Gender as a probe

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7557/1.14.3.8221

Keywords:

gender, probe, direct object, feature geometry

Abstract

This article discusses one of the possible roles that gender could have in the Agree operation (Chomsky 2000, 2001). Based on the analysis of the PCC in Spanish developed in Camacho Ramírez (2024), in which, in the context of a ditransitive verb, gender would be necessary to guide the other probes of v* toward a specific goal, it is proposed here that gender should also guide the probes of the v* of a transitive verb.

References

Adger, D., & Harbour, D. (2007). Syntax and syncretisms of the person case constraint. Syntax, 10(1), 2–37. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9612.2007.00095.x

Anagnostopoulou, E. (2003). The syntax of ditransitives: Evidence from clitics. Walter de Gruyter.

Anagnostopoulou, E. (2017). The person case constraint. En M. Everaert & H. van Riemsdijk (Eds.), The Wiley Blackwell companion to syntax (2.ª ed.). https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118358733.wbsyncom101

Béjar, S. (2003). Phi-syntax: A theory of agreement (Tesis doctoral inédita). University of Toronto.

Béjar, S., & Rezac, M. (2003). Person licensing and the derivation of PCC effects. En A. T. Pérez-Leroux & Y. Roberge (Eds.), Romance linguistics: Theory and acquisition (pp. 49–62). John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.244.07bej

Bonet, E. (1991). Morphology after syntax: Pronominal clitics in Romance (Tesis doctoral inédita). MIT.

Camacho Ramírez, R. (2019). Marcación diferencial de objeto y doblado de clíticos en el español de Lima (Tesis doctoral inédita). University of São Paulo.

Camacho Ramírez, R. (2022). Differential object marking and labeling in Spanish. Languages, 7(2), Article 114. https://doi.org/10.3390/languages7020114

Camacho Ramírez, R. (2023). Differential object marking in inanimate objects in Spanish. Borealis: An International Journal of Hispanic Linguistics, 12(1), 165–206. https://doi.org/10.7557/1.12.1.6951

Camacho Ramírez, R. (2024). Guiding probes. Revista Linguística, 20(3), 277–303. https://doi.org/10.31513/linguistica.2024.v20n3a65358

Camacho Ramírez, R. (2025). Animacy in the Brazilian Portuguese null object. Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 18(1), 79–105. https://doi.org/10.1515/shll-2025-2003

Chomsky, N. (2000). Minimalist inquiries: The framework. En R. Martin, D. Michaels, & J. Uriagereka (Eds.), Step by step: Essays on minimalist syntax in honor of Howard Lasnik (pp. 89–155). MIT Press.

Chomsky, N. (2001). Derivation by phase. En M. Kenstowicz (Ed.), Ken Hale: A life in language (pp. 1–52). MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/4056.003.0004

Chomsky, N. (2008). On phases. En R. Freidin, C. P. Otero, & M. L. Zubizarreta (Eds.), Foundational issues in linguistic theory: Essays in honor of Jean-Roger Vergnaud. MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/9780262062787.003.0007

Chomsky, N. (2013). Problems of projection. Lingua, 130, 33–49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2012.12.003

Chomsky, N. (2015). Problems of projection: Extensions. En E. Di Domenico, C. Hamann, & S. Matteini (Eds.), Structures, strategies and beyond: Studies in honour of Adriana Belletti (pp. 1–16). John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/la.223.01cho

Colomina, M. P., Gallego, Á., & Roca, F. (2019). Aspectos morfosintácticos del leísmo: Un análisis formal dentro de una teoría paramétrica de la variación. Quintú Quimün. Revista de Lingüística, (3), Q021.

Coon, J., & Keine, S. (2021). Feature gluttony. Linguistic Inquiry, 52, 655–710. https://doi.org/10.1162/ling_a_00386

Cowper, E., & Hall, D. (2003). The syntactic manifestation of nominal feature geometry. En Proceedings of the Canadian Linguistics Association. Cahiers Linguistiques de l’UQAM.

Cyrino, S. (2021). Brazilian Portuguese null objects and Spanish differential object marking. En A. Bárány, T. Biberauer, J. Douglas, & S. Vikner (Eds.), Syntactic architecture and its consequences III: Inside syntax (pp. 399–427). Language Science Press.

Deal, A. R. (2024). Interaction, satisfaction, and the PCC. Linguistic Inquiry, 55, 39–94. https://doi.org/10.1162/ling_a_00455

Fábregas, A. (2022). Hacia una caracterización sintáctica del género del sustantivo en español. Revista Española de Lingüística, 52, 39–96. https://doi.org/10.31810/rsel.52.1.2

Fernández-Ordóñez, I. (1993). Leísmo, laísmo y loísmo: Estado de la cuestión. En O. Fernández Soriano (Ed.), Los pronombres átonos (pp. 63–96). Taurus Universitaria.

Fernández-Ordóñez, I. (1999). Leísmo, laísmo y loísmo. En I. Bosque & V. Demonte (Eds.), Gramática descriptiva de la lengua española (pp. 1317–1393). Espasa-Calpe.

Fernández-Ordóñez, I. (2001). Hacia una dialectología histórica: Reflexiones sobre la historia del leísmo, el laísmo y el loísmo. Boletín de la Real Academia Española, 81, 389–464.

Flores, M. (1998). Leísmo, laísmo, loísmo en el español: Sus orígenes y evolución (Tesis doctoral inédita). UNAM.

Franco, J. (1993). On object agreement in Spanish (Tesis doctoral inédita). University of Southern California.

Foley, S., & Toosarvandani, M. (2022). Extending the Person-Case Constraint to gender. Linguistic Inquiry, 53, 1–40. https://doi.org/10.1162/ling_a_00395

Harris, J. (1996). The morphology of Spanish clitics. En H. Campos & P. Kempchinsky (Eds.), Evolution and revolution in linguistic theory (pp. 168–197). Georgetown University Press.

Heap, D. (2002). Morphological complexity and Spanish object clitic variation. En C. R. Wiltshire & J. Camps (Eds.), Romance phonology and variation (pp. 55–68). John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.217.07hea

von Heusinger, K., & Kaiser, G. A. (2003). Animacy, specificity, and definiteness in Spanish. En K. von Heusinger & G. A. Kaiser (Eds.), Semantic and syntactic aspects of specificity in Romance languages (pp. 41–65). Universität Konstanz.

von Heusinger, K., & Kaiser, G. (2011). Affectedness and differential object marking in Spanish. Morphology, 21, 593–617. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11525-010-9177-y

Hiraiwa, K. (2004). Dimensions of symmetry in syntax (Tesis doctoral inédita). MIT.

Kalin, L. (2019). Nominal licensing is driven by valued (phi-)features. Nordlyd, 43, 15–29. https://doi.org/10.7557/12.4186

Kramer, R. (2020). Grammatical gender: A close look at gender assignment across languages. Annual Review of Linguistics, 6, 45–66. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-linguistics-011718-012450

Larson, R. (1988). On the double object construction. Linguistic Inquiry, 19, 335–391.

López, L. (2012). Indefinite objects. MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/9165.001.0001

Næss, Å. (2004). What markedness marks: The markedness problem with direct objects. Lingua, 114, 1186–1212. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2003.07.005

Nevins, A. (2007). The representation of third person and its consequences for person-case effects. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, 25, 273–313. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11049-006-9017-2

Ordóñez, F. (2002). Some clitic combinations in the syntax of Romance. Catalan Journal of Linguistics, 1, 201–224. https://doi.org/10.5565/rev/catjl.59

Ormazabal, J., & Romero, J. (2007). The object agreement constraint. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, 25, 315–347. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11049-006-9010-9

Paparounas, L., & Salzmann, M. (2023). First Conjunct Clitic Doubling, the Person Case Constraint, and First Conjunct Agreement: Insights from Modern Greek, Glossa: a journal of general linguistics, 8(1), 1–54. https://doi.org/10.16995/glossa.8417

Preminger, O. (2014). Agreement and its failures. MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/9780262027403.001.0001

Preminger, O. (2019). What the PCC tells us about “abstract” agreement, head movement, and locality, Glossa: a journal of general linguistics, 4(1), 13. https://doi.org/10.5334/gjgl.315

Rodríguez-Mondoñedo, M. (2007). The syntax of objects: Agree and differential object marking (Tesis doctoral inédita). University of Connecticut.

Sánchez, L. (2006). Clitic-doubling and the checking of focus (Manuscrito inédito). Rutgers University.

Schwenter, S. (2006). Null objects across South America. En T. L. Face & C. A. Klee (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the 8th Hispanic linguistics symposium (pp. 23–36). Cascadilla.

Stegovec, A. (2020). Taking case out of the person-case constraint. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, 38, 261–311. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11049-019-09443-0

Suñer, M. (1988). The role of agreement in clitic-doubled constructions. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, 6, 391–434. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00133904

Tenny, C. (1994). Aspectual roles and the syntax-semantic interface. Kluwer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-1150-8

Torrego, E. (1998). The dependencies of objects. MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/2337.001.0001

Downloads

Published

2025-11-14

How to Cite

Camacho Ramírez, R. (2025). Gender as a probe. Borealis – An International Journal of Hispanic Linguistics, 14(3), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.7557/1.14.3.8221