Chapter 3. Variable constraints on se lo(s) in Mexican Spanish
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Scott A. Schwenter
Abstract
We examine the alternation between normative se lo/la and se los/las to express a plural indirect object and singular direct object. Using corpus data from Mexico City and Monterrey, we find that significant predictors of the more frequent variant, se los, are number of the verb, referential distance, and presence of a dative prepositional phrase. Contra previous claims that se los marks plurality in ambiguous dative referents, we argue that it serves as an accessibility marker that makes a plural referent more salient if not recently mentioned. Se los is used most frequently with first-person singular verbs, resulting in (near-)fixed expressions. These findings demonstrate the sensitivity of Spanish clitics to discourse-pragmatic context and highlight limitations of sentence-level analysis of morphosyntactic variants.
Abstract
We examine the alternation between normative se lo/la and se los/las to express a plural indirect object and singular direct object. Using corpus data from Mexico City and Monterrey, we find that significant predictors of the more frequent variant, se los, are number of the verb, referential distance, and presence of a dative prepositional phrase. Contra previous claims that se los marks plurality in ambiguous dative referents, we argue that it serves as an accessibility marker that makes a plural referent more salient if not recently mentioned. Se los is used most frequently with first-person singular verbs, resulting in (near-)fixed expressions. These findings demonstrate the sensitivity of Spanish clitics to discourse-pragmatic context and highlight limitations of sentence-level analysis of morphosyntactic variants.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction. Contemporary research on Latin American Spanish dialectology 1
-
Section I. Aspects of morphosyntactic and pragmatic variation
- Chapter 1. Between vos and usted 11
- Chapter 2. “Feel really Uruguayan” 29
- Chapter 3. Variable constraints on se lo(s) in Mexican Spanish 47
- Chapter 4. Variation and pragmatic enrichment 69
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Section II. Production, perception and sound system contact-driven restructuring
- Chapter 5. Social perception of the variable realization of /tʃ/ in Chile 97
- Chapter 6. Complex attitudes towards two sociolinguistic variables and their social meanings 125
- Chapter 7. Declarative intonation in four Afro-Hispanic varieties 155
- Chapter 8. ‘En esta petsa, este anio’ 181
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Section III. Language ideologies, business and pedagogical implications
- Chapter 9. Español neutro and marketing in Latin American and U.S. audiovisual media 207
- Chapter 10. Language policy and education in Peru 227
- Chapter 11. Twenty years of Guaraní-Spanish bilingual education in Paraguay 241
- Chapter 12. Bad grammar 275
- Index 289
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction. Contemporary research on Latin American Spanish dialectology 1
-
Section I. Aspects of morphosyntactic and pragmatic variation
- Chapter 1. Between vos and usted 11
- Chapter 2. “Feel really Uruguayan” 29
- Chapter 3. Variable constraints on se lo(s) in Mexican Spanish 47
- Chapter 4. Variation and pragmatic enrichment 69
-
Section II. Production, perception and sound system contact-driven restructuring
- Chapter 5. Social perception of the variable realization of /tʃ/ in Chile 97
- Chapter 6. Complex attitudes towards two sociolinguistic variables and their social meanings 125
- Chapter 7. Declarative intonation in four Afro-Hispanic varieties 155
- Chapter 8. ‘En esta petsa, este anio’ 181
-
Section III. Language ideologies, business and pedagogical implications
- Chapter 9. Español neutro and marketing in Latin American and U.S. audiovisual media 207
- Chapter 10. Language policy and education in Peru 227
- Chapter 11. Twenty years of Guaraní-Spanish bilingual education in Paraguay 241
- Chapter 12. Bad grammar 275
- Index 289
