Futurity and probability in Spanish as a heritage language
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Diego Pascual y Cabo
Abstract
Focusing on Spanish future morphology as the property under investigation, this study contributes to the literature on heritage speaker bilingualism by exploring whether adult Spanish heritage speakers are able to distinguish between its two possible interpretations: temporal and epistemic. To this end, we present production and comprehension data from adult heritage speakers as well as from dialect-matched adult immigrants living in the United States. While both groups show robust knowledge of future morphology to express temporal futurity, our findings reveal significant differences in their access to and production of the epistemic interpretation. We document a case of convergent simplification whereby the outcome observed constitutes a reduction of the possibilities associated with future tense morphology to make Spanish more similar to English.
Abstract
Focusing on Spanish future morphology as the property under investigation, this study contributes to the literature on heritage speaker bilingualism by exploring whether adult Spanish heritage speakers are able to distinguish between its two possible interpretations: temporal and epistemic. To this end, we present production and comprehension data from adult heritage speakers as well as from dialect-matched adult immigrants living in the United States. While both groups show robust knowledge of future morphology to express temporal futurity, our findings reveal significant differences in their access to and production of the epistemic interpretation. We document a case of convergent simplification whereby the outcome observed constitutes a reduction of the possibilities associated with future tense morphology to make Spanish more similar to English.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
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Part I. Language acquisition
- The development of intonation in L2 Spanish 11
- Insights into the cognition of mood selection in L2 learners of Spanish 33
- The licensing of wh-in-situ questions 53
- What derivational suffixes should we teach in Spanish as a Second Language courses? 75
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Part II. Theoretical and descriptive approaches
- The seem-class verb paradigm and restructuring in Romance 97
- The Progressive-to-Imperfective shift 119
- The aspectual structure of the adjective 137
- Mood in future-framed adverbials 161
- Syntactic and prosodic marking of subject focus in American English and Peninsular Spanish 183
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Part III. Language contact and variation
- Demystifying Salvadoran [s θ ] 207
- Afro-Peruvian Spanish declarative intonation 229
- Subject-predicate code-switching 249
- The differing behavior of loanwords in the Spanish of technology and of fashion and beauty 265
- Futurity and probability in Spanish as a heritage language 285
- Examining the (mini-) variable swarm in the Spanish of the Southeast 303
- Casting light on the Spanish creole debate 327
- Index 343
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
-
Part I. Language acquisition
- The development of intonation in L2 Spanish 11
- Insights into the cognition of mood selection in L2 learners of Spanish 33
- The licensing of wh-in-situ questions 53
- What derivational suffixes should we teach in Spanish as a Second Language courses? 75
-
Part II. Theoretical and descriptive approaches
- The seem-class verb paradigm and restructuring in Romance 97
- The Progressive-to-Imperfective shift 119
- The aspectual structure of the adjective 137
- Mood in future-framed adverbials 161
- Syntactic and prosodic marking of subject focus in American English and Peninsular Spanish 183
-
Part III. Language contact and variation
- Demystifying Salvadoran [s θ ] 207
- Afro-Peruvian Spanish declarative intonation 229
- Subject-predicate code-switching 249
- The differing behavior of loanwords in the Spanish of technology and of fashion and beauty 265
- Futurity and probability in Spanish as a heritage language 285
- Examining the (mini-) variable swarm in the Spanish of the Southeast 303
- Casting light on the Spanish creole debate 327
- Index 343
