Spatial Locative Relativization in Three African Varieties of Portuguese: Unity in Diversity and Diversity in Unity
This paper investigates the formation of spatial locative relativization in three African varieties of Portuguese. While research on relative constructions in Portuguese has deserved considerable attention in the literature, it tends to focus on the European and Brazilian varieties, with locative re...
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MDPI AG
2024-02-01
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/9/3/83 |
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| author | Tjerk Hagemeijer Rita Gonçalves Nélia Alexandre |
| author_facet | Tjerk Hagemeijer Rita Gonçalves Nélia Alexandre |
| author_sort | Tjerk Hagemeijer |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This paper investigates the formation of spatial locative relativization in three African varieties of Portuguese. While research on relative constructions in Portuguese has deserved considerable attention in the literature, it tends to focus on the European and Brazilian varieties, with locative relativization being only marginally addressed. Using data extracted from spoken corpora of contemporary, urban varieties of Angolan, Mozambican, and Santomean Portuguese, we aim to discuss whether there is a correlation between syntactic and semantic variables and the selection of the two main locative relative morphemes, <i>onde</i> ‘where’ and <i>que</i> ‘that’. Overall, the three varieties at stake behave similarly with respect to the analyzed syntactic variables and follow the tendency found in Portuguese varieties toward the use of pied-piping and P-chopping as the dominant relativization mechanisms, independent of the syntactic relation between the antecedent and the relative clause. Semantically, we identified some fine-grained differences between the three varieties, with Santomean Portuguese generally being the outlier or one of the outliers. Crucially, definiteness of the head noun stands out as the one variable that plays a major role in the selection of the relative morpheme: [−definite] head nouns show a proportionally higher preference for <i>que</i> in both AP and STP, which is particularly visible with bare nouns in the latter. This motivates the hypothesis that less specified head nouns show a preference for the un(der)specified relative morpheme <i>que</i>. We further show that the role of language contact is at best very limited. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T18:04:51Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-74cdac60e1c24dbd9682d26142b9eeaa |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2226-471X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T18:04:51Z |
| publishDate | 2024-02-01 |
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| record_format | Article |
| series | Languages |
| spelling | doaj.art-74cdac60e1c24dbd9682d26142b9eeaa2024-03-27T13:50:56ZengMDPI AGLanguages2226-471X2024-02-01938310.3390/languages9030083Spatial Locative Relativization in Three African Varieties of Portuguese: Unity in Diversity and Diversity in UnityTjerk Hagemeijer0Rita Gonçalves1Nélia Alexandre2School of Arts and Humanities, University of Lisbon, 1649-004 Lisbon, PortugalSchool of Arts and Humanities, University of Lisbon, 1649-004 Lisbon, PortugalSchool of Arts and Humanities, University of Lisbon, 1649-004 Lisbon, PortugalThis paper investigates the formation of spatial locative relativization in three African varieties of Portuguese. While research on relative constructions in Portuguese has deserved considerable attention in the literature, it tends to focus on the European and Brazilian varieties, with locative relativization being only marginally addressed. Using data extracted from spoken corpora of contemporary, urban varieties of Angolan, Mozambican, and Santomean Portuguese, we aim to discuss whether there is a correlation between syntactic and semantic variables and the selection of the two main locative relative morphemes, <i>onde</i> ‘where’ and <i>que</i> ‘that’. Overall, the three varieties at stake behave similarly with respect to the analyzed syntactic variables and follow the tendency found in Portuguese varieties toward the use of pied-piping and P-chopping as the dominant relativization mechanisms, independent of the syntactic relation between the antecedent and the relative clause. Semantically, we identified some fine-grained differences between the three varieties, with Santomean Portuguese generally being the outlier or one of the outliers. Crucially, definiteness of the head noun stands out as the one variable that plays a major role in the selection of the relative morpheme: [−definite] head nouns show a proportionally higher preference for <i>que</i> in both AP and STP, which is particularly visible with bare nouns in the latter. This motivates the hypothesis that less specified head nouns show a preference for the un(der)specified relative morpheme <i>que</i>. We further show that the role of language contact is at best very limited.https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/9/3/83locative relativizationAfrican varieties of Portuguesesyntaxsemanticsdefinitenesslanguage variation |
| spellingShingle | Tjerk Hagemeijer Rita Gonçalves Nélia Alexandre Spatial Locative Relativization in Three African Varieties of Portuguese: Unity in Diversity and Diversity in Unity Languages locative relativization African varieties of Portuguese syntax semantics definiteness language variation |
| title | Spatial Locative Relativization in Three African Varieties of Portuguese: Unity in Diversity and Diversity in Unity |
| title_full | Spatial Locative Relativization in Three African Varieties of Portuguese: Unity in Diversity and Diversity in Unity |
| title_fullStr | Spatial Locative Relativization in Three African Varieties of Portuguese: Unity in Diversity and Diversity in Unity |
| title_full_unstemmed | Spatial Locative Relativization in Three African Varieties of Portuguese: Unity in Diversity and Diversity in Unity |
| title_short | Spatial Locative Relativization in Three African Varieties of Portuguese: Unity in Diversity and Diversity in Unity |
| title_sort | spatial locative relativization in three african varieties of portuguese unity in diversity and diversity in unity |
| topic | locative relativization African varieties of Portuguese syntax semantics definiteness language variation |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2226-471X/9/3/83 |
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