'The present research, an empirical and exploratory one, comprises involves the analysis of preverbal noun phrases (N= 1.000) in ten Chilean Spanish textual varietes by observing the relationships between semantic, discourse-textual and pragmatic-informative functions, as well as internal structure. We have found that, though preverbal noun phrases generally express the aboutness of the sentence, in medio-passive and impersonal sentences this function can be fulfilled by an adverbial element. We have also found thatpossessive adjectives can be used to connect a new entity with a given one. We propose that the use of strong pronouns and textually and non-textually evoked preverbal noun phrases is related to the degree of discourse interactivity. Regarding short stories, we suggest that new entities are presented as if they were given anes, as a way to insert the reader in the narrator consciousness (Chafe 1994). We have.also found that noun phrases referring to first and second order entities are distributed along a continuum that goes from narrative texts to expository aad argumentative texts. Finally, we propose two strategies of local coherence: chaining and hooking. In the former, the author takes up again a propositim and replaces it with a preverbal noun pbase; in the latter, the author merely reactivates entities, usually first order ones, for predicating about them.
Keywords:
Noun phrases, information structure, discourse grammar, Chilean Spanish, theme
Soto, G., & Castro, C. (2007). Sobre los sintagmas nominales preverbales en el español oral y escrito en Chile: gramática y discurso. Boletín De Filología, 42, Pág. 341–367. Retrieved from https://boletinfilologia.uchile.cl/index.php/BDF/article/view/20835
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