QUOTATIVE INVERSION IN PARENTHETICALS IN COLOMBIAN WRITTEN SPANISH: AN ANALYSIS OF THE PHENOMENA IN GABRIEL GARCIA MARQUEZ WORK

Abstract

The goal of this study is to analyze and describe how the syntactic parameter of quotative inversion in parentheticals behaves in Colombian literature, specifically in the genre of magic realism present in the works of Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez and their corresponding translations to Italian. The current study is positioned within the quantitative paradigm and employs four novels by the aforementioned author as corpora, and other sources to process and analyze the required data. To carry out this project, around one hundred pages from each novel in their original language, and the same sections of the corresponding translations were selected to analyze the structural preferences of the author and of the translators. The structures were then analyzed and categorized using software such as Microsoft Cloud. Similarities and differences between works were noted and counted. Some findings are consistent with what other authors have suggested for quotative inversion in South American Spanish. However, some other findings contradict existing literature, especially when comparing works with a long time gap, and with their corresponding translations. It was found that while the author prefers quotative inversion in some cases, he does not use it in some others. This reinforces previous literature that notes that in South American varieties, quotative inversion is optional and not mandatory, as in Peninsular varieties. The results showed that in general terms, South American varieties and the author in question, while still preferring the quotative inversion in most cases, do not find agrammatical the opposite structure.