© 2016 Itxaso Rodríguez-Ordóñez
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© 2016 Itxaso Rodríguez-Ordóñez DIFFERENTIAL OBJECT MARKING IN BASQUE: GRAMMATICALIZATION, ATTITUDES AND IDEOLOGICAL REPRESENTATIONS BY ITXASO RODRÍGUEZ-ORDÓÑEZ DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Spanish with a concentration in Second Language Acquisition and Teacher Education in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2016 Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee: Associate Professor Anna María Escobar, Chair Professor Rakesh M. Bhatt Professor José Ignacio Hualde Professor Silvina Montrul Assistant Professor Joseph Roy Abstract Differential Object Marking (DOM), a typologically common phenomenon, has enjoyed abundant scholarly interest insomuch as theoretical explanations of its key parameters (Aissen, 2003; Malchukov and Swart, 2008; Hoop and Swart, 2007), language-specific constraints (Leonetti, 2004; Seifart 2012; Sinnemaki, 2014) and synchronic and diachronic accounts in various languages (von Heusinger and Kaiser, 2005, 2007; Morimoto and Swart, 2004; Robertson, 2007). However, less attention has been paid to the role that language contact plays in the emergence of DOM or the processes that lead to its variable use in contact settings. Basque DOM has recently been characterized as the product of intense contact with Basque-Spanish leísmo (Austin, 2006), but its variable use and the role that attitudes play in its use remain understudied. The Basque-Spanish contact situation presents an ideal site to tests these contact- effects for two reasons: (1) the long-standing contact between Basque-Spanish will allow us to test possible grammatical restructuring of Basque DOM under the influence of Spanish leísmo and (2) the abundant increase of L2 learners in the Basque Autonomous Community in Spain that results from its relatively recent revitalization process will allow us test more recent contact- effects. It suffices to remark that in language contact situations where strong connections between language and identity are the result of political and ethnic-status disparities, social meanings of different features, languages and its users are intensified, especially those pertaining to language contact (Jaffe, 1999; Azurmendi, et. al., 2008; Montaruli et. al., 2011; Edwards, 2009; Ortega et. al., 2015). With this in mind, the objectives of the present dissertation are two-fold: first, it seeks to study the patterns of use of Basque Differential Object Marking (DOM) in different bilinguals in order to understand the processes of Basque DOM as a contact feature with Spanish leísmo. Second, it seeks to understand how ideological representations of contact-phenomena (such as DOM) affect the way different bilinguals use it, shape social identity, and how this social categorization or grouping can affect the use of Basque at a larger scale. ii Data comes from 84 Basque-Spanish bilinguals (target group) and 15 Basque- French bilinguals (control group) who participated in four experimental task used in second language acquisition and sociolinguistics and informed by variationist approaches to contact linguistics that tap into oral production and covert and overt attitudes: (a) elicited production task, (b) sociolinguistic interviews (c) matched-guise experiment and (d) debriefing interview. Speakers were stratified according to BILINGUAL GROUP; Basque-Spanish bilinguals come from the semi-urban area of Gernika and the Greater Bilbao Area (Gernika, Bilbao and Baiona) and Basque-French bilinguals come from the largest city in French speaking Basque Country, Baiona and its surroundings. Speakers were further stratified according to BILINGUAL TYPE (native bilinguals, early sequential bilinguals and L2 Basque speakers). The dissertation presents a number of detailed descriptive and inferential statistics (mixed-effects models, ANOVAs and correlations) using the statistical software R (Bates, Maechler, Bolker and Walker, 2015) to present oral and perceptual results. Results from these statistical analyses provide support for the view that Basque DOM is the result of contact with Basque-Spanish leísmo. A comparison of the linguistic constraints affecting the patterns of use among bilingual groups provides support towards the claim that the mechanisms behind their use are different. More specifically, it is proposed that Basque DOM in L2 intermediate speech is an example of direct transfer or polysemy copying, whereas native bilinguals result in a complex process of replica gramaticalization (Heine & Kuteva, 2010). The low use among L2 speakers is explained through the attitudinal results in the MGE; Basque DOM is considered ‘defective’ and ‘non-authentic’ in Standard Basque, the variety of L2 speakers. It is proposed that L2 speakers do not use Basque so that their ‘authenticity’ as Basques is not fully questioned. The present dissertation builds upon theoretical and methodological implications: first, it argues that a multi-disciplinary study of contact-phenomena advances our theory on the interplay of language as ‘human faculty’ and ‘social competence’ in which bilinguals engage in a linguistic task that involve learning mechanisms and the ability to implement societal norms (Matras, 2010). Second, it advocates for the formal study of language attitudes as an integrated part of a theory of contact-linguistics. iii Para aitite Jose Luis y amuma Anita iv Acknowledgements This dissertation would have not been possible without the mentorship, support and love that I have obtained from professors, family and friends during my stay as a graduate student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I therefore feel in debt to all of you for making this dissertation to exist. I would like to begin thanking my committee members, Anna María Escobar, Rakesh Bhatt, Jose Ignazio Hualde, Silvina Montrul and Joe Roy. Anna María Escobar, I don’t even know how to express my gratitude for everything you have done for me during my stay at UIUC. I still remember my first meeting with you, when I made an appointment in your office freaking out, so that I could understand what I was doing with my research life. It is then when you touched my heart when you invited me to tell my story as Basque and told me “wow, esto es bien complejo y piensas como una sociolingüísta”. After that, you always pushed me to the limit to express my ideas and unwrap the mess I was living in. My first contact with you determined my devotion to contact linguistics. Rakesh Bhatt, your LING 450 was my first class as a lost M.A student at UIUC, and as you well know, I was terrified of opening my mouth in front of all those smart kids around me. It was when your cunning and sensible questions directed to me that sparked my loud presence in class. Such loudness is what I needed to understand the political turmoil I felt that I grew in. Not surprisingly, your sociolinguistics classes served me therapeutically. No worries, the check is on the way. I must end by saying that your classes, mentorship and friendship allowed me to find my safe space at the UIUC jungle. Bahut bahut shukrya. Jose Ignazio Hualde, I am indefinitely in debt to you for everything I learned about our language, Basque. I was terrified of phonology; mostly because I was literally deaf to all those beautiful sounds you could tell us about. It was during our Basque phonology class that I realized that I could sing in Basque, and knowing that there was a linguistic term for such song (pitch-accents!) gave me the encouragement to tune up my ear. After that, you have always remained an important mentor to me, patiently dealt with v my stubbornness and spent endless time discussing Basque issues with me. Zugaz beti egongo naz zorretan! Silvina Montrul, your contribution as a mentor to me has been extremely valuable. I cannot count the amount of knowledge you have been able to spur in me as a graduate student. You have always devoted your precious time to my endless questions about language acquisition, graduate life, and post-graduate life. I am very thankful for always providing me with your best insights even when you read my work regardless of topic. I am also thankful for being such a great Department Head, and dealing with me even when you probably felt no choice but let me teach Basque. Eternamente agradecida. Joe Roy, I can’t thank you enough for always responding to my last minute emails and allowing me to come to your office to ask you stupid questions about statistics. I am also thankful for your always-important remarks in my dissertation and my progress as a linguist. I never stopped learning from your comments at our reading group. Your support as a young scholar during the job market has also been heartfelt. Thank you. Beyond my dissertation committee, my professors both at UIUC and Deusto cannot go unmentioned. I am especially thankful to Jon Franco (University of Deusto) who first noticed my Erasmus hangover and encouraged me to go to the US for my graduate school. For all the visits, rocking mentorship and rolling friendship! Special thanks to Ryan Shosted, for introducing me to the world of statistical programming and never giving up on my baby steps. I would like to show my gratitude to Zsuzsanna Fagyal, for jointly with Anna María Escobar, organizing the Reading Group Dynamics of Language Variation and Change where I tirelessly learned from their insights and from the other members of the group. I would like to thank Jonathan MacDonald for allowing me to make sense of syntax and most importantly, for making me love it! I am grateful to Melissa Bowles, Rebecca Foote and Tania Ionin for all the advice I obtained during my seven years at UIUC. Jill Jegerski and Eduardo Ledesma, for always checking on me and providing me support during the job market. Javier Irigoyen and Pilar Martínez-Quiroga, for just being amazing. I would like to thank to my American kuadrilla, Staci Defibaugh, Kate Lyons, Lydia Catedral, Farzad Karimzad, Chaitra Shivaprasadad, Nikos Vergis and Justin Davidson for vi reading every single word of my papers and abstracts, for making LSD (Language Society Discussion!) so great, for helping me keep my sanity (sort of), for heir friendship and their continuing support and love.