Tania Stortini | Università Ca' Foscari Venezia (original) (raw)
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Princess Sumaya University for Technology (PSUT)
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Conference Presentations by Tania Stortini
This study focuses on the association between postverbal Focus subjects and the realization of le... more This study focuses on the association between postverbal Focus subjects and the realization of left/right topicalization in the same sentence. Based on data collected with Italian children aged 3 to 9, evidence is provided for the existence of significant associations between VS, Topics and verb types in specific age groups, also identifying some turning points in the acquisition of discourse-related managing competences. In particular, a crucial interaction can be found between information structures and conversational dynamics, so that the Focus types affecting the common ground management are mainly associated with Topics that only refer to the common ground content. On the other hand, the VSO/OVS alternation is not affected by verb types, except motion verbs, plausibly calling for a distinction within the unaccusative class.
Papers by Tania Stortini
John Benjamins Publishing Company eBooks, Nov 15, 2021
Lingua, Aug 1, 2019
This paper investigates the realization of subjects in Broad and Narrow Focus constructions, from... more This paper investigates the realization of subjects in Broad and Narrow Focus constructions, from both an acquisitional and a theoretical perspective. Specifically, NF structures include Information (IF) and Corrective (CF) subjects and the study concerns Italian children (4-9 y.o.). Data are collected through an original experiment, based on spontaneous answers to (recorded) questions associated to scene settings. It is shown that the SV strategy is the most frequently used, independent of either Focus or verb type (considering transitive, unaccusative and unergartive verbs). Importantly, however, prosodic analysis shows that the SV order is systematically associated to distinct contours according to Focus types. As for the VS order, it appears as a late acquisition (around 7 y.o.) for both NF and BF constructions and is always associated with a downgrading contour. In a cartographic approach, these results lead to the conclusion that focus-related discourse and p-features are merged in dedicated projections and trigger movement to be valued and interpreted at Spell-Out. Consequently, p-features are uninterpretable at PF in the VS order. Finally, since the realization of postverbal subjects is part of the Null Subject Parameter, VS late emergence supports the hypothesis that the discourse-related competences connected with its acquisition are managed after 7 y.o.
L1 Acquisition and L2 Learning
This study focuses on the association between postverbal Focus subjects and the realization of le... more This study focuses on the association between postverbal Focus subjects and the realization of left/right topicalization in the same sentence. Based on data collected with Italian children aged 3 to 9, evidence is provided for the existence of significant associations between VS, Topics and verb types in specific age groups, also identifying some turning points in the acquisition of discourse-related managing competences. In particular, a crucial interaction can be found between information structures and conversational dynamics, so that the Focus types affecting the common ground management are mainly associated with Topics that only refer to the common ground content. On the other hand, the VSO/OVS alternation is not affected by verb types, except motion verbs, plausibly calling for a distinction within the unaccusative class.
John Benjamins Publishing Company eBooks, Nov 15, 2021
Lingua, Aug 1, 2019
This paper investigates the realization of subjects in Broad and Narrow Focus constructions, from... more This paper investigates the realization of subjects in Broad and Narrow Focus constructions, from both an acquisitional and a theoretical perspective. Specifically, NF structures include Information (IF) and Corrective (CF) subjects and the study concerns Italian children (4-9 y.o.). Data are collected through an original experiment, based on spontaneous answers to (recorded) questions associated to scene settings. It is shown that the SV strategy is the most frequently used, independent of either Focus or verb type (considering transitive, unaccusative and unergartive verbs). Importantly, however, prosodic analysis shows that the SV order is systematically associated to distinct contours according to Focus types. As for the VS order, it appears as a late acquisition (around 7 y.o.) for both NF and BF constructions and is always associated with a downgrading contour. In a cartographic approach, these results lead to the conclusion that focus-related discourse and p-features are merged in dedicated projections and trigger movement to be valued and interpreted at Spell-Out. Consequently, p-features are uninterpretable at PF in the VS order. Finally, since the realization of postverbal subjects is part of the Null Subject Parameter, VS late emergence supports the hypothesis that the discourse-related competences connected with its acquisition are managed after 7 y.o.
L1 Acquisition and L2 Learning