Relative clauses with duplicated object

Abstract

This paper analyzes the variation between the following sentences: (1) “una concepción que no la tiene consciente” and (2) “una concepción que no tiene consciente”. Case (1), unlike (2), shows a relative clause with a clitic (called “reassumptive” or “pleonastic”) that explicitly retrieves the antecedent. We propose the speaker reiterates the antecedent with the clitic, when having established the theme, he is not yet sure about what he wants to say, because he intends to introduce new information, or because he intends to produce a contrast. In those cases, the speaker distributes again the Theme/Rheme progression of the relative clause recreating the informative progression of a sentence. We make a quantitative and qualitative analysis of authentic data.