ePrints

Resumption in clitic left dislocation: An experimentalstudy of Peninsular and Rioplatense Spanish

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Gabriel Martinez VeraORCiD

Downloads

• Published version [.pdf]

Licence

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

Abstract

This paper investigates the extent to which clitic resumption in clitic left dislocation (CLLD) of accusative and dative objects is compulsory in two varieties of Spanish, namely, Peninsular and Rioplatense Spanish. We report the findings of an acceptability judgment task that compares sentences with dislocated direct and indirect objects with and without resumption. The study is motivated by two observations in cases without dislocation. First, in Peninsular Spanish, clitic doubling with dative objects is optional but doubling of accusative objects is very marginal. Second, in Rioplatense Spanish, doubling of accusatives is available under specific conditions. Although the results confirm that resumption in CLLD structures is strongly preferred across varieties and object types, differences between dative vs. accusative clitics are reflected to some extent in CLLD structures in Peninsular Spanish. Concerning cross-dialectal differences between Peninsular vs. Rioplatense Spanish, we propose an account that relies on the availability of null accusative clitics in Rioplatense in contrast to Peninsular Spanish.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Gattei CA, Martínez Vera G, Rinke E

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Journal of Linguistics

Year: 2026

Pages: 1-22

Online publication date: 22/04/2026

Acceptance date: 02/03/2026

Date deposited: 23/04/2026

ISSN (print): 0022-2267

ISSN (electronic): 1469-7742

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

URL: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022226726101212

DOI: 10.1017/S0022226726101212

Altmetrics

Share