Continuity and change

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel Ramos
Keyword(s):  
Language Change ◽  
16Th Century ◽  
First Person ◽  
Semantic Class ◽  
Continuity And Change ◽  
Subject Pronoun ◽  
Subject Expression

Based on 2,685 instances of verbs inflected for first-person singular (1sg) drawn from 14th–16th century Spanish texts, the current study offers two main findings on the diachrony of variable subject expression. The results indicate that, in general, the linguistic conditioning of 1sg subject pronoun expression (yo) remains constant throughout the centuries, following the patterns reported for present-day Spanish. We observe an effect of switch reference and of distance between coreferential subjects favoring expression. Additionally found is coreferential subject priming, such that the form of a previous coreferential subject significantly influences subsequent coreferential mentions. Finally, tense-aspect-mood is significant, though both the imperfect and future tenses favor expression. Nevertheless, verb semantic class does not influence these data. In particular, the yo+cognition verb construction, especially the highly frequent yo creo, which leads the cognition-verb category nowadays, is absent here. The study thus both offers evidence of continuity and suggests possible language change.

The discursive distribution of subject pronouns in Spanish spoken in Georgia: A weakening of pragmatic constraints?

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-126
Author(s):  
Philip P. Limerick
Keyword(s):  
Contact Hypothesis ◽  
First Person ◽  
Contrastive Focus ◽  
Subject Pronouns ◽  
Overt Pronoun ◽  
Subject Pronoun ◽  
Subject Expression

AbstractThis study examines subject expression from a pragmatic perspective in an emerging bilingual community of Roswell, Georgia, an exurb of Atlanta. Using sociolinguistic interviews conducted in Roswell, first-person singular subject pronoun (SP) usage is analyzed among 10 Mexican speakers within five distinct pragmatic contexts: salient referent, switch focus, contrastive focus, pragmatic weight, and epistemic parentheticals. A comparison is made between Georgia speakers and monolingual Mexican speakers in Querétaro in order to explore the possible weakening of pragmatic constraints due to English contact. Results indicate that a contact hypothesis is not supported in terms of overall overt pronoun usage as evidenced by similar frequencies when compared to monolingual Mexican varieties. However, an increased use of overt SPs in the context of salient referent as well as a diminished use of overt SPs in switch focus contexts is found, suggesting a potential weakened sensitivity to such pragmatic constraints.

First-Person Plural Subject Pronoun Expression in Mexican Spanish Spoken in Georgia

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 411-432
Author(s):  
Philip P. Limerick
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Language Variation ◽  
First Person ◽  
Mexican Spanish ◽  
Language Variation And Change ◽  
Person Plural ◽  
Third Person ◽  
Subject Pronoun ◽  
Subject Expression ◽  
First Person Plural

Abstract Variationist research on subject pronoun expression (SPE) in Spanish typically incorporates all grammatical persons/numbers into the same analysis, with important exceptions such as studies focusing exclusively on first-person singular (e.g., Travis, Catherine E. 2005. The yo-yo effect: Priming in subject expression in Colombian Spanish. In Randall Gess & Edward J Rubin (eds.), Selected papers from the 34th Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages (LSRL), 329–349. Amsterdam, Salt Lake City: Benjamins 2004; Travis, Catherine E. 2007. Genre effects on subject expression in Spanish: Priming in narrative and conversation. Language Variation and Change 19. 101–135; Travis, Catherine E. & Rena Torres Cacoullos. 2012. What do subject pronouns do in discourse? Cognitive, mechanical and constructional factors in variation. Cognitive Linguistics 23(4). 711–748), third-person singular (Shin, Naomi Lapidus. 2014. Grammatical complexification in Spanish in New York: 3sg pronoun expression and verbal ambiguity. Language Variation and Change 26. 303–330), and third-person plural subjects (Lapidus, Naomi & Ricardo Otheguy. 2005. Overt nonspecific ellos in Spanish in New York. Spanish in Context 2(2). 157–174). The current study is the first variationist analysis (to the best of my knowledge) to focus solely on first-person plural SPE. It is well-established that nosotros/nosotras exhibits one of the lowest rates of SPE relative to the other persons/numbers; however, factors conditioning its variation are less understood. Conversational corpus data from Mexican Spanish are employed to examine tokens of first-person plural SPE (n=660) in terms of frequency and constraints, incorporating factors such as TMA, switch reference, and verb class in logistic regression analyses. Results suggest that nosotros, like other subjects, is strongly impacted by switch reference and tense-mood-aspect (TMA). However, the TMA effect is unique in that preterit aspect is shown to favor overt nosotros relative to other TMAs, diverging from previous studies. Furthermore, verb class — a factor found to be repeatedly significant in the literature — is inoperative for nosotros. These results suggest that nosotros does not respond to the same factors as other persons/numbers. Additionally, the findings lend support to researchers regarding the importance of studying individual persons/numbers in subject variation research.

scholarly journals Subject expression in a Southeastern U.S. Mexican community

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 243-273
Author(s):  
Philip Limerick
Keyword(s):  
Language Change ◽  
Linguistic Variables ◽  
Social Variables ◽  
Mexican Spanish ◽  
Dialect Contact ◽  
Subject Pronouns ◽  
Mexican Community ◽  
Potential Contact ◽  
Subject Pronoun ◽  
Subject Expression

Through an analysis of immigrant Spanish in Georgia, potential contact-induced language change is investigated through the lens of subject pronoun expression. Pronoun variation among Mexican speakers is examined using sociolinguistic interview data. Tokens of subject pronouns (N = 4,649) were coded for linguistic variables previously shown to constrain subject expression (e.g. person/number, tense-mood-aspect [TMA], polarity) as well as social variables (e.g. English proficiency, age), and then analysed using multivariate analyses in Rbrul. Results indicate an overall pronoun rate of 27%, which is slightly higher than what has been reported for monolingual Mexican Spanish. Several linguistic variables (e.g. person/number, switch-reference, morphological ambiguity, polarity) and one social variable (age) played a significant role in pronoun variation. Moreover, differential effects were revealed when compared to monolingual Mexican Spanish for variables such as TMA. These findings point in the direction of dialect contact influences and the presence of a unique variety of Mexican Spanish in the U.S.

scholarly journals Categories and Frequency: Cognition Verbs in Spanish Subject Expression

Languages ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 126
Author(s):  
Catherine E. Travis ◽  
Rena Torres Cacoullos
Keyword(s):  
High Frequency ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Variable Structure ◽  
Semantic Classes ◽  
Variation Patterns ◽  
Subject Pronoun ◽  
Subject Expression ◽  
Linguistic Categories ◽  
Analysis Of Variation ◽  
New Evidence

Are semantic classes of verbs genuine or do they merely mask idiosyncrasies of frequent verbs? Here, we examine the interplay between semantic classes and frequent verb-form combinations, providing new evidence from variation patterns in spontaneous speech that linguistic categories are centered on high frequency members to which other members are similar. We offer an account of the well-known favoring effect of cognition verbs on Spanish subject pronoun expression by considering the role of high-frequency verbs (e.g., creer ‘think’ and saber ‘know’) and particular expressions ((yo) creo ‘I think’, (yo) no sé ‘I don’t know’). Analysis of variation in nearly 3000 tokens of unexpressed and pronominal subjects in conversational data replicates well-established predictors, but highlights that the cognition verb effect is really one of 1sg cognition verbs. In addition, particular expressions stand out for their high frequency relative to their component parts (for (yo) creo, proportion of lexical type, and proportion of pronoun). Further analysis of 1sg verbs with frequent expressions as fixed effects reveals shared patterns with other cognition verbs, including an association with non-coreferential contexts. Thus, classes can be identified by variation constraints and contextual distributions that are shared among class members and are measurably different from those of the more general variable structure. Cognition verbs in variable Spanish subject expression form a class anchored in lexically particular constructions.

The varying influence of social and linguistic factors on language stability and change: The case of Eskilstuna

2009 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Sundgren
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Rapid Change ◽  
Rate Of Change ◽  
Social Forces ◽  
Trend Study ◽  
Continuity And Change ◽  
Gender And Age ◽  
Regional Dialect ◽  
Empirical Material

AbstractContinuity and Change in Present-Day Swedish: Eskilstuna Revisited is a large-scale study of language change in real time. In this article, the focus is on the results of a trend study and the analysis of how extralinguistic and linguistic factors influence how language varies and changes.The empirical material consists of informal conversationlike interviews, in which seven morphological and morphophonological variables have been analyzed in terms of the traditional extralinguistic factors of social group, gender, and age, as well as in terms of social networks. These morpho(phono)logical variables are sociolinguistically marked and have been hypothesized to show a process of more or less rapid change from regional dialect toward spoken standard. The rate of change at the level of the community has been slow, however. Comparisons between the influence of extralinguistic and linguistic factors indicate that social forces are more influential than linguistic ones.

Choosing between zero and pronominal subject: modeling subject expression in the 1st person singular in Finnish conversation

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marja-Liisa Helasvuo ◽  
Aki-Juhani Kyröläinen
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Analysis ◽  
Multivariate Statistical Analysis ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Interesting Case ◽  
Multivariate Statistical ◽  
Dominant Type ◽  
Grammatical Agreement ◽  
Anaphoric Pronoun ◽  
Subject Pronoun ◽  
Subject Expression

AbstractThe variability of subject expression has been extensively investigated across languages. We present a large-scale multivariate statistical analysis of the choice of subject expression in the 1st person singular in spontaneous Finnish conversation, with a focus on the choice between pronominal and zero subject. Spoken Finnish represents an interesting case, as the dominant type of subject expression is double marking, i. e. the combination of a pronominal subject marker (subject pronoun) and a verbal subject marker (person marking). Siewierska (1999, From anaphoric pronoun to grammatical agreement marker: Why objects don’t make it.

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

Lenguaje ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 104-134
Author(s):  
Philip P. Limerick
Keyword(s):  
First Generation ◽  
Mexican Immigrants ◽  
First Person ◽  
Regression Analyses ◽  
Mexican Spanish ◽  
Usage Patterns ◽  
Third Person ◽  
Subject Pronoun ◽  
Person Variable ◽  
The U.S

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.

scholarly journals CONTINUITY AND CHANGE OF THE ISLAMIC INTELLECTUAL DISCOURSE IN INDONESIA MALAY WORLD

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-166
Author(s):  
Nor Huda
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
16Th Century ◽  
Young Generation ◽  
Historical Approach ◽  
Intellectual Discourse ◽  
Continuity And Change ◽  
Religious Vision ◽  
Strong Difference ◽  
Islamic Thought ◽  
The 19Th Century

In its history, there has been a strong difference between the doctrine of Sufism and the philosophical Sufism, including Indonesia. In the period of the end of the 16th century until the end of the 19th century even the emergence of the beginning of Islamic intellectualism in Indonesia was brilliantly marked by monumental works. Then, in the era of the 1970s, the discourse of renewing Islamic thought was increasingly being studied. The young generation of educated Muslims in this decade has shown a tendency towards thinking that is no longer normative in view of religion. Very different in the era of mystical and sufistic Islam. So, they tend to be more interested in Islamic understanding based on empirical and historical approaches in the formation of their religious vision. In this paper, a philosophical historical approach will be discussed on the issue of continuity and change in Islamic intellectual discourse in the Malay world of Indonesia and at the same time analyzing broader mystical and philosophical mysticism in Indonesia, friction in it, and efforts to reconcile it.

scholarly journals Subjunctive and subject pronoun realization: a study of "no creo que"

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie Harrington ◽  
Ana Teresa Pérez-Leroux
Keyword(s):  
First Person ◽  
Subject Pronouns ◽  
Subjunctive Mood ◽  
Oral Speech ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Complement Clauses ◽  
Subject Pronoun ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Embedded Clause ◽  
Dependent Clause

Subjunctive mood in complement clauses is licensed under selection from certain predicates or under the scope of a modal or negation. In contexts where mood choice varies, such as the complement of a negated epistemic verb no creer, it introduces a contrast in interpretation. The subjunctive is thought to contribute to a shift in the modal anchoring of the embedded clause, and is consequently interpreted as indicative of a dissociation between the epistemic models of the speaker and the subject. We provide evidence that these uses also interact with pragmatic context. Given independent claims that 1) the overt realization of first person subject pronouns is contrastive and 2) it generally serves to anchor discourse to the speaker’s perspective and 3) overt use is particularly frequent with epistemic verbs, we examined the interaction between negation, first person subject pronoun realization, and mood of the dependent clause for the verb creer.  An analysis of oral speech from the Proyecto de Habla Culta revealed that for negative sentences (no creo que), yo is overtly realized more frequently for cases with exceptional indicative dependents than for those with canonical subjunctive dependents; there was no association with mood for affirmative uses of creer. These results support analyses where negation has specific scope over the contrastive subject, rather than over the epistemic clause. As a consequence, the matrix proposition remains an assertion and use of indicative complements is licensed.

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