Spanish clitics on the move, Variation in time and space

What is it about?

This book is about the genesis of a subset of feature-reduced clitics (also called object pronouns) and their syntactic/pragmatic functions in Limeño Spanish contact varieties of Peruvian Spanish. These clitics, which arise as non-standardized variation embedded in a variety of contact and second language acquisition scenarios, exhibit different grammaticalization stages and extended grammatical functions. The book presents a theoretically oriented description linking the clitic variability and innovation found in these dialects to language change in progress taking also into account the functional and semantic underpinnings of the syntax and the sociolinguistic setting.

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Why is it important?

The driving force behind this book is the attempt to make sure that “ungrammatical” better, non-standardized expressions are not simply the result for imperfect first, second or third language acquisition but expressions of competing dialect grammars embedded in a much broader picture of typological change from nominative-accusative marking to primary and secondary object marking.

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