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Multidisciplinary Approaches to Bilingualism in the Hispanic and Lusophone World
Edited by Kate Bellamy, Michael W. Child, Paz González, Antje Muntendam and M. Carmen Parafita Couto
[Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 13] 2017
► pp. 95–119

Chapter 5
Null objects with and without bilingualism in the Portuguese- and Spanish-speaking world

| The Ohio State University
| The Ohio State University

Null anaphoric direct objects (ADOs) have received increasing scholarly attention over the last 10–15 years in Spanish and Portuguese (e.g. Choi 2000; Gómez Seibane 2011, 2013; Reig 2008, 2009; Schwenter & Silva 2003; Schwenter 2014). We synthesize this research and indicate some points of connection and divergence across the two languages as well as the language of bilinguals and monolinguals. Our findings indicate that Animacy, Definiteness and Specificity features condition variable ADO systems regardless of the language spoken or the extralinguistic mechanisms involved in their emergence. These results, we propose, are not coincidental or subject to language- or construction-specific parameters. Instead, they are widespread (perhaps universal) tendencies that are sustainable across languages and diverse linguistic phenomena (e.g. non-anaphoric DOM systems).

Keywords: null objects, variation, Portuguese, Spanish, bilingualism
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Null objects in monolingual varieties: ADOs in Brazilian and European Portuguese
    • 2.1Multivariate analysis of the BP and EP data
  • 3.The effects of bilingualism and language dominance: The case of Basque Spanish
    • 3.1Analysis of the Basque Spanish data
      • 3.1.1Distribution of null and overt ADOs among Basque dominant monolinguals
      • 3.1.2Distribution of null and overt ADOs among Spanish dominant bilinguals
      • 3.1.3Distribution of null and overt ADOs among Castilian Spanish monolinguals
    • 3.2The emergence of null objects across the language dominance continuum
  • 4.Null objects: A cross-linguistic overview
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 31 May 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ihll.13.05sai
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