Home General Interest Chapter 13. Espero estén todos
Chapter
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Chapter 13. Espero estén todos

The distribution of the null subordinating complementizer in two varieties of Spanish
  • Adrián Rodríguez-Riccelli
View more publications by John Benjamins Publishing Company
To Publisher Page
Language Variation and Contact-Induced Change
This chapter is in the book Language Variation and Contact-Induced Change

Abstract

This study adopts a quantitative methodology to investigate variation between null and overt expressions of Spanish complementizer que. I focus on two varieties of Spanish from Mexico City and Los Angeles, California. This research uses a corpus linguistics–inspired methodology, relying on Twitter as a database to extract tokens and Rrbul (Johnson 2008) to perform the multivariate analysis. I extracted and analyzed 1,505 tokens and coded for 9 linguistic and 2 extra-linguistic factors. I showed the internal factors ‘verb modality’ and ‘embedded subject status’ to significantly affect the alternation, favoring the null option. Contrary to what was expected, the external factor ‘city’ did not have any significant effect on the distribution. I discuss the results in light of formal and sociolinguistic studies on the nature of subordinated constructions in Spanish (Brovetto 2002; Etxepare 1996; Subirats-Rüggeberg 1987), English (Tagliamonte & Smith 2005) and Spanish in contact with English (Silva-Corvalán 1993, 1994, 1998).

Abstract

This study adopts a quantitative methodology to investigate variation between null and overt expressions of Spanish complementizer que. I focus on two varieties of Spanish from Mexico City and Los Angeles, California. This research uses a corpus linguistics–inspired methodology, relying on Twitter as a database to extract tokens and Rrbul (Johnson 2008) to perform the multivariate analysis. I extracted and analyzed 1,505 tokens and coded for 9 linguistic and 2 extra-linguistic factors. I showed the internal factors ‘verb modality’ and ‘embedded subject status’ to significantly affect the alternation, favoring the null option. Contrary to what was expected, the external factor ‘city’ did not have any significant effect on the distribution. I discuss the results in light of formal and sociolinguistic studies on the nature of subordinated constructions in Spanish (Brovetto 2002; Etxepare 1996; Subirats-Rüggeberg 1987), English (Tagliamonte & Smith 2005) and Spanish in contact with English (Silva-Corvalán 1993, 1994, 1998).

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction 1
  4. Part I. Population migration and contact-induced language change
  5. Chapter 1. Spatial reconfigurations of Spanish in postmodernity 11
  6. Chapter 2. Female migration and its impact on language choice and use among Afro-Costa Rican women 35
  7. Chapter 3. Hard come, easy go 63
  8. Part II. Internal and external factors in pragmatic variation
  9. Chapter 4. Afro-Hispanic contact varieties at the syntax/pragmatics interface 85
  10. Chapter 5. Borrowed Spanish discourse markers in narrative 111
  11. Chapter 6. Hasta perder la última gota de mi sangre 127
  12. Chapter 7. Discourse markers in variation 153
  13. Part III. Morphosyntactic variation and change
  14. Chapter 8. Yo no le conocí a mi abuela 175
  15. Chapter 9. Attitudes toward morphosyntactic variation in the Spanish of Valencian speakers 199
  16. Chapter 10. Stable variation or change in progress? A sociolinguistic analysis of pa(ra) in the Spanish of Venezuela 223
  17. Part IV. Current issues in bilingual variation
  18. Chapter 11. El futuro es perifrástico 249
  19. Chapter 12. L2 Spanish in the U.S. and the question of motivation 279
  20. Chapter 13. Espero estén todos 299
  21. Index 335
https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.340.14ric

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction 1
  4. Part I. Population migration and contact-induced language change
  5. Chapter 1. Spatial reconfigurations of Spanish in postmodernity 11
  6. Chapter 2. Female migration and its impact on language choice and use among Afro-Costa Rican women 35
  7. Chapter 3. Hard come, easy go 63
  8. Part II. Internal and external factors in pragmatic variation
  9. Chapter 4. Afro-Hispanic contact varieties at the syntax/pragmatics interface 85
  10. Chapter 5. Borrowed Spanish discourse markers in narrative 111
  11. Chapter 6. Hasta perder la última gota de mi sangre 127
  12. Chapter 7. Discourse markers in variation 153
  13. Part III. Morphosyntactic variation and change
  14. Chapter 8. Yo no le conocí a mi abuela 175
  15. Chapter 9. Attitudes toward morphosyntactic variation in the Spanish of Valencian speakers 199
  16. Chapter 10. Stable variation or change in progress? A sociolinguistic analysis of pa(ra) in the Spanish of Venezuela 223
  17. Part IV. Current issues in bilingual variation
  18. Chapter 11. El futuro es perifrástico 249
  19. Chapter 12. L2 Spanish in the U.S. and the question of motivation 279
  20. Chapter 13. Espero estén todos 299
  21. Index 335
Sign up now to receive a 20% welcome discount
Institutional Access
How does access work?
Have an idea on how to improve our website?
Please write us.
© 2025 De Gruyter Brill
Downloaded on 29.12.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1075/cilt.340.14ric/html
Scroll to top button