Volume 7, Issue 1 -

In this article, we analyze a previously undescribed copulative construction with estar : one where the predicate, a dimensional adjective, denotes properties of the location occupied by the clause subject, as in La bandera está alta ‘The flag is placed in a high position.’ We show that this construction provides direct evidence for the analysis of estar as a morphophonological exponent that lexicalizes a copulative verb and a preposition, as proposed in Uriagereka (2001) and Gallego & Uriagereka (2009). We also show that the structure required to account for the locative reading of dimensional adjectives can be used to characterize the other readings where estar , as a copulative verb, is involved.

The present study investigates the effect of mode on number and gender agreement in third-person direct object clitics produced by three different levels of native- English L2 learners of Spanish (N = 76). Previous research supports a performancedeficit account of variability, showing that proficiency level and working memory affect L2 morphological agreement (Sagarra 2007 and Sagarra & Herschensohn 2010), and that L2 processing patterns are similar to those of the L1 (Hopp 2010), suggesting that gender inflection is attainable. The present study extends such research. Using film retell tasks, data deriving from oral and written production under identical task conditions were correlated with less and more access to working memory, respectively. Analyses revealed main effects for both variables; patterns of agreement in oral production were also evident in written production, but at earlier stages of development. Results support a performance-based account of variability, showing that mode affects gender agreement, but not number.

The present study examines whether, and to what degree, regressive voicing assimilation of Spanish /s/ (as in rasgo /rasgo/ [ˈraz.ɣ̞ o]) occurs in the speech of advanced second language (L2) learners of Spanish. Acoustic analyses of L2 productions of /s/ in the voicing context (preceding a voiced consonant) and in the non-voicing context (preceding a voiceless consonant) elicited from a contextualized picture-description task revealed a contextual voicing effect in the speech of only a limited number of the advanced L2 speakers. The low occurrence of the assimilation process even amongst the advanced learners may be attributed in part to the variable nature of voicing in the input and to the complexity of the process (i.e. subject to different stylistic, linguistic, and social factors). The study also provides a phonetic description of the variants of L2 Spanish /s/ and finds that when voicing does occur, it is phonetically similar to native Spanish voicing in terms of the phonetic contexts in which voicing occurs, patterns of durational differences of /s/ according to voicing, and the variable nature of its occurrence.

The present study adopts a concept-oriented approach to explore the early stages of acquisition of future-time reference in second language (L2) Spanish. Specifically, it investigates the lexical and grammatical forms employed to express future time and the sequence of emergence of future verbal morphology by beginning and intermediate adult Spanish as a foreign language learners. The participants were 104 native English-speaking learners of Spanish from five levels of course enrollment. Participants completed an oral conversation task and a letter-writing task designed to elicit reference to future time. Contexts of future time were identified and coded for the verbal morphology employed. Additionally, data from speakers who employed either only morphological or only periphrastic future forms in addition to base or present indicative forms were examined more closely in terms of variables such as modality, temporal distance, clause type, (un)certainty of the event, and person and number, in order to investigate initial form-meaning mappings. Results suggest that the periphrastic future appears before the morphological future and that, when it appears, future verbal morphology is used most often in written language and to refer to contexts at a temporal distance greater than one day. These cross-sectional data provide evidence as to the emergence of future-time reference in L2 Spanish, demonstrate differential patterns of use according to proficiency level, indicate modality-based variation, show differences rooted in lexical verb types, and, ultimately, add to our knowledge of early form-meaning mappings in the acquisition of Spanish as a L2.

Washington State, demographically speaking, represents the northernmost boundary, la nueva frontera , of what might now be called the Spanish speaking West. Previously, Spanish speakers in the West were concentrated mostly in the Southwest. However, in recent years the Hispanic population of the U.S. has steadily grown, with the result that it forms the largest minority group in the nation, extending into areas that traditionally have not had significant Hispanic communities, including the Pacific Northwest. Little research to date has been carried out on the Spanish-speaking Hispanic populations in that region, particularly in interior Washington. This article seeks to begin to fill that research lacuna. Analyses of U.S. Census data, as well as sociolinguistic interviews with Washington Hispanics, indicate that what used to be the Spanish-speaking Southwest can now be subsumed under the broader ‘Spanish-speaking West,’ with Washington at its northernmost border.

A Spanish version of the Tones and Break Indices framework for the phonological analysis of intonation, Sp_ToBI, has existed, in one level of development or another, for over a decade. The early, preliminary system was incomplete, but since, the system has been revised and expanded to the point of being a fully developed analytical tool. With recent work, Sp_ToBI has come into its own and now has a significant place in research on Spanish intonational phonology, especially given the considerable amount of research that has applied it to a wide range of Spanish varieties. As a system that is explicitly designed to be pan-Spanish, such research is crucial. After outlining the development of Sp_ToBI, this paper considers both the benefits and the challenges of the pan-Spanish nature of Sp_ToBI. Additionally, the contributions that Sp_ToBI has made to the phonological analysis of Spanish intonation are considered, as are the general challenges it faces. The paper concludes with a look at the future of Sp_ToBI as a tool for intonational phonologists.