Papers by Malte Rosemeyer
Reforming the Spanish Future Subjunctive: Linguistics and Legal Language Policy
International Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique, 2021
The Spanish future subjunctive (FS) demonstrates how linguistics can inform modern language polic... more The Spanish future subjunctive (FS) demonstrates how linguistics can inform modern language policy. The FS is described as an archaism to be eliminated from contemporary legal texts. We analyze a corpus of over 3000 tokens of the FS in Spanish legal texts dated between the 13th and 16th century. The FS has two functions in legal discourse. The casuistic function allows for indicating paradigmatic subordination; the forwarding function introduces new information. Our quantitative results suggest an increase in the usage frequency of the FS in legal discourse, where an inverse trend appears in other genres. As shown by a linear regression analysis, the FS started appearing significantly closer to the beginning of the law article, indicating an increase in the forwarding function in time. In view of our results, reformers of legal Spanish should consider the functions of the FS in legal discourse when advising its suppression.
1. INTRO 2. CLEFTING IN BP 3. DATA 4. GRANGER CAUSALITY 5. RESULTS 6. CONCLUSION! 4
The pragmatics of Spanish postposed-wh-interrogatives
This study analyzes the pragmatics of in-situ-wh-and complex bare-wh-interrogatives such as ¿de q... more This study analyzes the pragmatics of in-situ-wh-and complex bare-wh-interrogatives such as ¿de qué? 'of what?' in spoken Spanish, developing a typology of their discourse functions. The interpretation of such postposed-wh-interrogatives depends on inference processes by the hearer that take as cues both the degree to which the interrogative proposition and the referent of the interrogative pronoun/adverb are cognitively accessible. This relationship follows from the fact that on the basis of the combination of the information states of the interlocutors (i.e., the degree of accessibility of the proposition and the referent of wh) with the information structure of this type of wh-interrogatives, the utterer of the wh-interrogative can predict the pragmatic effect of a given postposed-wh-interrogative token in the hearer. I establish a hierarchy of the different discourse functions on the basis of their potential to change the current Question under Discussion (QuD). In particular, the analysis demonstrates that postposed-wh-interrogatives that realize or imply a challenge to a previous utterance by the addressee of the interrogative have weaker pragmatic conditions than other uses. Consequently, I theorize that challenge postposed-wh-interrogatives are crucial for our understanding of the expansion of the use of in-situ-wh-interrogatives in languages such as French and Brazilian Portuguese.
Open Linguistics, 2018
The present paper analyzes the discourse-pragmatic function of introducing Spanish qué ‘what’-int... more The present paper analyzes the discourse-pragmatic function of introducing Spanish qué ‘what’-interrogatives with the concessive connective pero ‘but’. In some contexts, a pero-preface contributes to the interpretation of the interrogative as the realization of an interactional challenge rather than a request for information (e.g. an information question). We explore the inferential processes by which the pero-preface leads to an interpretation of the interrogative as an interactional challenge and try to demonstrate that this challenge function of pero-prefaced qué-interrogatives may not only achieved ‘ad hoc’ by a local combination of the constitutive elements, but also by conventionalized form-function associations that developed diachronically. In a first step, we analyze pero-prefaced qué-interrogatives in a corpus of spoken Present Day Spanish. There are three main functions of pero-prefaces: to signal that a previous answer to the same interrogative is insufficient, to insist on an answer to a previously unattended request, or to challenge an immediately preceding action by an interlocutor. Using methodology from variationist linguistics, we identify entrenched patterns of pero-prefaced qué-interrogatives that have conventionalized the challenge function. In a second step, we conduct a diachronic variationist analysis of the development of Spanish pero-prefaced qué-interrogatives between 1700 and 1975, testing the hypothesis that the challenge reading developed later than the question reading. Our results show that due to their largely monological nature, the same inferential processes cued by pero lead to different discourse functions in historical texts. Over time, however, the use of pero-prefaced interrogatives started to become more likely in constructed dialogues. We argue that this change reflects an ongoing conventionalization of the challenge function in pero-prefaced interrogatives in spoken language.
Diachronica, 2018
Auxiliary verbs are known to grammaticalize from lexical verbs, but how do lexical verbs acquire ... more Auxiliary verbs are known to grammaticalize from lexical verbs, but how do lexical verbs acquire verbal complements to begin with? This article provides an account of the semantic and pragmatic basis of grammaticalization of the Spanish anterior ('perfect') [acabar + de + infinitive] from a lexical source construction meaning finish. Based on a description of finish in terms of its qualia structure, we argue that verbs meaning finish are lexically unsaturated, with an event variable that must be assigned a value, whether implicitly by inference or explicitly by a verbal complement. We show on the basis of historical corpus data from the 13th-18th centuries that overt lexical verb complements are initially motivated by informativity: the infinitive is used to describe the event when the type of event is unexpected. However, this original constructional meaning is eventually lost due to the process of overtification, which has not been discussed in the literature on language change. Writers started using the infinitive in contexts in which the finished event is not unexpected. The subsequent development of the temporal meaning is motivated by the failure of listeners to accommodate too-costly presuppositions in a particular syntactic context, leading to the reanalysis of the constructional meaning. Consequently, overtification was a necessary condition for the subsequent temporalization of the construction. These findings shed light on possible reasons for the grammaticalization of auxiliary verb constructions, at both early and later stages in their developmental histories. Diachronica 34:4 (2017), 516-558. doi 10.1075/dia.16024.ros issn 0176-4225 / e-issn 1569-9714 © John Benjamins Publishing Company (1) Juan acab-a de comprar un coche. Juan finish-prs.3sg of buy det.indf.m.sg car "Juan just bought a car. "
The road to auxiliariness revisited: the grammaticalization of FINISH anteriors in Spanish
Auxiliary verbs are known to grammaticalize from lexical verbs, but how do lexical verbs acquire ... more Auxiliary verbs are known to grammaticalize from lexical verbs, but how do lexical verbs acquire verbal complements to begin with? This article provides an account of the semantic and pragmatic basis of grammaticalization of the Spanish anterior ('perfect') acabar + de + infinitive from a lexical source construction meaning FINISH. Based on a description of FINISH in terms of its qualia structure, we argue that verbs meaning FINISH are lexically unsaturated, with an event variable that must be assigned a value, whether implicitly by inference or explicitly by a verbal complement. We show on the basis of historical corpus data from the 13 th –18 th centuries that overt lexical verb complements are initially motivated by informativity: the infinitive is used to describe the event when the type of event is unexpected. However, this original constructional meaning is eventually lost due to the process of overtification, which has not been discussed in the literature on language change. Writers started using the infinitive in contexts in which the finished event is not unexpected. The subsequent development of the temporal meaning is motivated by the failure of listeners to accommodate too-costly presuppositions in a particular syntactic context, leading to the reanalysis of the constructional meaning. Consequently, overtification was a necessary condition for the subsequent temporalization of the construction. These findings shed light on possible reasons for the grammaticalization of auxiliary verb constructions, at both early and later stages in their developmental histories.
This paper explores the relationship between refunctionalization and usage frequency. In particul... more This paper explores the relationship between refunctionalization and usage frequency. In particular, it argues that (a) refunctionalization is more likely for low-frequency construction than high-frequency constructions and that (b) high-frequency patterns are more likely candidates as models for refunctionalization processes than low-frequency patterns. It proposes that folk etymology processes be characterized as a type of refunctionalization process because in folk etymology, obsolescent and semantically void morphemes are replaced with morphemes that actually serve a function in language. This assumption allows for an empirical investigation of refunctionalization using an exploratory questionnaire study. The results indicate that usage frequency indeed plays a role in folk etymology processes and consequently, refunctionalization. In particular, participants were more likely to accept false etymologies if the proposed etymon was of high usage frequency than if it was of low usage frequency. In summary, the present study proposes a way to study refunctionalization processes in synchrony.
La historia de las perífrasis deber / deber de + INF: variación, norma y géneros textuales
En el presente trabajo analizaremos la variación entre deber + INF y deber + de + INF en el corpu... more En el presente trabajo analizaremos la variación entre deber + INF y deber + de + INF en el corpus diacrónico multidimensional GRADIA. Nuestros resultados indican que la diferencia entre deber + INF y deber + de + INF en términos de modalidad está condicionada por el género textual. En el español antiguo no encontramos una diferencia entre las dos perífrasis respecto de la modalidad. En el español renacentista deber + de + INF experimenta un fuerte incremento en la frecuencia de uso relativa, y es más proclive a expresar la modalidad epistémica que deber + INF. El análisis sugiere que este efecto es en parte debido a la preferencia por utilizar la variante prepositiva en los textos de baja formalidad, ya que la modalidad epistémica es más probable en estos géneros textuales que en textos de un alto grado de formalidad. No obstante, en el marco del rápido descenso del uso de deber + de + INF después del siglo XVIII esta interacción entre género textual y modalidad se invierte: en el español premoderno y moderno, el parámetro de la modalidad solo parece ser significativo dentro de textos de alta formalidad. Este hecho nos lleva a formular la hipótesis de que el incipiente proceso de sustitución de deber + INF por deber + de + INF se frustró a causa de procesos de normativización sobre esta oposición después del siglo XVIII.
Entrenchment and persistence in language change: the Spanish past subjunctive
In this paper, we demonstrate that like frequency, morphosyntactic persistence can have a conserv... more In this paper, we demonstrate that like frequency, morphosyntactic persistence can have a conserving effect on language change. To substantiate this claim, we analyze the alternation between the Spanish past subjunctive forms ending in –ra and –se (as in comiera and comiese ‘had eaten’). Due to the ongoing replacement of –se by –ra, persistence and frequency are the best predictors of the alternation in our data. First, the persistence effect of a prior –se is significantly greater than the persistence effect of a prior –ra. Second, although –se is basically restricted to third person singular morphology in contexts without persistence, when primed by –se this restriction is drastically reduced. Our results also shed light on the relationship between frequency and persistence in language change. Although both result in conservation, the conserving effect of frequency causes irregularity such as the paradigmatic atrophy of Spanish –se forms. In contrast, persistence can temporarily re-establish paradigmatic regularity and consequently strengthen the cognitive representation of obsolescing constructions. However, this resuscitating effect of persistence appears to be restricted to low-frequency –se forms; because they are generally more entrenched, the activation of –se high-frequency forms relies less on persistence effects.
A match made in heaven. Using parallel corpora and multinomial logistic regression to analyze the expression of possession in Old Spanish
This study applies multinomial regression analysis to a parallel corpus of Spanish medieval trans... more This study applies multinomial regression analysis to a parallel corpus of Spanish medieval translations of the Bible in order to study the different factors that condition variation in the expression of possession in Old Spanish. Our methodology allows us to determine the degree to which less frequent possessive constructions (ART+POSS, as in la su casa ‘the his house’, GEN, as in la casa de él ‘the house of him’ and ART/BARE, as in la casa ‘the house’) can be considered competitors to the dominant POSS construction (as in su casa ‘his house’) as a function of usage context differences. In comparison to the POSS construction, the ART+POSS construction usually expresses pragmatic functions such as reverence, the GEN construction is typically used to either disambiguate a reference and the ART/BARE construction is bound to contexts in which the possessor is highly accessible. Crucially, the analysis also sheds light on historical changes in the balance between structural and contextual constraints on the use of these different variants. Whereas in the 13th century, structural and stylistic constraints are almost equally important, the importance of structural constraints diminishes in the 15th century. The study thus illustrates how in reductive processes of language change, variation due to structural constraints yields to stylistic variation.
This paper compares the diachronic development of tornar(e) + a + infinitive (henceforth abbrevia... more This paper compares the diachronic development of tornar(e) + a + infinitive (henceforth abbreviated RETURN + INF) constructions in Spanish, Catalan, and Italian, a topic that especially for Catalan and Italian has not received much attention. I develop and explore the hypothesis that due to their lexical origin, iterative constructions develop from a restitutive to a repetitive function. A diachronic analysis of a corpus of RETURN + INF tokens from the three languages suggests that the grammaticalization of RETURN + INF constructions can be measured in terms of (a) actionality and (b) restructuring as mirrored in the possibility of clitic climbing. A statistical analysis using generalized linear mixed-effects regression modeling demonstrates an interplay between restructuring and the actionality of the predicates in the development of RETURN + INF constructions: the grammaticalization process affects state, achievement, and accomplishment predicates before activity predicates because activity predicates exclude a restitutive meaning. The paper thus identifies a grammaticalization path for RETURN + INF constructions common to three Romance languages that suggests a link between typological and diachronic observations. At the same time, it identifies differences in the diachronic development of these periphrases between the Ibero-Romance languages and Italian. In addition, it proposes a statistical means of assessing quantitative differences in the degree to which a verbal periphrasis is grammaticalized across related languages.
The Unaccusative Hypothesis was integrated into the Government and Binding Theory by . He argues ... more The Unaccusative Hypothesis was integrated into the Government and Binding Theory by . He argues that while the argument of an unergative verb is base-generated in the Spec-position of IP, the argument of an unaccusative verb is generated in the complement position of VP and subsequently rises to the Spec-position of IP. Burzio explains this movement process with case assignment: since an unaccusative verb cannot assign structural accusative case to the sister of V°, the argument of an unaccusative verb can only receive its case after moving to the Spec-position of IP (structural nominative). BE-selection is thus the result of the binding relation between the derived subject in the Spec-position of IP and the trace of the NP in the original position.
Anteriors and resultatives in Old Spanish
Rosemeyer, Malte (Under review): Anteriors and resultatives in Old Spanish. In Garachana, Mar, Sandra Montserrat and Claus Pusch (eds.), From Composite Predicates to Verbal Periphrases in Romance Languages. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins., 2014
Rosemeyer, Malte (Under review): Entrenchment and discourse traditions in Spanish auxiliary selection. In Kailuweit, Rolf and Malte Rosemeyer (eds.), Auxiliary Selection Revisited: Gradience and Gradualness. Berlin, New York: De Gruyter., 2014
This paper is concerned with the modelling of gradualness in language change. In particular, it i... more This paper is concerned with the modelling of gradualness in language change. In particular, it investigates the relationship between the notion of entrenchment assumed in usage-based linguistics, and discourse traditions. First, I argue that entrenchment and conserving effects in language change resulting from entrenchment are necessarily contextdependent. In the replacement process of BE with HAVE in the Spanish auxiliary selection system, frequent BE + participle syntagms retain BE-selection longer. However, given that these frequencies differ among discourse traditions, different types of verbs are affected by this conservation process, leading to asymmetries in the function of BE + PtcP between the different discourse traditions. Second, entrenchment has a crucial role in the constitution of discourse traditions. In many written texts, language users use entrenched syntagms in order to signal that their text pertains to a certain discourse tradition.
Rosemeyer, Malte (In press): Modelling frequency effects in language change. In Behrens, Heike and Stefan Pfänder (eds.), Again on Frequency. Effects in Language. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter., 2014
Processes of language change in which a grammatical construction decreases in usage frequency sho... more Processes of language change in which a grammatical construction decreases in usage frequency should be modeled in terms of both type and token frequency. This paper analyzes Spanish compound tense auxiliary selection, suggesting that the replacement of ser 'be' with haber 'have' was affected by (a) the salience of haber + participle in usage contexts previously associated with the use of ser + participle, and (b) the general token frequency of specific verbs and of the ser + participle syntagms that form from these verbs. I argue that it is necessary to account for both historical processes in order to explain the synchronic gradience in auxiliary selection posited in influential Auxiliary Selection Hierarchy (ASH), and propose statistical methodology to model these frequency effects in language change. The findings suggest both type and token frequency effects. The former is an actualization process due to the prototypicality of use of ser + participle with telic predicates implying a change of state (e.g. morir 'die'), which are affected by the replacement with haber + participle at a later point in the process of change, whereas the latter is a conservation process evident in ser + participle syntagms formed from highly frequent verbs that, due to their high token frequency, are less affected by the ongoing change. This skewed frequency distribution in the verb population and the resulting conserving effect leads to further changes in auxiliary selection rules.
Rosemeyer, Malte (In press): How usage rescues the system: persistence as conservation. In Adli, Aria, Marco García García and Göz Kaufmann (eds.), System, Usage, and Society. Berlin, New York: De Gruyter., 2015
This paper evaluates the relationship between usage and systematicity in language from the perspe... more This paper evaluates the relationship between usage and systematicity in language from the perspective of usage--based linguistics. In particular, it investigates the diachronic effects of the phenomena of entrenchment and persistence on the development of morphosyntactic alternations. Both entrenchment and persistence depend on a language user's experience with language: They lead to a (temporary) strengthening of the cognitive representation of a linguistic item. For this reason, both processes can lead to the conservation of disappearing grammatical constructions. In order to evaluate this hypothesis, a quantitative analysis of the historical changes in Spanish auxiliary selection is proposed. There is a higher probability for speakers to select 'be' over 'have' as a perfect auxiliary if 'be' + participle (PtcP) has already appeared in the preceding co--text. Over time, this effect becomes stronger. The greater dependence of 'be' selection on persistence effects in later stages of the process by which 'be' was replaced with 'have' suggests that the cognitive mechanism of persistence can be understood as a type of weak entrenchment with a conserving effect.
Garachana, Mar and Malte Rosemeyer (2011): Rutinas léxicas en el cambio gramatical. El caso de las perífrasis deónticas e iterativas. Revista de Historia de la Lengua Española 6. 35-60., 2011
Rutinas léxicas en el cambio gramatical.
Rosemeyer, Malte (2013): Tornar and volver: The interplay of frequency and semantics in compound tense auxiliary selection in Medieval and Classical Spanish. In Van Gelderen, Elly, Jóhanna Barðdal and Michela Cennamo (eds.), Argument Structure in Flux, 435-458. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: Benjamins. , 2013
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Papers by Malte Rosemeyer