THE RESUMPTIVE ELEMENTS IN SPANISH RELATIVE CLAUSE

Abstract

This research studies the resumptives in the relative clause in Spanish. Previous studies point to the influence of various factors for the use of the resumptive element in the relative clause (non-restrictive relative clause, indefinite nucleus, attribution of pragmatic function, relativization of the direct object position). Here we investigate the influence of these factors for the use of the resumptive from a functionalist perspective that understands the grammatical component as constituted by the pragmatic, semantic, morphosyntactic and phonological levels, structured hierarchically. For that, data are selected from six varieties of Spanish, extracted from the PRESEEA. By means of a quantitative and qualitative analysis, it is verified that the resumptive can be a morphosyntactic mark of the codification of the non-restrictive relative clause and can be support for the attribution of pragmatic function in the subject relative clause.