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Managing subjectivity: Omission and expression of first-person singular object a mí in Spanish media discourse

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2018

María José Serrano
María José Serrano*
Affiliation:
Universidad de La Laguna
*
mjserran@ull.edu.es
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Abstract

In considering the cognitive notion of informativeness, variants of the Spanish first-person singular object a mí ‘to me’, ‘myself’ convey different meanings. These meanings are used to pursue communicative goals in discursive interactions. A qualitative examination of specific examples of first-person singular object a mí variants (omitted, preverbal, and postverbal) as well as a quantitative analysis of these variants across different socio-professional affiliations of speakers was conducted to ascertain how these variants contribute to the construction of communicative styles based on the cognitive dimension of subjectivity. This article demonstrates that these forms and their meanings are unevenly distributed across the socio-professional affiliations of speakers; thus, it may be concluded that variation of first-person singular object a mí shape different communicative styles.

Résumé

À la lumière de la notion cognitive de l'informativité, les variantes de l'objet à la première personne du singulier en espanol a mí ‘à moi’, ‘me’ véhiculent des significations différentes. Ces significations sont utilisées pour atteindre des buts communicatifs dans des interactions discursives. Un examen qualitatif d'exemples d'objets à la première personne du singulier (omis, préverbaux et postverbaux) ainsi qu'une analyse quantitative de ces variantes à travers les affiliations socioprofessionnelles des locuteurs ont été effectués pour déterminer comment ces variantes contribuent à la construction de styles communicatifs basés sur la dimension cognitive de la subjectivité. Cet article démontre que ces formes et leurs significations sont inégalement réparties parmi les affiliations socioprofessionnelles des locuteurs; ainsi, on peut conclure que la variation de l'objet à la première personne du singulier a mí peut contribuer à de différents styles communicatifs.

Keywords

discourseperson objectssyntaxstylevariationdiscoursobjets personnelssyntaxestylevariation
Type
Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique , Volume 63 , Issue 3 , September 2018 , pp. 423 - 443
Copyright
© Canadian Linguistic Association/Association canadienne de linguistique 2018 

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Footnotes

This paper is a part of the development of the research project FFI2016-74825P funded by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad and by “Programa María Rosa Alonso de ayudas a la investigación en Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales”, Cabildo Insular de Tenerife.

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