On the interpretation of the Spanish 1st person plural pronoun

Abstract

We explore the connection between the clause left periphery and the referential values of inclusion or exclusion of the addressee associated with Spanish 1st Person Plural pronoun nosotros, otherwise morphologically marked in many world languages. We examine the referential values of nosotros in clauses marked with different topics and foci regarding the inclusive/exclusive interpretation of the pronoun. We observe, contra Posio (2012), that overt nosotros doesn’t always involve exclusivity. The exclusive interpretation of the pronoun is nonetheless required in contexts typically declarative and non-contrastive (i.e., out-of-the-blue, thetic), and its overt use is perceived as odd if the Addressee is intended to be included. In Aboutness-Shift Topic and Given Topic contexts the clusive interpretation of the pronoun is obtained from the immediate context (i.e., whether the Addressee is active). Similarly, contrastive topics or foci include the presence of the Addressee in the immediate context as one of their points of contrast. To account for the influence of the immediate context on the interpretation of the pronominal values of clusivity we propose an analysis based on the projection of a Speech Act Phrase (SAP) (Speas & Tenny 2003) in combination with a Logophoric Center (Bianchi 2003) above the clausal left periphery (CP). In our analysis, the pronoun nosotros has an [Addressee] feature that is valued according to the availability of the Addressee in the left-most left periphery. Our formalization of clusivity assumes that interpretation is read off syntax (Haegeman & Hill 2013).