Chapter 16. Testing English influence on first person singular “yo” subject pronoun expression in Sonoran Spanish

Bessett, Ryan M.

doi:10.1075/ihll.15.17bes

Cited by 13 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…One might suspect that these are integrated loanwords (borrowings) in the English of New Mexico and thus not true mixed NPs. Yet, they are all pronounced with Spanish phonology, which supports the analysis that they are examples of one-word code-switches rather than integrated loanwords (Bessett, 2017). Distinguishing between borrowings and code-switches is, however, beyond the scope of this study.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 70%

“¿Tú tienes unalittle pumpkin?” Mixed noun phrases in Spanish-English bilingual children and adults

Urbaneja

2019

International Journal of Bilingualism

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Objectives: This study investigates the switching of a noun or a determiner in mixed noun phrases, such as “ una little pumpkin,” to test predictions from two theoretical frameworks, the Matrix Language Frame model (MLF) and the Minimalist Approach (MA) and examines whether there is a difference between child and adult code-switching (CS) patterns in order to understand children’s acquisition of grammatical patterns in general. Methodology: All tokens of mixed noun phrases (NPs) were extracted from three bilingual child corpora and one bilingual adult corpus. The finite verb (matrix language) of each utterance was also analyzed to test predictions. Data and analysis: Four hundred sixty-one mixed NPs were extracted from 15 Spanish-English bilingual children and 14 Spanish-English bilingual adults. Findings: Results support both the MLF and the MA since in more than 80% of our data, the language of the determiner matched the language of the finite verb morphology and the language with the most phi features. Originality: This is the first study to compare children’s and adults’ mixed NPs, testing predictions from the MLF and MA theories. It also provides new evidence for the acquisition of CS constraints in early bilingual language development. Implications: This study demonstrates that, like adults, children’s mixed NPs are subject to grammatical constraints. Some examples show that children produce mixed NPs immediately after hearing their caregivers produce the same NP, but in one language only. This supports the conclusion that children’s mixed NP patterns follow generalized constraints and are not item-based imitations of what they hear. Limitations: Future research should more carefully examine the CS patterns of caregivers and members of the community with whom children interact to decipher the role of input. This would help answer the question of how children acquire CS patterns.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 70%

“¿Tú tienes unalittle pumpkin?” Mixed noun phrases in Spanish-English bilingual children and adults

Urbaneja

2019

International Journal of Bilingualism

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“…Reflexivity is a significant predictor in some studies (Bessett, 2018; Michnowicz, 2015; Otheguy et al, 2007; Otheguy & Zentella, 2012) and insignificant in others (Padilla, in press; Cerrón-Palomino, 2019). The consensus is that reflexive verbs do not favor SPE because they already indicate who the referent is, whereas non-reflexive verbs favor SPE.…”

Section: The Hypothesis and Predictors Analyzed In The Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Spanish subject pronoun expression among Bube speakers in Equatorial Guinea

Padilla

2023

International Journal of Bilingualism

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Aims and Objectives: Spanish subject pronoun expression (SPE) among Bube speakers in Equatorial Guinea has hardly been examined. Thus, the paper aims to (a) examine the SPE rate (b) and the linguistic and social predictors of SPE in this variety. Methodology: The data for the present study were collected using sociolinguistic interviews. These interviews lasted between 45 minutes and an hour. Data and analysis: The audio recordings of 18 bilinguals of Bube and Spanish in Equatorial Guinea were transcribed and analyzed using the Rbrul mixed-effects statistical software. Findings: The overt SPE rate of these bilingual speakers is 17.9%. This pronoun rate is one of the lowest ever found among bilinguals. The significant factors are grammatical person and number, ambiguity, the lexical content, and gender. The insignificant predictors were reference, reflexivity, and education. Originality: This is the first variationist study on Spanish SPE among Bube speakers in Equatorial Guinea. In this study, switch reference, a usually robust predictor, is insignificant among bilingual speakers. Significance: This study expands on the scarce research conducted on Equatoguinean Spanish and opens new avenues for exploration.

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“…Carvalho & Child, 2011;Michnowicz, 2015;Orozco, 2015;Otheguy & Zentella, 2012;Torres Cacoullos & Travis, 2010;Travis, 2005), including studies solely examining 1sg SPE (e.g. Bessett, 2018;De Prada, 2015;Torres Cacoullos & Travis, 2010;Travis, 2005), overt SPs were favored in switch reference contexts (fw = .62) while same reference environments promoted nulls (fw = .37). What is striking about these results is that the proportion of overt SPs nearly doubles when there is a switch in subject reference (49% vs. 25% same reference).…”

Section: Switch Referencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…first-vs. thirdperson) respond to different contextual and interactional factors (Travis, 2005), it is important to continue the study of individual persons/numbers, thus far carried out most extensively for 1sg subjects (e.g. Bessett, 2018;De Prada, 2015;Travis, 2005Travis, , 2007Travis & Torres Cacoullos, 2012), and to a lesser extent for third-person singular (Shin, 2014), third-person plural (Lapidus & Otheguy, 2005), and first-person plural subjects (Posio, 2012;Limerick, in press). The current study aims to continue to uncover individual person/number patterns, in particular the linguistic factors that constrain SP variation by examining, separately, first-person singular (1sg) and third-person SPs in a variety of Mexican Spanish spoken in Georgia.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

First-person singular and third-person subject pronoun variation: The case of Mexican Spanish in the U.S. state of Georgia

Limerick¹

2021

Lenguaje

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The current study analyzes variable subject pronoun expression (SPE) for first-person singular (1sg) and third-person subjects in a variety of Mexican Spanish spoken by first-generation Mexican immigrants in the state of Georgia, Southeastern U.S. Conversational data from sociolinguistic interviews are employed to examine tokens of 1sg and third-person variable SPE and their usage patterns, considering factors such as tense-mood-aspect (TMA), switch reference, polarity, and verb class by means of logistic regression analyses. Results suggest that all four factors influence 1sg variation, but that third-person variation is restricted to switch reference and TMA. In addition, a significant link between switch reference and TMA is found for third-person subjects, but not for 1sg. The findings lend further support to previous scholars advocating the importance of studying individual grammatical persons in SPE research as this can reveal previously obfuscated nuances in the patterns of subject variation.

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Chapter 16. Testing English influence on first person singular “yo” subject pronoun expression in Sonoran Spanish

Cited by 13 publications

References 9 publications

“¿Tú tienes unalittle pumpkin?” Mixed noun phrases in Spanish-English bilingual children and adults

“¿Tú tienes unalittle pumpkin?” Mixed noun phrases in Spanish-English bilingual children and adults

Spanish subject pronoun expression among Bube speakers in Equatorial Guinea

First-person singular and third-person subject pronoun variation: The case of Mexican Spanish in the U.S. state of Georgia

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