A number of verb classes in Spanish display oblique arguments that occupy the preverbal position otherwise typical of transitive subjects. Based on this observation, a number of works have suggested that these oblique arguments are a kind of quirky subject, similar (though not identical) to the quirky subjects of Icelandic. In this paper I provide evidence against these analyses. I show that Spanish preverbal obliques have none of the defining characteristics of quirky (or non-nominative) subjects. I also show that phenomena where Spanish and Icelandic seem to be similar are in fact unrelated and depend on entirely different grammatical conditions. I conclude by showing that the word order facts observed with these oblique arguments are unrelated to subjecthood. Rather, I show that unmarked word order in Spanish is regulated by the thematic roles of the arguments of the verb and not by subject properties. Hence, there are cases where an oblique argument occupies the preverbal position because its theta-role ranks higher in the Thematic Hierarchy than that of the grammatical subject.
2019. Weak elements in cycles. In Cycles in Language Change, ► pp. 71 ff.
Gutiérrez-Bravo, Rodrigo
2007. Prominence scales and unmarked word order in Spanish. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 25:2 ► pp. 235 ff.
Halevy, Rivka
2022. What makes the dative-experiencer construction in Modern Hebrew different from its counterparts in European languages?. STUF - Language Typology and Universals 75:3 ► pp. 379 ff.
Halevy, Rivka
2023. Non-subject oriented existential, possessive and dative-experiencer constructions in Modern Hebrew – a cross-linguistic typological approach. STUF - Language Typology and Universals 76:4 ► pp. 545 ff.
2019. Bare singular nouns in Middle Norwegian. In Cycles in Language Change, ► pp. 109 ff.
Moreno, Mitrović
2019. Quantificational cycles and shifts. In Cycles in Language Change, ► pp. 155 ff.
Poletto, Cecilia & Emanuela Sanfelici
2019. On the relative cycle. In Cycles in Language Change, ► pp. 177 ff.
Pöll, Bernhard
2010. Some remarks on subject positions and the architecture of the left periphery in Spanish. Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique 55:3 ► pp. 359 ff.
Salzmann, Martin
2011. Towards a Typology of Locative Inversion – Bantu, Perhaps Chinese and English – But Beyond?. Language and Linguistics Compass 5:4 ► pp. 169 ff.
van Gelderen, Elly
2019. Cyclical change and problems of projection. In Cycles in Language Change, ► pp. 13 ff.
2019. List of abbreviations. In Cycles in Language Change, ► pp. ix ff.
[no author supplied]
2019. Copyright Page. In Cycles in Language Change, ► pp. iv ff.
[no author supplied]
2019. Series preface. In Cycles in Language Change, ► pp. vii ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 7 april 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.