title: The Overt Pronoun Constraint Across Three Dialects of Spanish.
abstract: The overt pronoun constraint (OPC) states that, in null subject languages, overt pronoun subjects of embedded clauses cannot be bound by wh- or quantifier antecedents. Through the administration of two written questionnaires, we examined the OPC in 246 monolingual native speakers of three dialects of Spanish, spoken in Barranquilla (Colombia), Santiago (Chile), and Buenos Aires (Argentina). We tested separately the predictions that overt pronouns cannot be bound by wh- antecedents (Experiment 1) and that they cannot be bound by quantifier antecedents (Experiment 2). We found that the OPC was not operative in any of these dialects. In Experiment 1, the percentage of bound answers was approximately the same as the percentage of anaphoric answers. In Experiment 2, the percentage of bound answers was significantly higher than the percentage of anaphoric answers. Implications both for theories of pronoun resolution in null subject languages and for theories of first and second language acquisition are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de San Andrés, Vito Dumas 284, B1644BID, Buenos Aires, Argentina. carlosgelormini@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gelormini-Lezama
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Cognitive and Social Neuroscience (LaNCyS), UDP-INECO Foundation Core on Neuroscience (UIFCoN), Diego Portales University, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Huepe
authors.affiliation: Universidad Icesi, Departamento de Estudios Psicológicos, Cali, Colombia.
authors.forename: Eduar
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Herrera
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Cognitive and Social Neuroscience (LaNCyS), UDP-INECO Foundation Core on Neuroscience (UIFCoN), Diego Portales University, Santiago, Chile.|Laboratory of Experimental Psychology and Neuroscience (LPEN), Institute of Cognitive and Translational Neuroscience (INCyT), INECO Foundation, Favaloro University, Buenos Aires, Argentina.|National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Margherita
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Melloni
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Cognitive and Social Neuroscience (LaNCyS), UDP-INECO Foundation Core on Neuroscience (UIFCoN), Diego Portales University, Santiago, Chile.|Laboratory of Experimental Psychology and Neuroscience (LPEN), Institute of Cognitive and Translational Neuroscience (INCyT), INECO Foundation, Favaloro University, Buenos Aires, Argentina.|National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Facundo
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Manes
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Cognitive and Social Neuroscience (LaNCyS), UDP-INECO Foundation Core on Neuroscience (UIFCoN), Diego Portales University, Santiago, Chile.|Laboratory of Experimental Psychology and Neuroscience (LPEN), Institute of Cognitive and Translational Neuroscience (INCyT), INECO Foundation, Favaloro University, Buenos Aires, Argentina.|National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina.|Faculty of Elementary and Special Education (FEEyE), National University of Cuyo (UNCuyo), Mendoza, Argentina.
authors.forename: Adolfo M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: García
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Cognitive and Social Neuroscience (LaNCyS), UDP-INECO Foundation Core on Neuroscience (UIFCoN), Diego Portales University, Santiago, Chile.|Laboratory of Experimental Psychology and Neuroscience (LPEN), Institute of Cognitive and Translational Neuroscience (INCyT), INECO Foundation, Favaloro University, Buenos Aires, Argentina.|National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina.|Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Australian Research Council (ACR), Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Agustín
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ibáñez
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008037:Linguistics; D008297:Male; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Null subject languages; Overt pronoun constraint; Pronoun resolution; Spanish