(No) English interference on U.S. Southwest Spanish? A look at variable subject expression in Phoenix Spanish-English bilinguals

Authors

  • Alvaro Cerron-Palomino Arizona State University Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/sols.v10i3.28327

Keywords:

Sociolinguistics, syntactic variation, subject pronoun expression, southwest Spanish

Abstract

Subject pronoun expression (SPE) is one of the most studied variables in Spanish sociolinguistics, in the production of both monolingual and bilingual speakers. In the case of U.S. Spanish-English bilinguals, some studies suggest that the almost categorical use of English overt subject personal pronouns (SPPs) boosts the SPP rate in the Spanish of these speakers, whereas some other studies do not support such claim. Aiming to shed light on this subject, the present analysis of SPE in Phoenix is a variationist contribution to the literature on bilingual SPE in the U.S. Although the factors favoring SPP occurrence in the Spanish of Phoenix coincide for the most part with those attested across Spanish varieties, compared to other U.S.-bilingual Spanish varieties accounted for, it shows the lowest rate of overt SPPs: 17.8%, even lower than monolingual Mexican varieties. In addition, Spanish-dominant speakers in Phoenix favor overt SPPs, whereas English-dominant bilinguals disfavor them. When separate regression analyses were run for each proficiency group, it was found that both share virtually the same constraints contributing to the presence of the overt variant. These results do not support the contact claim. Since the Phoenix bilinguals pattern with other U.S. Southwest communities with regard to the aforementioned trends, it is suggested that proximity to the border may neutralize the SPE English effect in the Spanish of these communities, in contrast to communities that lack such regional traits, like New York and Florida.

Author Biography

  • Alvaro Cerron-Palomino, Arizona State University
    Alvaro Cerron-Palomino is an Assistant Professor of Hispanic Linguistics at Arizona State University. He earned a Ph.D. in Hispanic Linguistics from the University of Southern California. Some of his publications are “Excess, Deficiency, and Mean: Resumptive Pronouns, Prepositional Phrase Chopping, and Gaps in Spanish Oblique Relative Clauses”, “Morphological adjectival intensifier variation in the Spanish of Lima, Peru”, and “Ser o no ser PRO: variación en la expresión de sujeto pronominal en el castellano limeño”.

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Published

2017-01-20

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Cerron-Palomino, A. (2017). (No) English interference on U.S. Southwest Spanish? A look at variable subject expression in Phoenix Spanish-English bilinguals. Sociolinguistic Studies, 10(3), 383-408. https://doi.org/10.1558/sols.v10i3.28327

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