Direct object clitics in Spanish are morphological markers at the interface of syntax and phonology, morphology, semantics and information structure. We explore variability in direct object clitic doubling and argument marking in bilingual speakers of Shipibo-Spanish and Ashéninka-Perené-Spanish (Mayer & Sánchez, 2017b). We focus on the production of the dative versus the accusative forms of the clitic and on the expression of Differential Object Marking (DOM) (Aissen, 2003; Bossong, 1991; Dalrymple & Nikolaeva, 2011), in particular, on the extension of DOM to definite inanimate DPs and the lack of DOM with animate direct objects required in other varieties of Spanish. We analyze this variability as the coexistence of two different argument-marking systems in these contact varieties of Amazonian Spanish.

Linguistic research on Spanish clitic pronouns has analyzed the expression, placement, and gender or number marking of direct and indirect objects. We first provide a brief overview of the literature concerned with this variable clitic use, then offer a variationist perspective of three specific phenomena, with a focus on their linguistic conditioning: use of se los for se lo in ditransitive constructions (Schwenter & Hoff forthcoming); use of le for les with plural dative referents (Gustafson 2017); and DO (and IO) clitic position or "clitic climbing" (Davies 1995, Torres Cacoullos 1999, Schwenter & Torres Cacoullos 2014). Using both new and existing data and pairing qualitative and quantitative methods, we demonstrate that while these three phenomena are distinct and vary across Spanish dialects, they are united by important cross-dialectal and cross-constructional patterns. Specifically, all three phenomena showcase the interrelated nature of direct and indirect objects and the effects of animacy and referent accessibility on the expression of both DOs and IOs.

It has often been claimed that the Tobler–Mussafia Law, i.e. the ban on sentence-initial clitic pronouns, is based on prosodic properties such as the ban on unstressed monosyllabic words at the sentence beginning ( Mussafia, 1886) or the inherent enclitic nature of the respective pronouns (Meyer-Lübke, 1897). More recent research has identified a number of extra-phonological motivations for this clitic placement, making a prosodic explanation seem superfluous. The present study addresses the question whether Old Spanish, a clear Tobler–Mussafia language, differs in its prosodic patterns from Modern Spanish, which does not show the Tobler–Mussafia placement any longer. The comparison of the data shows that Old Spanish tolerates more sentence-initial unstressed monosyllables and unstressed pretonic syllables at the sentence beginning than Modern Spanish does, contrary to expectations. Together with the observation that the direction of clitic attachment is rather due to the prosodic context (i.e. the immediate preceding or following prosodic words and potential Phonological Phrase boundaries) than to a fixed directionality parameter, this falsifies the hypothesis that the clitic placement pattern in the TML language Old Spanish is due to specific prosodic patterns.

We show that a number of movement-related phenomena from Asturian as well as from the Spanish spoken in the Principality of Asturias, especially from the realm of cliticization, are amenable to accounts where the Pronounce-Highest-Copy requirement positing that the highest copy in a movement chain be favored (i.e. pronounced) in PF can be overridden if convergence so demands. Thus, although the head of a movement chain is typically pronounced, certain PF-related considerations sometimes force the pronunciation of a lower copy, hence circumventing a violation (cf. Pronounce Lower Copy). Therefore, the evidence adduced here supports the view that the requirements imposed by the PF component may take precedence over purely syntactic requirements. In this connection, we argue for a novel analysis of the enclitic-proclitic contrast in Asturian and Asturian Spanish in finite and non-finite contexts, alongside extensions to other constructions (e.g. mandatorily postverbal subjects in inversion contexts), which add to the ample stock of phenomena supporting the rather successful Copy Theory of Movement of Chomsky (1995, 2013).

Historical Metrology: Proposal on the measures of the Antikytera mechanism. RPI CA-134-24. (Fecha del documento: Martes 09 de julio de 2024).