Aspects of the Syntax of the Afro-Bolivian Spanish Determiner Phrase Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Sandro Sessarego, M.A. Graduate Program in Spanish and Portuguese The Ohio State University 2010 Dissertation Committee: Terrell A. Morgan, Advisor Javier Gutiérrez-Rexach, Advisor Donald Winford Abstract During the last decade, syntactic microvariation analysis, the study of grammatical differences across closely related dialects (cf. Kayne 1996), has received increasing attention. Syntactic microvariation is primarily concerned with the possibility of testing syntactic hypotheses and potential correlations between syntactic variables (Barbiers & Cornips 2001). So far little research has been carried out on microvariation across Spanish dialects, especially across Afro-Hispanic contact vernaculars. From a theoretical point of view, what is fascinating about these languages is their richness in constructions, that would be considered ungrammatical in standard Spanish, but which form the core grammar of these less-prestigious, but equally efficient, syntactic systems. The present study aims to explore some of the microsyntactic differences encountered between standard Spanish and ABS; in particular, it focuses on their nominal domain (their Determiner Phrase). The methodology adopted combines generative and sociolinguistic insights. The collection of the data included sociolinguistic interviews (Labov 1972) and grammaticality judgments. These two different strategies were combined in order to obtain more fine-grained generalizations on the structure of this language. The dissertation has two main objectives. The first one is to offer a syntactic description of the Afro-Bolivian Spanish (ABS) Determiner Phrase (DP) in order to ii provide a testing ground for verifying the feasibility of current linguistic hypotheses and, when appropriate, provide new solutions in light of the empirical data collected. The second goal is to shed light on the origin of ABS by analyzing the available socio- historical and linguistic evidence. This work has theoretical and methodological significance. From the theoretical point of view, it is important because it analyzes Determiner Phrase structures from a microparametric perspective. On the other hand, it is also methodologically groundbreaking in that it combines quantitative sociolinguistics and generative syntax to explore the nature of syntactic phenomena in a little studied Afro-Hispanic variety. iii Dedication Dedicated to Marino, Gianna, Simona, Amanda, Marina, Lorenzo, Terrell, Don, Javier, Manuel and Maclobia. iv Acknowledgments This work would not have been possible without the support of several people. I owe my gratitude to all of them. My deepest gratitude is to my advisors: Terrell A. Morgan and Javier Gutiérrez- Rexach. They have supported me from the very beginning of my studies at OSU. Their patience and help provided me with the means to teach and do research in the academic environment. I have been very fortunate to work with them. I bothered them endlessly with questions, recommendation requests, meetings and telephone calls for several years now. They have been always there to listen and give advice. I hope to one day be as good of an advisor to my students as Terrell and Javier have been to me. I am also extremely grateful to Donald Winford. This professor introduced me to Contact Linguistics and made me love this subject from the first day of class. Don provided me with insightful comments, great advice and constructive criticism on several drafts of this dissertation. Even though I have never been officially one of his advisees, he made me always feel as if I were one. Another professor who I would like to thank is Fernando Martínez-Gil. Besides teaching highly instructive courses on Phonology and Language Change, he was always willing to help me both personally and professionally. v Special thanks go also to Professor Scott Schwenter who motivated me to do research from the very first course I took with him, Quantitative Sociolinguistics. I am grateful to Scott for the help and advice he gave me since my very first conference presentations and talks. Professor Rebeka Campos Astorkiza supported me equally and her courses on Phonetics and Phonology were extremely clear and interesting. Moreover, I literally occupied for almost two years the Phonology Lab, where she teaches, to write this dissertation. Rebeka has always been very patient and able to deal with my books, my papers and my constantly-running coffee machine for all this time! Professor John Grinstead has been a great professor too. His classes on theoretical linguistics have been very useful and helped me formulate several ideas for this dissertation. In particular, his advice and the articles he gave me provided me with theoretical frameworks able to account for some of the grammatical differences encountered between Afro-Bolivian Spanish and standard Spanish. I am obviously also indebted to Professor John Lipski. I bothered him with several e-mails concerning Afro-Bolivian Spanish from the very beginning of my Master’s. He has always been willing to provide me with important data and information. I am thankful to Professor Lisa Voigt who patiently assisted me in several application steps for scholarships and grants. I am grateful to Professor Fernando Unzueta for his advice on academia and his knowledgeable insights into Bolivian culture and society. vi My experience at OSU would have been different and probably not even possible at the PhD level, if I had not received the support of Professor Laura Podalsky, who helped me apply for the Hispanic Linguistic program. I would like to thank several other professors from which I could learn a lot and receive personal and professional support during the time spent here, namely: Charles Klopp, Janice Aski, Peter Culicover, Luciano Farina, Cynthia Clopper, Wayne Redenbarger, Mary Rose, Kathryn Campbell-Kibler, Anton Ryttin, Felix Julca Guerrero, and Laura Wagner. I must thank Lorenzo Sangiacomo, my tireless travel companion and great friend, who accompanied me during several Bolivian journeys. Without his help I would never have been able to collect the data on which the present work is based. I am also grateful to José Luis Delgado (Pulga) and Sara Busdiecker, who offered me accommodation during my time spent in Los Yungas, and all the inhabitants of Tocaña, Mururata and Chijchipa, who kindly welcomed me into their communities and let me bother them with questions and interviews for years. In particular, I would like to acknowledge Manuel, Maclobia, Reyna, Maricruz, Juana, Desiderio, Raymunda, Diego, Daniel, Daiana, Meagerly, Fabricio, Persi, Marta, Saturnine, Angelica, Angélia, José, Juan, Francisco, Johnson, Dainor, Rafael, Víctor, Wilmer and Sandra. Many friends in Columbus have helped me during these years too. I must thank Olin, Mike, Wendy, Pablo, Angela, L’André, Manuel, Melvin, Lina, Lorena, Meghan, Jennifer, Mary, Patrick, Douglas, Pilar, Whitney, Samuel, Diego, Marita, María, María Teresa, Kristin, Kathleen, Alejandro, Jason, Maribel, Caitlin, Ana, Christine, Kristina, Freda, Carmen, Fernando, Eliana, Thomas, Juliana, Christina, Monica, Alessia, vii Gerardina, Rachael, Anna, Lynn, Concetta, Kimberly, Mariana, Isabel, Mario, Jared, Amanda, Michael, David, Nash, Patricia, Laura, Alondra, Robey, Raquel, Nyanda, Petra, Anita, Marissa, Asela, Daniela, Catherine, Ian, Hanna, Andy, Bethany, John, Josh, Antoine, Tatiana, Evelyn, Jorge, Sarah, Madalena, André, Kyle, Carter and Isaí. Also, I would like to thank the Ohio State University Office of International Affairs, The College of Humanities, the Department of Spanish and Portuguese the Chu family and the Kubayanda family for the financial support I received for this research. Finally, none of this would have been possible without the support of my family (Simona, Marina, Gianna and Marino), my girlfriend (Amanda) and some people who have been very close to me and supported me in unbelievable ways: Rául Diego Rivera Hernández, Sarah Finley, Mario Rodríguez Polo, Isabel Arranz, Patricia González, Ignacio Sanz-Valero, Ivano Fulgaro, Mariano Escobedo Ávila, Juliana De la Mora, Daniela Salcedo, Giovanni Cristina, Carlo Forte, Magda Davoli, Morena Lanieri, Claudio Ferrari, Guido Borghi, Sara Rossini, Carlos and Midori Pimentel, Terry and Brian Talbert, Teresa Bombrys, Yassir Shekaldin, Marta Tallone, Pablo Chignoli and Mariana Lacunza. Thank you! viii Vita 2005................................................................B.A. Languages for Business, Università degli studi di Genova 2007................................................................M.A. Languages for International Communication, Università degli studi di Genova 2008................................................................M.A. Hispanic Linguistics, The Ohio State University 2008- present ................................................Graduate Teaching Assistant, The Ohio State University Publications Books Sessarego, Sandro. In press. Introducción al idioma afro-boliviano: Una conversación con el awicho Manuel Barra. Cochabamba/ La Paz: Plural Editores. Papers Gutiérrez-Rexach, Javier. & Sessarego, Sandro. In press. Nominal reference and dialect variation in Spanish. In Selected proceedings of Res per Nomen: La référence, la conscience et le sujet énonciateur . Université de Reims, Reims. Nº 3. Sessarego, Sandro.