Title: Null subjects, agreement and switch reference systems in Shipibo-Spanish bilinguals.
Major Contributors
Liliana Sánchez (Rutgers, New Brunswick), José Camacho (Rutgers, New Brunswick), José Elías Ulloa (SUNY at Stonybrook)
Lab (s) Name (s)
Bilingualism and Second Language Acquisition Group
URL
https://sakai.rutgers.edu/portal/site/faf04848-922f-4ae8-8049-91ad69887472/page/1df6a2ed-b516-4c93-005f-731bb06d6e21
Coverage (countries)
Peru
Languages
Shipibo (Amazonian language, Pano family), Spanish
Date
2002-2011
GENERAL PROJECT DESCRIPTION
This long-term research project focuses on analyzing the distribution of null grammatical subjects in Shipibo and in the Spanish spoken by Shipibo speakers. Shipibo is a mixed null subject language (1st and 2nd person pronouns are obligatory but third person pronouns are optional) that exhibits no subject agreement on the verb.
PURPOSES OF THE PROJECT
Our first goal is to test whether there is cross-linguistic interference in the development of Spanish as a second language among Shipibo speakers in regard to null subjects, in particular, in the distribution of sentences with a first person subject (I came to Lima long ago) vs. third person subjects (he came to Lima long ago), especially in regard to the acquisition by adult L2 learners of Spanish subject agreement morphology and of the pragmatic conditions that make null subjects felicitous. The second objective is to analyze how the grammatical construction of switch-reference functions in Shipibo and the extent to which these structures are transferred into L2 Spanish. Switch-reference is a device for tracking whether the subject of a clause is the same as the subject of a different clause. The project is linked to another long-term project on the syntax of Shipibo conducted by Jose Camacho and Jose Elias.
LEADING QUESTIONS
Is cross-linguistic interference most likely to take place at the syntax –phonology interface or at the syntax-pragmatics interface?
RATIONALE AND AGENDA
Phase 1- Study on null subjects. Completed
Phase 2- Study on switch-reference. Completed
PARTICULAR STUDIES
Study on null subjects.
Study on switch-reference.
CURRENT STATUS OF PROJECT
Completed. An extension to Capanahua-Spanish speakers is under preparation
PEOPLE
Liliana Sánchez. Rutgers University, New Brunswick
José Camacho. Rutgers University, New Brunswick
José Elías. SUNY at Stony Brook.
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
2007 Convergence: Null subjects and agreement in Shipibo Spanish. International Symposium on Bilingualism. University of Hamburg, Germany. May 30-June 2, with José Camacho, José Elías-Ulloa.
Convergence: Null subjects and agreement in Shipibo Spanish. VI Spanish in contact with other languages. George Mason University. March 15, with José Camacho, José Elías-Ulloa.
2006 Convergence in Null Subject Patterns in Shipibo Spanish. 9th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium. University of Western Ontario, Canada. Special session on Language Contact. October 18.
Mixed pro-drop in contact: the case of Shipibo Spanish. Second Language Research Forum. University of Washington. With J. Camacho, J. Elias. October 6-8.
PAPERS/BOOKS PUBLISHED
(2010) Sánchez, L, J. Camacho and J. Elías. “Shipibo-Spanish: Differences in residual transfer at the syntax/morphology and the syntax/pragmatics interfaces.” Second Language Research.26, 3. 329-354.
(2010) Camacho, José and José Elías-Ulloa. “Null Subject Systems in Shipibo Switch-Reference.” Information Structure in Languages of the Americas. Eds. Camacho, José and Guitérrez-Bravo, Rodrigo and Sánchez, Liliana. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 65-85.