Article published In: Evidentiality and the Semantics-Pragmatics Interface
Edited by Bert Cornillie and Juana I. Marín-Arrese
[Belgian Journal of Linguistics 29] 2015
► pp. 61–82
Metarepresentation and evidentiality in Spanish tense and mood
A cognitive pragmatic perspective
Published online: 24 March 2016
https://doi.org/10.1075/bjl.29.03ahe
https://doi.org/10.1075/bjl.29.03ahe
This paper sets forth a theoretical framework in relation to metarepresentation
and evidentiality in Spanish, supported by an empirical analysis of tense/mood
contrast expressions. More specifically, we describe how metarepresentational
and evidential content are expressed and interpreted in if‐conditional and
although-concessive clauses. We also report original experimental data from a
written, multiple choice interpretation task in L2 Spanish; and from an L1 task
in Spanish with a set of conditional and concessive utterances in which indicative
and subjunctive moods alternate. Our global results show that the ability to
efficiently integrate linguistic and non‐linguistic cues is particularly costly for
non‐native speakers. Yet native speakers also reveal, to a different degree, effects
suggestive of processing difficulties related to syntax/discourse interface.
Keywords: SLA, tense, metarepresentations, Spanish, mood
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