Indirect Object Doubling: Saying Things Twice in Spanish

Abstract

Indirect object doubling is the use of the pronoun le with a corresponding NP within the same sentence (Le regald elanillo a Karen). Theoretical and pedagogical difficulties arise in trying to explain why propositional information is presented twice in the same sentence. Revisiting an approach that redefines pronominalization as verb agreement leads to hypotheses that explain the construction's use within discourse. Data from an Argentine novel by Manuel Puig shows correlations between doubling and highly identifiable, topical nouns. Findings suggest implications for pedagogy and future research.