Reflexive Pronoun as Discourse Focus Marker: The Case of Spanish Morir vs. Morirse

1. Reflexive Pronoun as Discourse Focus Marker: The Case of Spanish Morir vs. Morirse Jeffrey S. Turley Brigham Young University

2. Uncontroversial claims about reflexive marking on morir (a) Geographicalconstraints: reflexive more common in certain regions (Caracas, Madrid, Mexico City) (b) Register constraints: The non-reflexive form is preferred in technical and formal registers.

3. Uncontroversial claims (cont.) (c) Syntacticconstraints: Presence of dative pronoun guarantees presence of reflexive pronoun Example: Es duro, ir al funeral de una hija que *(se)[reflexive]te[dative]hamuerto. ‘It’s hard, going to a funeral of one of your daughters who has died.’ (Spain, Oral)

4. Uncontroversial claims (cont.) (d) Pragmatic constraints: If the subject’s death is common knowledge, the reflexive form is extremely rare En 1953 (??se )murió Stalin y me liberaron. ‘Stalin died in 1953, and I was set free.’ (Spain)

5. Uncontroversial claims (cont.) Semantic constraints: (1) Metaphorical death, human subject; reflexive formrequired Yo casi *(me)muerode la felicidad. ‘I nearly died from happiness.’ (Bogotá)

6. Uncontroversial claims (cont.) Semantic constraints (cont.): (2) Metaphorical death, inanimate subject;non-reflexive form required Las olas son distintas, pero todas acaban en espuma al morir(*se) en la playa. ‘Waves are different, but they all turn to foam as they die on the beach.’ (Spain)

7. Uncontroversial claims (cont.) Semantic constraints (cont.): (3) Death from external causes tends to correlate with non-reflexive morir Este hombre ¿ah? le disparó un balazo a la señora, y ??(se) murióla señora, ahí. ‘This man, eh? he shot the lady, and the lady died on the spot.’ (Santiago de Chile)

8. Uncontroversial claims (cont.) Semantic constraints (cont.): (4) Death from internal causes (including suicide) tends to correlate with reflexive morir Pero el señor ??(se) muriódel corazón ‘But the man died of a heart attack.’ (Buenos Aires)

9. Tokens of morir(se) accounted for by known syntactic and semantic constraints (presence of dative pronoun, cause of death, metaphor)

10. Apparent interchangeability of reflexive and non-reflexive forms No por eso es tolerable que se mueran los amigos, es intolerable que mueran. ‘That doesn’t make it bearable that your friends die; it’s unbearable that they die.’(from Javier Marías, Mañana en la batalla piensa en mí)

11. Focus-structure types(Lambrecht 1994) Sentence focus [What happened?] My CAR broke down. (Focus is on both subject and predicate.) Topic/Theme: x = something happened Comment (Focus): My car broke down.(=x)

12. Focus-structure types, cont.(Lambrecht 1994) Predicate focus [What happened to your car?] My car / It broke DOWN. (Focus is on predicate) Topic/Theme: x = your car Comment (Focus): x broke down

13. Focus-structure types, cont.(Lambrecht 1994) Argument focus [I heard your motorcycle broke down?] My CAR broke down. (Focus is on an argument) Topic/Theme: x broke down Comment (Focus): x = my car

14. Celebrity-subject sentences Unamuno nació, pues, en BILBAO, en el año 1864, y (??se)murióen SALAMANCA en el año 1937. ‘So Unamuno was born in BILBAO in the year 1864, and died in SALAMANCA in the year 1937. (Seville) [Implied question (of underlined clause): Where and when did Unamuno die? Topic: Unamuno died in place x and time t Comment (Focus): x = Salamanca; t = 1937]

15. Celebrity-subject sentences (??Se) murióen CERDEÑAy está enterrado en la catedral de CAGLIARI. ‘He died in SARDINIAand he’s buried in the Cagliari CATHEDRAL.’ (Spain) [Implied question (of underlined clause): Where did Martin I of Sicily die? Topic: Martin I of Sicily died in place x Comment (Focus): x = Sardinia]

16. Celebrity-subject sentences (??Se) muereluchando por la LIBERTAD. ‘He dies while fighting for FREEDOM.’ (San José) [Implied question: How does José Martí die? Topic: Martí dies in manner x Comment (Focus): x = fighting for freedom]

17. Adverbial argument-focus structure, non-celebrity subject No sé CUÁNDO voy a mo... (??me)voy amorir. ‘I don’t know WHEN I’m going to d…going to die.’ (Bogotá) [Implied question: When am I going to die? Topic: I’m going to die at time t Comment (focus): t = I don’t know when]

18. Predicate Focus, Celebrity Subject(The speaker is quoting what the writer Ernesto Sábato said before he died) (??Me)quiero morira la ANTIGUA, en CASA y sin TUBOS ni APARATOS. ‘I want to die the old FASHIONED way, at HOME and with no TUBES or MACHINES.’ (Bogotá) [Implied question: How do I want to die? Topic: I’m going to die in manner y Comment (focus): y = in the old fashioned way, etc.]

19. Predicate Focus, celebrity subject Por ejemplo, ROCABRUNA, que era bastante BUENO, ya ??(se)MURIÓ. ‘For example, ROCABRUNA [a celebrated violinist], who was quite GOOD, already DIED. (Mexico) [Implied question: What happened to Rocabruna? Topic: x happened to Rocabruna Comment (focus): x = he died]

20. Argument-focus structure Subject focus La tía ESTELAmurió soltera, la tía EMAmuriósoltera,… ‘AuntESTELA died single, AuntEMA died single,…’ (Santiago de Chile)

21. Morir as part of topic domain, part of presupposed information appearing in a peripheral clause Adverbial topic clause Cuando murió mi PADRE, vivían mis ABUELOS. ‘When my FATHER died, my GRANDPARENTS were still alive.’ (La Paz) [Implied question: What was the state of affairs when my father died? Topic: when my father died, x was the state of affairs] Comment (focus): x = my grandparents were alive]

22. Morir aspart of topic domain, part of presupposed information appearing in a peripheral clause Relative topic clause Y en realidad la muerte de ADONIA, que era una persona tan BUENA, casi una GRACIA de DIOS, una persona que murió / MURIÓsin SUFRIR. ‘And really the death of ADONIA, who was such a good PERSON, almost a GIFT from GOD, a person who died /DIEDwith no SUFFERING.’ (Bogotá) [Implied question for underlined portion: What kind of person was Adonia, who, by the way, died? Topic: Adonia was x kind of person] Comment (focus): x = one who did not suffer

23. Exceptional reflexive marking on morir when it’s within topic domain ¿Y QUIÉNsemurióPRIMERO, tía? ‘And WHO died FIRST, auntie? (Mexico) [Topic: x and y died Comment (focus): x or y died first]

24. Exceptional reflexive marking on morir when it’s within topic domain Porque el PAPÁ de él se muriócuando él tenía creo que UN año o TRES años. ‘Because his FATHER died when he was I think ONE year or TWO years old.’ (Caracas) [Implied question: How old was he when his father died? Topic: his father died at time t Comment (focus): t = when he was one or two years old]

25. Topic-status of morir as predictor of non-reflexivemarking; N=79

26. Death of subject referent ispresupposed or common knowledge Informant: Y tuve un hermano engresado [sic] en el hospital de allí. Íbamos muy a menudo porque nosotros lo enterramos allí. Y... Interviewer: ¿Así que murió? [Predicate focus] Informant: ‘And I had a brother who was in the hospital there. We used to go there often because we buried him there. And… Interviewer: So he died?’ (Havana) [Predicate focus]

27. Death of subject referent ispresupposed or common knowledge Éramos tres. En este momento somos dos, porque mi hermano murió n...hace tres años. ‘There used to be three of us. But right now there are only two, because my brother died um…three years ago.’(Lima)

28. Death of subject referent ispresupposed or common knowledge Informant: Fue un hombre que... lo ayudó mucho la situación que tuvo porque... él trabajó ad honorem muchos años. […] Interviewer: Y su madre, ¿ella SÍ vive? Informant: Mi madre es limeña. Mi madre es...una cristiana pero así auténtica, muy conforme a la voluntad de Dios. La mejor prueba fue que mi padre murió repentinamente, y yo en mi madre no vi sólo una resignación. Informant: ‘He [my father] was a man who…his situation helped him a lot because…he worked ad honoremfor many years. […] Interviewer: And your mother, she IS still alive? Informant: My mother is from Lima. My mother is…such an authentic Christian, very much resigned to the will of God. The best proof of that was when my father died suddenly, and I saw in my mother nothing but resignation.’ (Lima)

29. Death of subject referent ispresupposed or common knowledge Informant: Si, ya... cuando ustedes la conocieron, ya estaba muy mansa; ya estaba muy vieja la pobre, muy enferma. Interviewer: ¿De qué murió mamá Catalina? Informant: ‘Well, by the time you all knew her, she was very gentle; the poor thing was very old by that time, very sick. Interviewer: What did Grandma Catalina dieof?’ (Mexico)

30. Non-reflexive morir in sentences with generic or indeterminate subjects Lo que tienen que comer se lo reparten: el quetenga menos energías muere primero, muere el viejo, o el muchacho... ‘What they have to eat they dole out: he who has the least amount of energy dies first, an old man dies, or a boy’ (Caracas)

31. Non-reflexive morir in sentences with generic or indeterminate subjects Informant A: Cuando nos damos cuenta que tenemos ochenta años, ya es demasiado tarde, pues, para intentar rehacer la vida en otro tipo de institución, entonces... todos morimos... Interviewer: Casados. Informant A: Casados, entonces... Interviewer: Claro. Informant B: Pobrecitos de los quemuerenno casados. Informant A: When we realize we are eighty years old, and, well, by then it’s too late to try to start life over again in another kind of institution, then…we all die… Interviewer: Married. Informant A: OK, married... Interviewer: Right. Informant B: Those poor souls whodie without every getting married. (Caracas)

32. Non-reflexive morir in sentences with generic or indeterminate subjects Los famosos mallorquines aquellos, misioneros mallorquines, unosmueren y otros... otros se marchan. [predicate focus] ‘Those celebrated Majorcans, Majorcan missionaries, somedie and others…others leave.’ (Canary Islands) [predicate focus]

33. Table 2: Summary of Non-Reflexive morir

34. Examples of predicate-focus structure with reflexive morir A todo VIEJITO le ponen su TRABAJO, y no se ponen a pensar: ÉSTEse va a MORIR, le vamos a costear el ENTIERRO y no nos CONVIENE. ‘They give every old MAN a JOB, and they don’t stop to think: THIS guy is going to DIE, we’re going to have to cover his BURIAL and it’s not in our best INTEREST.’ (Bogotá) [Implied question (of underlined portion): What’s going to happen to an old man? Topic: x is going to happen to an old man Comment (focus): x = die]

35. Examples of sentence-focus structure with reflexive morir …y se CASÓ por allá con un JUDÍO y después seMURIÓ el JUDÍO y se casó con no sé QUIÉN. ‘…and she married a JEW there and then the JEWDIED and she married who knows WHO.’ (Caracas) [Implied question (of underlined portion): What happened next? Topic: something is going to happen next = x Comment (focus): x = the Jew died] (Sentence focus)

36. Relative clause of a presentational (thetic) sentence Hay gente queseMUEREcon NOVENTA años y nunca ha MADURADO. ‘There are people who DIEwhen they’re NINETY years old and have never grown UP.’ (Spain) [Implied question (of underlined portion): What sort of people are there? Topic: There are people with property x Comment (focus): x = they die]

37. “Oddly enough” test for focus in relative clauses (Erteschik-Shir 1998) (1) Oddly enough, there are PEOPLE who DIE when they’re ninety years OLD. = There are PEOPLE who, oddly enough, DIE when they’re ninety years OLD. (2) Oddly enough, he talked about the PEOPLE who DIED when they were ninety years OLD. ≠ He talked about the people who, oddly enough, DIED when they were ninety years OLD.

38. Table 3: Summary of Reflexive Categories for morir

39. Table 4: Success and failure rates of the discourse hypothesis

40. Overlapping / clashing of properties Informant: En cualquier matrimonio puede llegar el momento en que en algún momento, que uno se dé cuenta que es incompatible. Interviewer: O que desaparezca el motivo que los una... Informant: Claro. Interviewer:-...¿sabes? Un motivo que los una, digamos un HIJO queseMUEREo una HIJA que se CASA, o cualquier cosa. Informant: In any marriage a time might come when one realizes that it is incompatible. Interviewer:Or that the reason that keeps them together might disappear... Informant: Right. Interviewer: ...you know? Something that unites them, like a SON who DIES or a DAUGHTER that gets MARRIED, or anything. (San Juan)

41. Pragmatics trumping semantics Esta carta es muy importante, porque Sand murió por una oclusión intestinal. ‘This letter is very important, because Sand died from an intestinal occlusion.’ (Spain) Internal cause of death (which correlates with reflexive) vs. celebrity / death is common knowledge (which correlates with non-reflexive)

42. The End