Pronominal resumption in Spanish direct object relative clauses

Abstract

Abstract This variationist study analyzes the linguistic and social factors constraining the alternation of resumptive pronouns (RPs) and gaps in direct object (DO) relative clauses (RCs) in the Peruvian Limeño variety. Using a number of mixed-effects (logistic regression) models in Rbrul, results reveal that the set of linguistic constraints favoring pronominal DO resumption does not coincide with those reported to promote subject and oblique RP presence in previous studies. Furthermore, when compared to their subject and oblique counterparts, DO RPs are constrained by a higher number of factors of syntactic, semantic, processing and pragmatic nature. I suggest that this sensitivity to a broader set of constraints is crucial in explaining why DO RPs are more frequent in RCs than subject and oblique RPs. With respect to the social factors analyzed, this study shows a lack of effect of gender, age and education on the speaker’s choice for the resumptive variant.