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1	An experimental approach to recomplementation : evidence from monolingual and bilingual Spanish
	Frank, Joshua, Ph. D.. - 2020
	Abstract: This dissertation advances the study of recomplementation in Spanish (e.g., Villa-García, 2015), with three experimental studies that probe the representation and processing of the left periphery while addressing shortcomings in the field of syntax more generally. Recomplementation is the phenomenon whereby one or more left-dislocated phrases or circumstantial adjuncts intervene between a primary (C1) and secondary (C2) complementizer, e.g., He said that₁ later in the afternoon that₂ he would clean his room. Study 1 investigates the grammatical status of recomplementation in US heritage speakers of Spanish via acceptability judgment and preference tasks. Results demonstrate that heritage speakers prefer the overt C2 variety at a higher rate than the baseline group. These findings are interpreted within the Model of Divergent Attainment (Polinsky & Scontras, 2020), where complexities associated with “silent” phenomena and dependency distance, along with processing burden, lead to reanalysis and eventual divergent attainment. Study 2 explores recomplementation as a locus of dialectal variation in Colombian and Cuban Spanish via elicited imitation and sentence completion tasks. Results provide evidence that overt C2 is neither licensed by the grammar nor a facilitator of complement integration. Importantly, the possibility of task effect cannot be ruled out. Lastly, study 3 analyzes the incremental processing of recomplementation via self-paced reading. Results demonstrate that a psycholinguistic model informed by syntactic theory is favorable to one that is not. This conclusion is further supported by an analysis of individual differences in working memory span. While advancing recomplementation research, this dissertation offers experimental evidence in support of three broader claims. First, speakers with diverse profiles (e.g., heritage speakers) inform general theory and contribute to such disparate topics as processing complexity, the role of input and experience in language development and variation among the Spanishes of the world. Second, researcher selection bias and the effects of task must not be overlooked in the literature, as they threaten the ultimate pursuit of knowledge. Finally, when experimental findings, psycholinguistic models and syntactic-theoretical accounts inform one another, the outcome is superior. ; Spanish and Portuguese
	Keyword: Dialectal variation; Heritage language; Left periphery; Recomplementation; Sentence processing
	URL: https://hdl.handle.net/2152/86305 https://doi.org/10.26153/tsw/13256
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