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Syntactic movement is a pervasive phenomenon in natural language and, as such, has played a key role in syntactic theorizing. Nonetheless, an understanding of the mechanism that allows a constituent to appear to the right of its base-generated position has remained elusive. This groundbreaking research monograph aims to address this gap in our knowledge by expanding the inventory of languages and data sets traditionally considered in the literature. Specifically, Ortega-Santos analyzes the interplay between focus, word order and ellipsis in Spanish. A major finding that emerges from the analysis is that the tension between linearization requirements and rightward movement is diminished by ellipsis. Current debates on the syntax of the VOS order and preverbal subjects in Null-Subject Languages also figure prominently in the discussion, as novel empirical evidence for the existence of null expletives is provided: a non-trivial issue for our understanding of the Extended Projection Principle and subjecthood across languages.

Complementizers offer a window into the architecture of the left-periphery and further our understanding of the demarcation of the boundaries between the C(omplementizer) and T(ense) domains. Using the articulated left-periphery as a laboratory and Spanish constructions featuring more than one complementizer as a point of departure, the author delivers new insights into the syntactic positions and behavior of Spanish complementizer que along the left edge. These observations have far-reaching consequences to such fundamental linguistic concepts as the derivation of left dislocations, ellipsis, and locality of movement. Of great interest to syntax graduate students and researchers in general, this volume provides a stepping stone to cracking the code on several current syntactic questions, including the widely-contested position of preverbal subjects in null-subject languages like Spanish. In addition, it offers the linguist a bountiful toolbox for the cross-linguistic investigation of a number of left-peripheral and clausal phenomena.

Since the advent of syntactic cartography, left sentence peripheries have begun to take center stage in linguistic research. Following the lead of Rizzi (1997), much work on left peripheries has been focused on Italian, whereas other Romance languages have attracted somewhat less attention. This volume offers a well-balanced set of articles investigating left sentence peripheries in Spanish. Some articles explore the historical evolution of left dislocation and fronting operations, while others seek to assess the extent – and the limits – of variation found between different geographical varieties and registers of the contemporary language. Moreover, the volume comprises several case studies on the interfaces between syntax, semantics, and information structure, and the implications of these for pragmatic interpretation and the organization of discourse. Cross-linguistic and typological perspectives are also provided in due course in order to position the analyses developed for Spanish within a larger research context.

La organización de un discurso se fundamenta en dos tipos de relaciones básicas: ordenación y reformulación. La ordenación supone el desarrollo continuado de un tema estructurado en diversas partes que mantienen un orden entre sí; la reformulación se basa, en cambio, en la discontinuidad del proceso discursivo: no hay avance, sino que se vuelve sobre lo dicho previamente y se formula de manera distinta, más adecuada y válida para continuar el discurso. Este libro se configura como un estudio teóricodescriptivo de los procedimientos de ordenación y de reformulación, con especial atención a los marcadores que manifiestan esos procesos; presenta a los investigadores de la lengua española los conceptos y los presupuestos metodológicos más apropiados para el análisis de estos fenómenos discursivos, acompañados de abundante ejemplificación de textos literarios y periodísticos.

El orden de palabras es un fenomeno extremadamente complejo en el que convergen factores diversos de naturaleza sintactica y pragmatica. La obra que aqui presentamos busca explicar sus rasgos mas relevantes adoptando para ello un enfoque cognitivista y pragmatico-funcional.