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Spanish unos and the article hypothesis

Going Romance 2008 | Bert Le Bruyn

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CHALLENGE 1

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Facts

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.’

I take unos...otros to be a fixed expression (see also Gutiérrez-Rexach 2001 and Martí 2007).

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Questions

Why is it that unos behave in this way ?

What is it that makes unos special compared to other determiners ?

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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.

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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 ?

Dos estudiantes son abogados.ok

Algodos estudiantes son abogados.*

-> Back to where we were...

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Previous analyses

Why is it that unos behaves in this way ?

What is it that makes unos special compared to other determiners ?

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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.

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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 ?

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Argumentation

1. The indefinite article loses part of its semantic content

-> partitive reading possibleOne student came to see me.

-> partitive reading impossibleA student came to see me.

Prediction: unos did allow for partitive readings in Early Spanish.

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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 PedroIntended: ‘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)

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Argumentation

Two potential problems:

- only 1 example It might be an accident...

- it’s a translation The original text might have had some influence...

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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 XGeneral Estoria +/- 1270

AnonymousManuscrito Escurialense +/- 1260

Casiodoro de ReinaBiblia Reina-Valera +/- 1570

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8

6translations!

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Argumentation

-> Can we safely assume that there is no real interference of the original text ?

- it’s a translation The original text might have had some influence...

YES

-> Compare examples to the source text

Manuscrito Escurialense Vulgata

Reina-Valera Textus Receptus(Stephanus 1550)

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tha

nk

s to

Co

rien

Ba

ry fo

r ch

ec

kin

g!

Textus Receptus Reina-ValeraMatthew 28:11 - -Luke 13:31 - unosActs 23:9 - -Acts 24:1 - algunosHebrews 3:16 - algunosJohn 9:40 ek + genitive def. pl. ciertosMark 12:13 tinas + genitive def. pl. algunosActs 21:16 genitive def. pl. algunosActs 19:13 tines + apo + def. pl. algunosActs 15:2 tinas + ek + def. pl. -John 7:25 tines + ek + def. pl. unosMatthew 9:3 tines + genitive def. pl. algunosMatthew 12:38 tines + genitive def. pl. algunosMark 2:6 tines + genitive def. pl. algunosMark 7:1 tines + genitive def. pl. algunosMark 11:5 tines + genitive def. pl. unosMark 15:35 tines + genitive def. pl. unosLuke 6:2 tines + genitive def. pl. algunosLuke 9:27 tines + genitive def. pl. algunosLuke 19:39 tines + genitive def. pl. algunosLuke 20:27 tines + genitive def. pl. unosLuke 20:39 tines + genitive def. pl. unosLuke 24:24 tines + genitive def. pl. algunosActs 10:23 tines + genitive def. pl. algunosActs 19:31 tines + genitive def. pl. algunosActs 23:12 tines + genitive def. pl. algunosRomans 11:17 tines + genitive def. pl. algunos

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Argumentation

Two potential problems:

- only 1 example It might be an accident...

- it’s a translation The original text might have had some influence...

( )

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Argumentation

2. Important gain in frequency of the indefinite article

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Argumentationun N

uno N

una N

Corpus del Español, Mark Davies

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Argumentation

Prediction: important gain in frequency for unos.

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Argumentation

unos N

Prediction: important gain in frequency for unos.

unas N

Corpus del Español, Mark Davies

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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

# bare singulars: sample of 25

# singulars with un: sample of 25

How many are referred back to ?

# bare singulars: 0

# singulars with un: 17

0%

68%

pronoun, definite DP

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Argumentation

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

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Argumentation

Corpus study: Libro del Cavallero Cifar (+/- 1300)

-> compare plurals with and without unos

# bare plurals: sample of 28

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

# plurals with unos: 28

How many are referred back to ?

# bare plurals: 3

# plurals with unos: 18

pronoun, definite DP

11%

64%

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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.

un unos

+

+ by 1570 unos had started losing part of its partitive potential (algunos had become far more frequent in partitives).

+ unos is parallel to the indefinite article in not allowing partitive readings

Unos functions as a plural indefinite article.

Prediction: important gain in frequency for unos.

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Intermediate summary

Spanish allows for bare plurals...

Spanish unos only allows for collective readings...

Unos doesn’t function as a plural indefinite article.

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CHALLENGE 2

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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.

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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 ?

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My analysis

bare plurals introduce discourse referents that are low in salience

-> they are not the standard way to introduce new discourse referents

If this analysis makes sense it would:

-> account for Laca’s intuition

-> account for the facts

-> leave for unos the role of indefinite plural article (being the standard default det to introduce DRs)

CH 2

CH 1

-> they are only used to introduce discourse referents that are not likely to be picked in later discourse

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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

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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.

Walker, Joshi & Prince (1998)

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

(ii) He washed the windows. He = Jeff

Preferred Center member of FLC ranked highest

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My analysis

Basic intuition

Bare plurals introduce discourse referents that are not likely to be picked up.

Centering Theory

Walker, Joshi & Prince (1998)

Forward-Looking Center members are ranked according to discourse salience

How is discourse salience decided ?

Subject > Object > Other

(i) Jeff helped Dick wash the car.

(ii) He washed the windows.

Standard

Addition a certain types of NPs/DPs can be independently marked for (a degree of) salience

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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

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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

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My analysis

discourse entity 1

discourse entity 2

discourse entity 3

...

Grammatical Function

unos

this

bare nominals

Information Structure

discourse entity 3

discourse entity 1

discourse entity 2

...

Forward-Looking Center (unranked)

Forward-Looking Center (ranked)

...

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My analysis

v u

Juan (v)

plural (u)

manzana (u)

compró (v,u)

v u

John (v)

apple (u)

bought (v,u)

v u

Juan (v)

plural (u)

manzana (u)

compró (v,u)

Juan compró unas manzanas.

John bought this apple.

Juan compró manzanas.

John bought applesJohn bought UNOS apples

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My analysis

v u

Juan (v)

plural (u)

manzana (u)

compró (v,u)

v u

John (v)

apple (u)

bought (v,u)

v u

Juan (v)

plural (u)

manzana (u)

compró (v,u)

Juan compró unas manzanas.

John bought this apple.

Juan compró manzanas.

John bought applesJohn bought UNOS apples

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My analysis

v u

Juan (v)

plural (u)

manzana (u)

compró (v,u)

v u

John (v)

apple (u)

bought (v,u)

v u

Juan (v)

plural (u)

manzana (u)

compró (v,u)

Juan compró unas manzanas.

John bought this apple.

Juan compró manzanas.

Does this make any solid predictions?

John bought applesJohn bought UNOS apples

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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.

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Argumentation

Does this make any solid predictions?

1. Unos will be disallowed in non-salient positions

the discourse referent corresponding to a DP occurring in a non-salient position cannot be picked up in subsequent discourse

DEF

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Argumentation

Does this make any solid predictions?

object in scope of negationEX

Checking prediction

A la reunión no asistieron unos profesores.At the meeting NEG attended UNOS professors

NEG < unosNEG > unos*

1. Unos will be disallowed in non-salient positions

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the discourse referent corresponding to a DP occurring in a salient position is necessarily picked up in subsequent discourse

DEF

Argumentation

Does this make any solid predictions?

2. Bare plurals will be disallowed in ‘salient’ positions

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Argumentation

Does this make any solid predictions?

Contreras (1991), Olarrea (1996), Zagona (2002)

Los estudiantes compramos un coche.

The students bought-1pl. a car.

[IPpro[IPLos estudiantes [INFLcompramos ] [VP t t un coche ] ] ]jj iik

EX

to be felicitous María has to be the antecedent of pro

-> the Spanish preverbal subject position is a salient position

to be felicitous the DR of María has to be picked up

2. Bare plurals will be disallowed in ‘salient’ positions

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Argumentation

Does this make any solid predictions?

Políticos han ocupado el palacio.*

Checking prediction

Politicians have occupied the palace.

2. Bare plurals will be disallowed in ‘salient’ positions

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SUMMARY

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Summary

Challenge 1

Why does unos behave the way it does ?

Challenge 2

How to account for the tendency of bare plurals to not be picked up without stating that they don’t introduce discourse referents ?

It became an article

What about the bare plural ?

The bare plural is not the default way to introduce discourse referents.

By appealing to the notion of discourse salience.

dia

chro

nic

syn

chro

nic

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The End

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References

LiteratureBlazer, 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.

Corporahttp://corpus.rae.es/cordenet.htmlhttp://www.biblegateway.comhttp://www.corpusdelespanol.orgLibro del Caballero Zifar, edition by Cristina González, 1983, Madrid, Ediciones Cátedra.