An Introduction to Relational Network Theory - History, Principles, and Descriptive Applications - Adolfo Martín García
6. An RNT Approach to Spanish Pronominal Clitics and Verb Endings
An Introduction to Relational Network Theory - History, Principles, and Descriptive Applications - Adolfo Martín García
Adolfo Martín García [+]
Institute of Cognitive and Translational Neuroscience (INCYT, Argentina) and the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET, Argentina)
Description
This chapter offers a Relational Network (RN) description of Spanish pronominal clitics and verb endings. These units have been widely treated in the functional and cognitive linguistics literature. However, they have rarely been jointly modeled from a network-based perspective, despite their semantic, morphological, and morphotactic commonalities. The advantages of an RN account are highlighted against the backdrop of an alternative network-based account. In particular, level-specific connectivity distinctions are set forth between (i) semantic categories and features (downward ‘or’ nodes), (ii) context-independent meanings and context-dependent messages (simple vs. complex ‘or’ node structures), (iii) morphotactic patterns and morphological realizations (downward ordered ‘and’ nodes), and (iv) semantic features and morphological representations (upward unordered ‘and’ nodes). Diagrams are offered for the semantic, morphological, and morphotactic networks of the related systems. The chapter ends with directions for further development of the present treatment.