Anna Gavarró | Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (original) (raw)

Papers by Anna Gavarró

Not much has been said about the grammar of Iraqi Arabic. There is important work on wh-movement,... more Not much has been said about the grammar of Iraqi Arabic. There is important work on wh-movement, which Basilico (1998) and Wahba (1991) discuss in depth. This research is an attempt to shed light on another, yet equally important, issue concerning Iraqi Arabic: the nature of relative clauses. The research focuses on the behavior of the resumptive strategy as opposed to the gap strategy that is often found in wh-interrogatives. We establish a comparison with other Arabic varieties such as Lebanese and Jordanian, as well as other languages such as Hebrew. In this research we consider (i) islandhood, (ii) Weak and Strong Cross Over (iii) reconstruction and (iv) scope binding, in order to further understand the behavior of resumption. The final conclusion reached is that in Iraqi Arabic the resumptive strategy is actually related to the gap strategy in several respects; and in those where it differs we propose that gaps (traces) are replaced by trace+pronoun complex which results in a category which preserves the properties of gaping and resumption.

This book presents new work on how Merge and formal features, two Basic factors in the Minimalist... more This book presents new work on how Merge and formal features, two Basic factors in the Minimalist program, should determine the syntactic computation of natural language. Merge combines similar objects into more complex ones. Formal features establish dependencies within objects. This book examines the intricate ways in which these two factors interact to generate well-formed derivations in natural language. It is divided into two parts concerned with formal features and interpretable features — a subset of formal features. The book combines grammatical theory with the analysis of data drawn form a wide range of languages, both in the adult grammar and in first language acquisition. The mechanisms at work in linguistic computation are considered in relation to a variety of linguistic phenomena, including A-binding, A'-dependencies and reconstruction, agreement, word order, adjuncts, pronouns, and complementizers.

Zeitschrift für Katalanistik: Revista d'Estudis Catalans, 2004

The purpose of this paper is to suggest an interpretation of the colloquial clitic system of Barc... more The purpose of this paper is to suggest an interpretation of the colloquial clitic system of Barcelona Catalan (and other dialects) in the light of the notion of "phonetically empty object". The analysis proposed draws on some considerations on empty objects in Brazilian Portupese found in Farrell(1990).

Second Language Research, May 24, 2023

Greek and Spanish are two languages that display a similar subject distribution with unergative/u... more Greek and Spanish are two languages that display a similar subject distribution with unergative/unaccusative verbs, but different word orders with focused subjects (SV in Greek and VS in Spanish). Here we consider subject–verb word order in second language (L2) Greek and L2 Spanish in order to test the Interface Hypothesis (IH). To this end, we report a word-order selection task, with a Greek and a Spanish version. The two versions of the task were administered to L2 intermediate and advanced learners and native speakers of Greek and Spanish. The results show that the first language (L1) Spanish learners of Greek approximated more closely native word orders than the L1 Greek learners of Spanish. For the Spanish learners of Greek, the advanced group performed at ceiling, while the intermediate group performed native-like only with unergatives in neutral and direct interrogative subject-focused contexts. On the other hand, for the Greek learners of Spanish, the intermediate group failed in all contexts, while the advanced group performed native-like with unaccusatives in neutral contexts. This asymmetry between L2 Greek and L2 Spanish reveals that the L1–L2 combination determines the learners’ performance, and this is unexpected under the IH.

Frontiers in Psychology, Jan 20, 2022

Studies in Arabic linguistics, Jan 6, 2023

Frontiers in Psychology, Oct 10, 2022

The main goal of the present study is to investigate visual and verbal shortterm memory side to s... more The main goal of the present study is to investigate visual and verbal shortterm memory side to side with sentence comprehension in Catalan-speaking subjects with aphasia in comparison with subjects without brain damage. We aim to examine whether there are any significant correlations between their performance on short-term memory and comprehension tasks in order to evaluate the hypothesis that linguistic and memory deficits in aphasia are the result of a dysfunction of a common mechanism, usually shortterm memory. Eigthy-four control subjects and twelve individuals su ering from di erent types of aphasia were assessed using the Catalan version of the Comprehensive Aphasia Test (CAT-CAT), which includes one recognition task and two digit and word span tests to evaluate visual and verbal shortterm memory, respectively, as well as a sentence-to-picture comprehension task. The results showed that the performance of subjects with aphasia was significantly low on all tasks. Yet, the logistic regression analysis revealed that the magnitude of the di erences between the control and experimental group varied across subtests, and that visual short-term memory was better preserved than verbal memory. The results also showed that there were no significant correlations between memory and language comprehension, which rules out the hypothesis that the deficits observed are due to a common underlying mechanism. Individual variation was also observed, specially on memory subtests, which suggest that memory impairments cannot explain the comprehension deficit in aphasia.

Knowing where to dig was only a start. But during this stage I have received invaluable advice fr... more Knowing where to dig was only a start. But during this stage I have received invaluable advice from my teachers and colleagues. Dr. Anna Gavarró and many other professors from the Master in Cognitive Science and Language are jointly responsible for almost every step in my intellectual development. Thank you very much! Especially, I would like to express my deepest heartfelt thanks to Dr. Anna Gavarró, my supervisor, for her energy and vast knowledge of child language. Her critical and thought-provoking questioning always pushed me to look deeper. Without her trust and brilliant suggestions, I would have been unable to complete the dissertation. I also want to thank Dr. Josep Brucart and Dr. María Lluïsa Hernanz for teaching me to think like a linguist and continuing to fascinate me with their careful and innovative approach to syntax. Their expertise in linguistics provided me with so many useful resources. I also wish to thank all the committee members for being incredibly generous with their time despite the multiple academic responsibilities that they already had. My deep thanks also go to all of the classmates in the department for becoming colleagues and genuine friends. Besides, I want to acknowledge the China Scholarship Council for funding. Thanks to the Acquisition and Pathology Lab in Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona for creating a really friendly working environment and to Celina, Maya and Myriam, with whom I had the opportunity to discuss aspects of my work during my writing period.

Frontiers research topics, 2018

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD hereafter) is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by defic... more Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD hereafter) is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by deficits in communicative and social skills. The vast majority of research on language in ASD has focused on pragmatic difficulties, while less is known about structural aspects of language in this population. Work on syntax and phonology is not only sparse, but the heterogeneity in these grammatical domains has moreover led to conflicting reports that they are either intact or impaired. More remains to be understood about variations in grammatical profiles in ASD, as well as the relation of grammar to other cognitive abilities. The body of research gathered here increases our understanding of the grammatical strengths and weaknesses in ASD. The contributions carefully elucidate the relations between grammar and other areas of cognition, as well as unveil the similarities and differences of grammar in ASD compared to other conditions. The result is a volume that provides new ways to think about language and communication in ASD, and beyond, which should be of interest to both linguists and clinicians

It is the purpose of this paper to consider the characteristics of Catalan null objects in the co... more It is the purpose of this paper to consider the characteristics of Catalan null objects in the context of the theory of empty categories in general. The licensing of an empty category and recovery of its content are made fully independent and thus it is postulated that the difference between subject and object pro-drop is not one of licensing but rather should be placed in the way in which their features are identified. In this way, I propose a unified treatment of empty subject and object licensing.

Revista de Logopedia, Foniatría y Audiología, 1993

Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB, Apr 3, 2022

Previous studies on the comprehension of focalisation. . 4.1.2 Previous studies on the comprehens... more Previous studies on the comprehension of focalisation. . 4.1.2 Previous studies on the comprehension of scrambling. . 4.2 Experiment 2: OVS focalisation .

Zeitschrift für Katalanistik: Revista d'Estudis Catalans, 2004

Second Language Research, May 24, 2023

Frontiers in Psychology, Jan 20, 2022

Studies in Arabic linguistics, Jan 6, 2023

Frontiers in Psychology, Oct 10, 2022

Frontiers research topics, 2018

Revista de Logopedia, Foniatría y Audiología, 1993

Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB, Apr 3, 2022

Predictions of the Unique Checking Constraint for the acquisition of clitics: A cross-linguistic ... more Predictions of the Unique Checking Constraint for the acquisition of clitics:
A cross-linguistic study of French and Catalan
Anna Gavarró, Stephanie Durrleman and Hélène Delage
(Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Université de Genève)
The behaviour of pronominal clitics in Romance has been shown to relate to person features
in adult grammar (see for example Manzini and Savoia, 2005 for many Italian varieties). Yet
most approaches to clitic production in child acquisition disregard this so-called person split.
In this study we report results for first and second person clitic production in early French and
Catalan, and evaluate two types of hypotheses that have been put forward to account for clitic
acquisition. On the one hand, various authors predict relatively good performance across
languages for 1st and 2nd person clitics. More specifically, these clitics are considered
computationally easier than 3rd person clitics because they do not trigger syntactic
intervention effects (Coene and Avram, 2011) or do not display morphological gender
marking (Tuller et al., 2011; Delage and Durrleman, 2013). On the other hand, under another
approach (the Unique Checking Constraint account of clitic omission, see Gavarró, Torrens
and Wexler, 2010) performance will be selectively good in those languages which require the
elimination of only one uninterpretable feature in the derivation of a clitic construction, and
worse in languages where two (or more) uninterpretable features must be eliminated.
According to Gavarró et al., a clitic derivation which does not involve participle agreement,
as is the case for Catalan 1st/2nd clitics (1), only entails elimination of one uninterpretable
feature (at ClP) and thus no clitic omission should emerge in early production (2). In contrast,
clitics which trigger participle agreement involve a derivation including two instances of
feature elimination (at both vP and ClP), as is the case for French 1st/2nd clitics, thus the UCC
predicts early clitic omission because of the higher computational load associated with this
more complex, language-specific operation (3–4).
A total of 47 French-speaking children of ages 3 to 5 years took part in an elicitation task
following the method of Silva (2008) as modified in Gavarró and Fortón (2014). Their
performance was compared to that of 44 Catalan-speaking children within the age range of 2
to 4, tested with the same materials (from Gavarró and Fortón, 2014). Each child was tested
on four 1st person and four 2nd person clitics, all singular items. The results for French are
given in Table 1, and they attest to a period of 1st /2nd person clitic omission; rates of
production do not statistically differ (respectively 28.2 % for 1st person and 28.7% for 2nd
person for all 47 children). Even if performance consistently increases with age (with a rate of
production of clitics of 4.5% at age 3, 29.5% at age 4 and 50% at age 5), the inter-group
differences are significant only between the 3- and the 4-year-olds (p <.05). (The absence of a
difference between the 4- and the 5-year-olds can be attributed to the very high inter-subject
variability in children’s performance, with production rates varying between 0 and 100% both
at age 4 and 5.) These findings contrast with the results reported in Table 2 (see also Gavarró
and Fortón, 2014), with very low levels of omission for Catalan 1st / 2nd person clitics,
although as in French there is no difference between 1st and 2nd person. Furthermore, the cases
of omission in Catalan are confined to non-finite verbs, more likely to be interpreted
generically, while this pattern is absent in French. We conclude that there is evidence for
cross-linguistic variation in the development of this clitic type, contrary to the claims that
1st/2nd person clitics are universally an early acquisition. We ascribe the different performance
of Catalan and French children to differences in participle agreement between the two
languages, in line with the UCC. Still, the effects of the UCC, a maturational constraint, are
argued to last until age 3, but here clitic omission in French is attested until age 5. This
seriously questions the UCC analysis as the unique explanation for clitic omission in French.
(1) [ClP pro Cl [TP T [vP v [VP V pro]]]]
(2) M’ha pintat/*pintada.
CL1s has painted.ms/painted.fs
‘S/he has painted me.’
(3) [ClP pro Cl [TP T [vP pro v [VP V pro]]]]
(4) Il m’a peinte/?peint.
he CL1s has painted.fs/painted.ms
‘He has painted me.’
Table 1: Clitic production and omission in French
1st person 2nd person 1st and 2nd person other
and noanswers
production omission production omission clitic
production
clitic
omission
3-y.o. 0 43.2% 9.1% 43.2% 4.5% 43.2% 52.3%
4-y.o. 31% 41% 28% 50% 29.5% 45.5% 25%
5-y.o. 50% 47.7% 50% 47.7% 50% 47.7% 2.3%
Table 2: Clitic production and omission in Catalan
1st person 2nd person 1st and 2nd person other
and noanswers
production omission production omission clitic
production
clitic
omission
2-y.o. 60.9% 15.6% 67.2% 15.6% 64.1% 15.6% 20.3%
3-y.o. 68.4% 23.7% 69.7% 19.7% 69.1% 21.7% 9.2%
4-y.o. 91.7% 8.3% 97.2% 2.8% 94.4% 5.5% 0
adults 100% 0 100% 0 100% 0% 0
Selected references
Coene, M. & Avram, L. (2011). An asymmetry in the acquisition of Accusative clitics in
child Romanian. Studies on language acquisition, 43, 39-68.
Delage, Hélène & Stéphanie Durrleman (2013) Explaining the complexity of 3rd person
accusative clitics in the acquisition of French. Paper presented at Going Romance 2013,
Amsterdam.
Gavarró, Anna & Noemí Fortón (2014) Person features and the acquisition of clitics. In
Contemori, C. & L. Dal Pozzo (eds.) Inquiries into Linguistic Theory and Language
Acquisition. Papers Offered to Adriana Belletti, Siena, CISCL Press.
Manzini, Rita & Leonardo Maria Savoia (2005) I dialetti italiani e romanci. Morfosintassi
generativa, Volume II, Edizioni dell’Orso, Alessandria.
Tuller, L., Delage, H., Monjauze, C., Piller, A. G. & Barthez. M. A. (2011). Clitic pronoun
production as a measure of atypical language development in French. Lingua, 121, 423-
441.