien Bary for checking!

17. Argumentation ( ) Two potential problems: • only 1 example It might be an accident... - it’s a translation The original text might have had some influence...

18. Argumentation 2. Important gain in frequency of the indefinite article

19. Argumentation un N uno N una N Corpus del Español, Mark Davies

20. Argumentation Prediction: important gain in frequency for unos.

21. Argumentation Prediction: important gain in frequency for unos. unos N unas N Corpus del Español, Mark Davies

22. Argumentation 3. The indefinite article, in the beginning of its grammaticalization process, is used to mark the introduction of salient discourse referents (cf. Stark 2002, Blazer 1979). Corpus study: Libro del Cavallero Cifar (+/- 1300) -> compare singulars with and without un # singulars with un: sample of 25 # bare singulars: sample of 25 How many are referred back to ? pronoun, definite DP # singulars with un: 17 68% 0% # bare singulars: 0

23. Argumentation Prediction: Unos, in the beginning of its grammaticalization process, is used to mark the introduction of salient discourse referents.

24. Argumentation Prediction: Unos, in the beginning of its grammaticalization process, is used to mark the introduction of salient discourse referents. Corpus study: Libro del Cavallero Cifar (+/- 1300) -> compare plurals with and without unos # plurals with unos: 28 # bare plurals: sample of 28 How many are referred back to ? pronoun, definite DP # plurals with unos: 18 64% 11% # bare plurals: 3

25. Intermediate summary Prediction: unos did allow for partitive readings in Early Spanish. Prediction: Unos, in the beginning of its grammaticalization process, is used to mark the introduction of salient discourse referents. Prediction: important gain in frequency for unos. + unos is parallel to the indefinite article in not allowing partitive readings un unos + + by 1570 unos had started losing part of its partitive potential (algunos had become far more frequent in partitives). Unos functions as a plural indefinite article.

26. Intermediate summary Spanish allows for bare plurals... Spanish unos only allows for collective readings... Unos doesn’t function as a plural indefinite article.

27. CHALLENGE 2

28. Facts + previous analysis Al principio, Juan quería restaurar muebles, At_the beginning Juan wanted restore pieces_of_furniture pero terminó vendiéndolos. but ended_up selling_them ‘In the beginning, Juan wanted to restore pieces of furniture, but he ended up selling them.’ Claim by Laca (1996, 1999): bare plurals do not introduce standard discourse referents, only their descriptive content can be picked up.

29. More facts En la fabricación hubo problemas técnicos in the production there_were problems technical uno de ellos era la construcción de la torre. one of them was the construction of the tower ‘In the production there were technical problems, one of them was the construction of the tower.’ How to account for the tendency of bare plurals to not be picked up without stating that they don’t introduce discourse referents ?

30. My analysis bare plurals introduce discourse referents that are low in salience -> they are not the standard way to introduce new discourse referents -> they are only used to introduce discourse referents that are not likely to be picked in later discourse If this analysis makes sense it would: -> account for Laca’s intuition CH 2 -> account for the facts -> leave for unos the role of indefinite plural article (being the standard default det to introduce DRs) CH 1

31. My analysis Basic intuition Bare plurals introduce discourse referents that are not likely to be picked up. similar intuition about Spanish bare plurals in Laca & Tasmowski (1994) similar intuition about Hindi bare singulars in Dayal (1992, 1999, 2004) -> interestingly both Laca and Dayal end up stating that no discourse referents are being introduced -> this does not account for the intuition

32. My analysis Basic intuition Bare plurals introduce discourse referents that are not likely to be picked up. Centering Theory (i) Jeff helped Dick wash the car. Forward-Looking Center all discourse entities evoked in an utterance Jeff, Dick, the car members are ranked according to discourse salience Jeff > Dick > the car Preferred Center member of FLC ranked highest (ii) He washed the windows. He = Jeff Walker, Joshi & Prince (1998)

33. My analysis Basic intuition Bare plurals introduce discourse referents that are not likely to be picked up. Centering Theory Forward-Looking Center members are ranked according to discourse salience How is discourse salience decided ? Standard Subject > Object > Other (i) Jeff helped Dick wash the car. (ii) He washed the windows. Addition a certain types of NPs/DPs can be independently marked for (a degree of) salience Walker, Joshi & Prince (1998)

34. My analysis Basic intuition Bare plurals introduce discourse referents that are not likely to be picked up. Centering Theory Addition a certain types of NPs/DPs can be independently marked for (a degree of) salience (iii) I been on this one case now about eight months [...] indefinite-this in 58% of the cases the referent is referred back to explicitly Addition b this N comes with high salience

35. My analysis Basic intuition Bare plurals introduce discourse referents that are not likely to be picked up. Centering Theory Addition a certain types of NPs/DPs can be independently marked for (a degree of) salience Addition c all normal DPs come with normal salience Addition d bare nominals come with low salience Addition b this N comes with high salience

36. My analysis Forward-Looking Center (unranked) Forward-Looking Center (ranked) Grammatical Function discourse entity 1 discourse entity 3 unos discourse entity 2 this discourse entity 1 discourse entity 3 bare nominals discourse entity 2 ... ... Information Structure ...

37. My analysis v u John (v) apple (u) bought (v,u) v u Juan (v) plural (u) manzana (u) compró (v,u) v u Juan (v) plural (u) manzana (u) compró (v,u) John bought this apple. Juan compró unas manzanas. Juan compró manzanas. John bought UNOS apples John bought apples

38. My analysis v u John (v) apple (u) bought (v,u) v u Juan (v) plural (u) manzana (u) compró (v,u) v u Juan (v) plural (u) manzana (u) compró (v,u) John bought this apple. Juan compró unas manzanas. Juan compró manzanas. John bought UNOS apples John bought apples

39. My analysis v u John (v) apple (u) bought (v,u) v u Juan (v) plural (u) manzana (u) compró (v,u) v u Juan (v) plural (u) manzana (u) compró (v,u) John bought this apple. Juan compró unas manzanas. Juan compró manzanas. John bought UNOS apples John bought apples Does this make any solid predictions?

40. Argumentation Does this make any solid predictions? Problem: There is variation in acceptability because judgements are affected by potentially different expectations people can have about the relevance of the entity referred to in the discourse.(Dayal 2004) -> Look for contexts that force or block discourse referents from being picked up. -> It’s in these contexts we should find clear contrasts between the bare plural and unos N.

41. Argumentation Does this make any solid predictions? 1. Unos will be disallowed in non-salient positions DEF the discourse referent corresponding to a DP occurring in a non-salient position cannot be picked up in subsequent discourse

42. Argumentation Does this make any solid predictions? 1. Unos will be disallowed in non-salient positions object in scope of negation EX Checking prediction NEG < unos A la reunión no asistieron unos profesores. * NEG > unos At the meeting NEG attended UNOS professors

43. Argumentation Does this make any solid predictions? 2. Bare plurals will be disallowed in ‘salient’ positions DEF the discourse referent corresponding to a DP occurring in a salient position is necessarily picked up in subsequent discourse

44. Argumentation Does this make any solid predictions? 2. Bare plurals will be disallowed in ‘salient’ positions EX Los estudiantes compramos un coche. The students bought-1pl. a car. [IPLos estudiantes [IPpro [INFLcompramos ] [VP t t un coche ] ] ] j k i j i to be felicitous Maríahas to be the antecedent of pro to be felicitous the DR of Maríahas to be picked up -> the Spanish preverbal subject position is a salient position Contreras (1991), Olarrea (1996), Zagona (2002)

45. Argumentation Does this make any solid predictions? 2. Bare plurals will be disallowed in ‘salient’ positions Checking prediction Políticos han ocupado el palacio. * Politicians have occupied the palace.

46. SUMMARY

47. Summary Challenge 1 diachronic Why does unos behave the way it does ? It became an article What about the bare plural ? The bare plural is not the default way to introduce discourse referents. Challenge 2 synchronic How to account for the tendency of bare plurals to not be picked up without stating that they don’t introduce discourse referents ? By appealing to the notion of discourse salience.

48. The End

49. References Literature Blazer, E.D., 1979, The historical development of articles in Old French, PhD dissertation, University of Texas │Contreras, H., 1991, “On the position of subjects”, in Perspectives on Phrase Structure, ed. Rothstein, S., New York: Academic Press │ Dayal, V., 1992, SALT II │Dayal, V., 1992, SALT IX │ Dayal, V., 2004, L&P │Delfitto D. & J. Schroten, 1991, Probus 3.│ Gutiérrez-Rexach, J., 2001, Probus 13. │ Hopper, P. & E. Traugott, 1993, Grammaticalization, CUP. │ Laca, B., 1996, ‘Acerca de la semántica de los plurales escuetos del español, Madrid: Espasa Calpe. │Laca & Tasmowski 1994, Lingvisticae Investigationes 18. │Martí, L., 2007, Natural Language Semantics [online first] │ Olarrea, A., 1996, Pre- and Postverbal Subject Positions in Spanish, PhD dissertation, University of Washington │ Stark, E., 2002, Journal of Semantics 19. │ Swart, H. de & J. Zwarts, 2007, Lingua. │ Prince, E., 1981, “On the inferencing of indefinite-this NPs”. │ Villalta, E., 1994, Plural indefinites in Spanish and distributivity [unpublished manuscript]. │ Walker, Joshi & Prince (1998), Centering Theory in Discourse, OUP. │ Zagona, K., 2002, The syntax of Spanish, CUP. Corpora http://corpus.rae.es/cordenet.html http://www.biblegateway.com http://www.corpusdelespanol.org Libro del Caballero Zifar, edition by Cristina González, 1983, Madrid, Ediciones Cátedra.