Cover not available

In:Code-switching – Experimental Answers to Theoretical Questions: In honor of Kay González-Vilbazo
Edited by Luis López
[Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 19] 2018
► pp. 223–256

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
authorization required

Basque complementizers under the microscope

A Spanish/Basque code-switching approach

 | Assistant Professor of Spanish Dept., of Foreign Langs. & Lits., Auburn UniversityHaley 6070Lbadio2@uic.edu334-844-6367
Published online: 16 November 2018
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ihll.19.09ver
In this chapter, I argue against the view that Basque complementizers occupy the head of FinP in the left periphery (cf. Ortiz de Urbina, 1999; Artiagoitia and Elordieta, 2016). Based on bilinguals’ acceptability judgments of complement clauses in Spanish/Basque code-switching, I propose that the Basque complementizer -enik is the spell out form of the features [finite], [force] and an interpretable anti-veridical polarity feature in Force0. The complementizer -ela, on the other hand, can either spell out the features [finite] and [force] or just the feature [finite]. Furthermore, this chapter provides supporting evidence that the phenomenon of complementizer duplication in Spanish/Basque code-switching can be accounted for by assuming a single system for spelling out syntactic terminals in bilinguals.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical background
    • 2.1Syntactic assumptions
    • 2.2The Basque complementizers ‑ela and ‑enik
    • 2.3The Spanish complementizer que
    • 2.4Previous analyses of the Basque complementizer ‑enik
    • 2.5Code-switching from a minimalist and distributed morphology perspective
  • 3.Predictions
  • 4.Methods
    • 4.1Participants
    • 4.2Stimuli
    • 4.3Procedure
    • 4.4Analysis
  • 5.Results
    • 5.1Monolingual results for Spanish and Basque
    • 5.2Spanish/Basque code-switching results
  • 6.Proposal and analysis
    • 6.1Derivation of Spanish and Basque monolingual sentences
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgments
  • Abbreviations used in glosses
  • Notes
  • References
References (31)
References
Artiagoitia, X. (2018). A note on the complementizer -ela and the long-distance licensing of NPIs in Nabarro-Labourdin Basque. In A. Iglesias & A. Romero (Eds.), Iñaki Gaminderi omenaldia/Essays in honour of Iñaki Gaminde/Homenaje a Iñaki Gaminde. Bilbao: UPV/EHU.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Artiagoitia, X., & Elordieta, A. (2016). On the semantic function and selection of Basque finite complementizers. Complementizer Semantics in European Languages, 57, 379–411.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Authier, J. M. (2013). Phase-edge features and the syntax of polarity particles. Linguistic inquiry, 44(3), 345–389. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Badiola, L., Delgado, R., Sande, A., & Stefanich, S. (2017). Attitudes towards code-switching and their effects on Acceptability Judgment Tasks. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chomsky, N. (1995). The Minimalist Program. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1998). Minimalist Inquiries. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2000). Minimalist inquiries: The framework. In R. Martin, D. Michaels, & J. Uriagereka (Eds.), Step by step: Essays on minimalist syntax in honor of Howard Lasnik (pp.89–155). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2001). Derivation by Phase. In M. Kenstowicz (Ed.), Ken Hale: A life in language (pp.1–52). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Demonte, V., & Fernández Soriano, O. (2005). Features in Comp and syntactic variation: The case of “(De)queísmo” in Spanish. Lingua, 115, 1063–1082. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Demonte, V., & Fernández-Soriano, O. (2009). Force and finiteness in the Spanish complementizer system. Probus, 21(1), 23–49. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Giannakidou, A. (2006). N-words and negative concord. The Syntax Companion, 3, 327–391. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
González-Vilbazo, K., & López, L. (2011). Some properties of light verbs in code-switching. Lingua, 121, 832–850. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
González-Vilbazo, K. & López, L. (2013). Phase switching. Paper presented at the Workshop on Code-Switching in the Bilingual Child: Within and Across the Clause. University of Wuppertal.
González-Vilbazo, K., Bartlett, L., Downey, S., Ebert, S., Heil, J., Hoot, B., & Ramos, S. (2013). Methodological considerations in code-switching research. Studies in Hispanic & Lusophone Linguistics, 6(1), 119–138. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Halle, M., & Marantz, A. (1993). Distributed morphology and the pieces of inflection. In K. Hale & S. J. Keyser (Eds.), The view from building 20. Essays in linguistics in honor of Sylvain Bromberger (pp.111–176). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kempchinsky, P. (2009). What can the subjunctive disjoint reference effect tell us about the subjunctive. Lingua, 119, 1788–1810. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Koronkiewicz, B. (2014). Pronoun categorization: Evidence from Spanish/English code-switching (Unpublished PhD dissertation). The University of Illinois at Chicago.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Laka, I. (1990). Negation in syntax. On the nature of functional categories and projections (Unpublished PhD dissertation). MIT.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1992). Negative complementizers: Evidence from English, Basque and Spanish. In J. Lakarra & J. Ortiz de Urbina (Eds), Syntactic theory and Basque syntax (pp.175–211). Supplements of ASJU 27.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
MacSwan, J. (1999). A minimalist approach to intrasentential code switching. New York, NY: Garland.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Moscati, V. (2010). Negation raising: Logical form and linguistic variation. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ortiz de Urbina, J. (1987). Operator movement and verb second phenomena in Basque. Anuario del Seminario de Filología Vasca“ Julio de Urquijo”, 21(2), 321–355.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1999). Force phrases, focus phrases and left heads in Basque. In J. Franco & A. Landa (Eds), Grammatical analysis of Romance and Basque (pp.179–194). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pesetsky, D., & Torrego, E. (2007). The syntax of valuation and the interpretability of features. In S. Karimi, V. Samiian, & W. K. Wilkins (Eds.), Phrasal and clausal architecture: Syntactic derivation and interpretation (pp.262–294). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rizzi, L. (1997). The fine structure of the left periphery. In L. Haegeman (Ed.), Elements of grammar: Handbook of generative syntax (pp.281–339). Dordrecht: Kluwer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2001). On the position “Int(errogative)” in the left periphery of the clause. In G. Cinque & G. Salvi (eds), Current studies in Italian syntax: Essays offered to Lorenzo Renzi (pp.287–296). Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2005). Grammatically-based target-inconsistencies in child language. In Proceedings of the Inaugural Conference of GALANA (pp.19–49). Cambridge, MA: UCONN/MIT Papers in Linguistics.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Uribe-Etxebarria, M. (1994). Interface licensing conditions on NPIs: A theory of polarity and tense interactions (Unpublished PhD dissertation). University of Connecticut.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Vergara, D., & López, L. (2017). Obliteration after Vocabulary Insertion. In K. Bellamy, M. Child, P. González, A. Muntendam, & M. C. Parafita Couto (Eds.), Multidisciplinary Approaches to Bilingualism in the Hispanic and Lusophone World. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Villa-García, J. (2015). The Syntax of Multiple-que Sentences in Spanish: Along the left periphery (Vol. 2). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2012). Recomplementation and locality of movement in Spanish. Probus, 24(2), 257–314.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (3)

Cited by three other publications

Duguine, Maia
2022. FOFC as a PF phenomenon: Evidence from Basque clausal embedding. Glossa: a journal of general linguistics 7:1 DOI logo
Monforte, Sergio
2020. Syntactic analyses of discourse particles through the microvariation of Basque <italic>ote</italic>. Glossa: a journal of general linguistics 5:1 DOI logo
Torres Cacoullos, Rena
2020. Code-Switching Strategies: Prosody and Syntax. Frontiers in Psychology 11 DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 12 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue