The Devil in New Mexican Spanish Folklore

Language contact and linguistic change are thought to go hand in hand (e.g. Silva-Corvalán 1994), however there are methodological obstacles, such as collecting data at different points in time or the availability of monolingual data for comparison, that make claims about language change tenuous. The present study draws on two different corpora of spoken Spanish — bilingual New Mexican Spanish and monolingual Ecuadorian Spanish — in order to quantitatively assess the convergence hypothesis in which contact with English has produced a change to the Spanish verbal system, as reflected in an extension of the Present and Past Progressive forms at the expense of the synthetic Simple Present and Imperfect forms. The data do not show that the Spanish spoken by the bilinguals is changing to more closely resemble the analogous English progressive constructions, but instead suggest potential weakening of linguistic constraints on the conditioning of the variation between periphrastic and synthetic forms.

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Ratio Frequency: Insights into Usage Effects on Phonological Structure from Hiatus Resolution in New Mexican Spanish

Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics ◽

10.1515/shll-2008-1020 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 1 (2) ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Matthew C. Alba

Keyword(s):

Multivariate Analyses ◽

Impact Structure ◽

Mexican Spanish ◽

Frequency Effects ◽

New Mexican ◽

Hiatus Resolution ◽

Token Frequency ◽

Phonological Structure ◽

Frequency Of Use ◽

Word String

AbstractMounting evidence shows that frequency of use plays a fundamental role in shaping linguistic structure, including phonological structure (cf. Bybee 2001). Because the study of frequency effects is relatively new, our understanding of how they impact structure continues to be refined. This study explores the effects of several frequency measures on the resolution of hiatus between words in Spanish, and reveals that in addition to the traditional phonological factors, frequency is also involved. Multivariate analyses show that ratio frequency - or the frequency of a two-word string relative to that of one of the words it contains - is a better indicator than straightforward token frequency of the likelihood that the string will be processed as an autonomous unit and undergo concurrent phonological reduction. These findings build on a usage-based model of language, providing important insights into the nature of lexical storage and how this relates to linguistic variation and change.

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The Genesis of Traditional New Mexican Spanish: The Emergence of a Unique Dialect in the Americas

Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics ◽

10.1515/shll-2011-1107 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 4 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Israel Sanz ◽

Daniel J. Villa

Keyword(s):

New World ◽

Common Denominator ◽

Mexican Spanish ◽

Dialect Contact ◽

New Mexican ◽

Single Process ◽

Analytical Approaches

AbstractThe origin of New World Spanish (NWS) is often identified as an original leveled dialect that arose during the earliest moments of Spanish arrival and then spread throughout the Americas. One common denominator in the available accounts of dialect contact and koinéization in NWS is the fact that such studies usually attempt to encompass its evolution as a single process. Perhaps as a consequence of such analytical approaches, little or no reference is commonly made to the possibility that some areas may have followed highly idiosyncratic sociohistorical paths, causing explanatory difficulties for the single leveled dialect approach. In this article we offer an analysis of the genesis of Traditional New Mexican Spanish that suggests the possibility of a variety of NWS that arose independently of others.

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