Philip P Limerick | Centre College (original) (raw)

Papers by Philip P Limerick

The current paper offers a Biblical analysis from a Critical Discourse Analysis perspective. Whil... more The current paper offers a Biblical analysis from a Critical Discourse Analysis perspective. While numerous studies have analyzed the Bible from a discourse analytic perspective in general, much less has been done on critical discourse analysis in particular. Moreover, discourse analytic studies of the Bible typically consider partial books or excerpts. In the case of Acts, no study (to my knowledge) has examined the book in its entirety. To fill this gap, the current analysis involves a comprehensive scriptural discourse analysis of the entire book of Acts. The use of language in Acts that reflects dissent--resistance discourse--is examined, and common themes and discursive strategies are analyzed. The findings highlight themes such as resistance to the Roman government; resistance to the Pharisees, resistance to Satan (and evil spirits), and the discursive strategies discussed include lexical choice denoting resistance and opposition, pronominal choice to convey collectivity and solidarity, the use of legitimation strategies, and the use of metaphor. The discourse of Acts as a reflection of ideologies of social equality as well as Christo-anarchism is also discussed.

The Corpus of Spanish in Georgia is a collection of semi-structured interviews conducted in 2015 ... more The Corpus of Spanish in Georgia is a collection of semi-structured interviews conducted in 2015 with members of the Latinx immigrant community in the metropolitan Atlanta area, primarily in the city of Roswell, Georgia. The interviews lasted between 30 minutes and one hour. They were informal, conversational, and addressed topics of personal history, local community life, differences between the speakers’ home countries and the U.S., and experiences adapting to life in Roswell, among others.
https://corpusofspanishingeorgia.omeka.net/

This paper reports on a comparative analysis of variable subject pronoun expression (SPE) among f... more This paper reports on a comparative analysis of variable subject pronoun expression (SPE) among first-generation Mexican immigrants in the U.S. with differing regional origins. Using sociolinguistic interview data collected in Georgia, occurrence rates and usage patterns of first-person singular SPs were examined among two groups of speakers: those hailing from Mexico City (N=8) and those from other Mexican regions, such as Guerrero, Zacatecas, and Colima, among others (N=12). From a variationist sociolinguistic perspective, rates and constraints on SPs were examined comparatively across the two groups by means of logistic regression analyses in Rbrul, with results indicating wide variation in pronoun rates both across and within groups. This suggests that Mexican Spanish may exhibit a wider range of variation in SP rates than was previously assumed. Regarding usage patterns, the linguistic constraints on SPE (switch reference, TMA, verb class, polarity) show remarkable similarities between Mexico City speakers and non-Mexico City speakers, suggesting cross-regional uniformity for firstperson singular SPE in Mexican dialects. Additionally, the social predictors of age and gender were examined, and, while no significant main effects were observed, interaction effects between the linguistic and social predictors were differentially operative between Mexico City and non-Mexico City speakers, reflecting a more nuanced view on the sociolinguistic conditioning of variable SPE.

The current study analyzes mood alternation in Spanish spoken in Georgia among first-generation M... more The current study analyzes mood alternation in Spanish spoken in Georgia among first-generation Mexican immigrants. Using sociolinguistic interview data, tokens of the subjunctive and indicative in dependent clauses were examined, particularly in the following syntactic contexts: depender, aunque, me gusta que, no porque, quizás, tal vez, and no sé si/ cómo/dónde/qué. We argue that mood selection in the contexts under study is determined by the evaluation of the proposition in the dependent clause. We then use this data to inform theories of possible world semantics (i.e. Anand and Hacquard 2013, Giannakidou and Mari 2021, Villalta 2008) to better understand mood alternation. Moreover, while many U.S. Spanish varieties may demonstrate what Silva-Corvalán (1994, 91) refers to as "a reduced system that made it more difficult to distinguish between more or less possible situations in a hypothetical world", we show that cases of alternation in the present data still differentiate speaker meaning and evaluation.

The current study examines early-modern standardization practices of Spanish that occurred throug... more The current study examines early-modern standardization practices of Spanish that occurred through the reduction or elimination and codification of linguistic variation, specifically the standardization of graphic-phonetic features of Spanish. By comparing various manuscripts with the first printed version of the Siete Partidas--a legal text during the reign of Alfonso X--four graphic-phonetic variables are examined: ff/f, d/t, o/u, and e/i. Findings suggest that there is a movement toward standard variants in the more recent manuscripts, namely f, d, u, and i. It is argued that the republication and printing of the Siete Partidas not only had the purpose of linguistic updating, but also had the objective of standardizing these four variables (Harris-Northall, 1996; Tejedo-Herrero, 2009).

While racist discourse has received much attention in Critical Discourse Studies (CDS), there is ... more While racist discourse has received much attention in Critical Discourse Studies (CDS), there is a dearth of scholarship on anti-racist text and talk. A critical observation is that anti-racist movements, and hence, discourse, often exclude women. With the goal of contributing to this gap in the CDS literature, the current analysis examines Black women's discourses concerning anti-Black racism in general, and Black Feminism in particular. Four YouTube videos that feature both conference talks and news programs surrounding the topic of Black Feminism are analyzed for recurring themes using thematic analysis as well as discourse structures from the perspective of critical discourse analysis. Findings reveal that the primary themes that emerged are the inclusion of Black women, Police brutality and unaccountability, and Black Feminism Defined, with various subthemes. In addition, the discourse structures examined are lexical choice, presupposition, pronominal choice, and the use of tag questions, among others. This study serves to further our understanding of the linguistic manifestation of ideologies through discourse concerning anti-racism and Black Feminism.

The construction lo que pasa es que 'what happens is that' is a Spanish discourse marker that was... more The construction lo que pasa es que 'what happens is that' is a Spanish discourse marker that was originally a pseudo-cleft construction. Before becoming grammaticalized, the verb pasar contained its full lexical meaning 'to happen,' but later evolved into a fixed expression losing its lexical meaning and acquiring an implicit contrastive and causal meaning. The present study aims to describe the construction's evolution on the path of grammaticalization in relation to Traugott's (1989) three semantic-pragmatic tendencies. In addition, a Usage-based Theory approach is employed in order to describe some of the formal aspects of the construction. Using two corpora, CORDE and Corpus del Español, all instances of the construction were located and analyzed with regard to function and usage in context. Results indicate that the construction was first used in the 16 th Century and that its evolution as lexical > concessive > epistemic is in line with Traugott's tendencies. Mechanisms of change such as chunking and phonetic reduction and loss of compositionality and analyzability, as well as increase in overall frequency are also discussed in relation to this construction, lending further support to Usage-based theory.

Se emplean datos de un corpus conversacional del español mexicano en Atlanta, Georgia para examin... more Se emplean datos de un corpus conversacional del español mexicano en Atlanta, Georgia para examinar ejemplos de la expresión del sujeto pronominal (ESP) de segunda persona singular (n = 478) en términos de frecuencia y restricciones, incorporando factores tales como tiempo-modo-aspecto (TMA), cambio de referencia y especificidad en un análisis de regresión logística. Los resultados sugieren que tú, al igual que otros sujetos, está fuertemente afectado por el cambio de referencia y TMA. Sin embargo, el efecto de TMA es único en el sentido de que se demuestra que el aspecto imperfecto desfavorece tú explícito en relación con otros TMA, divergiendo de estudios previos. Además, la especificidad-un factor que se ha encontrado repetidamente significativo en la bibliografía-es inoperante, lo que sugiere que tú se comporta de manera diferente en este dialecto con respecto a su sensibilidad a factores lingüísticos.

El presente estudio examina los préstamos verbales del inglés en español y francés. Mientras que ... more El presente estudio examina los préstamos verbales del inglés en español y francés. Mientras que los préstamos de sustantivos se han tratado ampliamente en estudios previos, los préstamos verbales son menos investigados. Se exploran los procesos de integración y adaptación morfológica a las lenguas receptoras (español y francés) así como la variación en los sufijos de los préstamos verbales. Se emplean varios recursos (p. ej., diccionarios) para armar una lista de préstamos. Los hallazgos indican que los verbos se toman prestados como verbos en general y no tanto como sustantivos para después ser verbalizados. También, generalmente se usa la primera conjugación en las dos lenguas. Este análisis plantea nuevas preguntas para el estudio de los préstamos verbales.

The current study analyzes variable subject pronoun expression (SPE) for first-person singular (1... more The current study analyzes variable subject pronoun expression (SPE) for first-person singular (1sg) and third-person subjects in a variety of Mexican Spanish spoken by first-generation Mexican immigrants in the state of Georgia, Southeastern U.S. Conversational data from sociolinguistic interviews are employed to examine tokens of 1sg and third-person variable SPE and their usage patterns, considering factors such as tense-mood-aspect (TMA), switch reference, polarity, and verb class by means of logistic regression analyses. Results suggest that all four factors influence 1sg variation, but that third-person variation is restricted to switch reference and TMA. In addition, a significant link between switch reference and TMA is found for third-person subjects, but not for 1sg. The findings lend further support to previous scholars advocating the importance of studying individual grammatical persons in SPE research as this can reveal previously obfuscated nuances in the patterns of subject variation.

This paper reports on a preliminary analysis of the Spanish discourse marker (DM) por decirlo así... more This paper reports on a preliminary analysis of the Spanish discourse marker (DM) por decirlo así (PDA), a metapragmatic expression with an attenuating function used in various dialects of Spanish. Aside from brief descriptions (e.g. Piñero Piñero and Díaz Peralta, 2005), PDA has thus far not been studied in the literature. The present study, therefore, aims to provide a more thorough analysis of its discourse functions as well as to compare it to the functions of other DMs. Using oral data from the Corpus del Español (CdE, Davies, 2002-) and the Corpus de Referencia del Español Actual (CREA), 105 cases of PDA were analyzed and categorized according to Caffi's (1999) mitigation framework. Results indicate that PDA functions as both a bush and a hedge, with the former being more prominent. Further, the study suggests that, similarly to what has been observed for the DM o sea (Schwenter, 1996), PDA is used epistemically to reduce the speaker's commitment to an opinion or belief. Similarities with other DMs such as digamos and que digamos are also discussed.

The current study examines variable clitic placement (CP) in Spanish in a Mexican community in th... more The current study examines variable clitic placement (CP) in Spanish in a Mexican community in the metropolitan Atlanta area. By employing sociolinguistic interview data from 20 first-generation Mexican speakers, clitic frequencies and constraints are analyzed. Tokens of proclisis and enclisis were coded for linguistic and social factors that potentially influence clitic usage (e.g., topic persistence, specific clitic used, English proficiency, age, gender), and a logistic regression analysis was carried out using Rbrul (Daniel Johnson, 2009). Results indicate a proclisis rate of 64%, which is comparable to other varieties of Mexican Spanish. The regression analysis revealed that CP is sensitive to the particular construction used, the specific clitic, the presence of a pause, and the speaker’s gender. Additionally, English proficiency showed no effect on CP. This analysis supports previous research that CP is impermeable to contact-induced change and also reveals new conditioning factors (specific clitic, presence of a pause) that have not been examined in previous literature.

Variationist research on subject pronoun expression (SPE) in Spanish typically incorporates all g... more Variationist research on subject pronoun expression (SPE) in Spanish typically incorporates all grammatical persons/numbers into the same analysis, with important exceptions such as studies focusing exclusively on first-person singular (e.g. Travis 2005, 2007; Travis and Torres Cacoullos 2012), third-person singular (Shin 2014), and third-person plural subjects (Lapidus and Otheguy 2005). The current study is the first variationist analysis (to the best of my knowledge) to focus solely on first-person plural SPE. It is well-established that nosotros/nosotras exhibits one of the lowest rates of SPE relative to the other persons/numbers; however, factors conditioning its variation are less understood. Conversational corpus data from Mexican Spanish are employed to examine tokens of first-person plural SPE (n=660) in terms of frequency and constraints, incorporating factors such as TMA, switch reference, and verb class in logistic regression analyses. Results suggest that nosotros, like other subjects, is strongly impacted by switch reference and tense-mood-aspect (TMA). However, the TMA effect is unique in that preterit aspect is shown to favor overt nosotros relative to other TMAs, diverging from previous studies. Furthermore, verb class-a factor found to be repeatedly significant in the literature-is inoperative for nosotros. These results suggest that nosotros does not respond to the same factors as other persons/numbers. Additionally, the findings lend support to researchers regarding the importance of studying individual persons/numbers in subject variation research.

The dominant trend in variationist studies of Spanish subject expression is to focus on pronomina... more The dominant trend in variationist studies of Spanish subject expression is to focus on pronominal subjects, excluding lexical subjects (LSs). Due to such lack of attention to LSs in previous research, the current paper aims to fill this gap and to gain a better understanding of variation between LSs and subject pronouns (SPs). While previous research that analyzes LSs makes a significant contribution to the scholarship on subjects and enriches our understanding of the functions of LSs, a variable context for LSs in the variationist tradition has not heretofore been established. The current paper proposes a variable context methodology for LSs by investigating cases in which LSs are produced (e.g. mi mamá trabaja ‘my mom works’), particularly in contexts in which SPs (overt or null) could have alternatively been produced (e.g. ella/∅ trabaja ‘she works’). Overall frequencies, constraints, and pragmatic functions of LSs are discussed.

While much work has been done on discourse and populism in Europe concerning various minority gro... more While much work has been done on discourse and populism in Europe concerning various minority groups, little is understood about how populist ideologies are manifested through discourse in current US political and media discourses concerning African-Americans. Using the framework of Critical Discourse Analysis, the present study seeks to uncover such discursive patterns. Based on Wodak’s (2015) conception of populism as tied to fear, scapegoating, and ‘othering,’ the current paper aims to address populist discourse in US (social) media. A collection of diverse online media is employed (news articles, YouTube videos) to analyze the populist discourse of Donald Trump, his supporters, and his anti-populist opponents. Particular attention is paid to (anti) racist discourse concerning African-Americans, primarily the case of the Central
Park Five. Specifically, the discursive strategies in these types of discourses are examined in order to explain how populism is structured and manifested in discourse, affording the unique opportunity to further understand the unfolding of populist text and talk in its recent and ongoing stages. Findings indicate that the most prominent discursive strategies that characterize these media, and that manifest populist attitudes are despective lexical choice, legitimation, evasion, and exclusionary rhetoric. This qualitative analysis reveals the subtle ways in which African-Americans are discriminated against through language use and sheds light on (anti) populist ideologies in US media. Additionally, this work tries to fill a gap in exploring resistance discourse (i.e. anti-populist), an understudied area in the critical discourse studies literature.

While discursive racism is generally well studied in Latin America, it has received little attent... more While discursive racism is generally well studied in Latin America, it has received little attention in Uruguay. Findings of other countries indicate subtle forms of racism through the denial of racial discrimination and negative presentation of minorities. This study begins to explore how racism is manifested through discourse concerning Afro-Uruguayans by examining a debate between congressman Ortuño and journalist Hoenir Sarthou regarding affirmative action and employment of Afro-Uruguayans. An analysis was completed to uncover the race-related ideologies that exist in Uruguay as manifested by discourse. Results suggest that discourse in Uruguay follows similar patterns to other Latin American countries in that there is implicit racism as seen by discourse representing a 'racial democracy' ideology. The general denial of racism as well as the specific ideology of racial democracy were overarching themes in the current analysis, revealing that despite popular discourse of equal race relations, racism is constructed and reproduced through discursive practices.

Through an analysis of immigrant Spanish in Georgia, potential contact-induced language change is... more Through an analysis of immigrant Spanish in Georgia, potential contact-induced language change is investigated through the lens of subject pronoun expression. Pronoun variation among Mexican speakers is examined using sociolinguistic interview data. Tokens of overt and null subject pronouns (N = 4,649) were coded for linguistic variables previously shown to constrain subject expression (e.g. person/number, tense-mood-aspect [TMA], polarity) as well as social variables (e.g. English proficiency, age), and then analysed using multivariate analyses in Rbrul. Results indicate an overall pronoun rate of 27%, which is slightly higher than what has been reported for monolingual Mexican Spanish. Several linguistic variables (e.g. person/number, switch-reference, morphological ambiguity, polarity) and one social variable (age) played a significant role in pronoun variation. Moreover, differential effects were revealed when compared to monolingual Mexican Spanish for variables such as TMA. These findings point in the direction of dialect contact influences and the presence of a unique variety of Mexican Spanish in the U.S.

El presente trabajo pretendió explorar el papel no ortogonal de los factores que condicionan la ... more El presente trabajo pretendió explorar el papel no ortogonal de los factores que condicionan la expresión de los sujetos pronominales en español, al emplear análisis cuantitativos de entrevistas, sistematizadas por tabulación cruzada y árboles de inferencia condicional, con el fin de explorar dichos efectos de interacción. Este estudio revela que varios factores conjuntamente restringen el uso de SPE y que la gramática variable de los SPE es más compleja de lo que se ha observado, con meros efectos principales en la bibliografía sociolingüística.

The present study examines two syntactic properties of wh-questions in second-language Spanish: s... more The present study examines two syntactic properties of wh-questions in second-language Spanish: subject-verb inversion and preposition placement. Specifically, we examine difficulties that native English speakers have in acquiring feature strength and sentence structure in Spanish that differ from English, and we also examine the degree to which L2 speakers improve their question formation. We included three L2 speaker groups (beginner, intermediate, advanced) and a control group (native Spanish speakers), employing both a written production task and an acceptability judgement task. Results indicate that participants at all levels did not have problems with the placement of the interrogative element. However, difficulties arose with subject-verb inversion and preposition placement. Despite such difficulties, L2 speakers showed an improvement as their levels increased, particularly in the case of preposition placement. With regard to theoretical positions within the generative framework, the current data lend support to the Full Transfer/Full Access Hypothesis (Schwartz & Sprouse, 1996).

The present study examines two syntactic properties of wh- questions in second-language Spanish: ... more The present study examines two syntactic properties of wh- questions in second-language Spanish: subject-verb inversion and preposition placement. Specifically, we examine difficulties that native English speakers have in acquiring feature strength and sentence structure in Spanish that differ from English, and we also examine the degree to which L2 speakers improve their question formation. We included three L2 speaker groups (beginner, intermediate, advanced) and a control group (native Spanish speakers), employing both a written production task and an acceptability judgement task. Results indicate that participants at all levels did not have problems with the placement of the interrogative element. However, difficulties arose with subject-verb inversion and preposition placement. Despite such difficulties, L2 speakers showed an improvement as their levels increased, particularly in the case of preposition placement. With regard to theoretical positions within the generative framework, the current data lend support to the Full Transfer/Full Access Hypothesis (Schwartz & Sprouse, 1996).

The current paper offers a Biblical analysis from a Critical Discourse Analysis perspective. Whil... more The current paper offers a Biblical analysis from a Critical Discourse Analysis perspective. While numerous studies have analyzed the Bible from a discourse analytic perspective in general, much less has been done on critical discourse analysis in particular. Moreover, discourse analytic studies of the Bible typically consider partial books or excerpts. In the case of Acts, no study (to my knowledge) has examined the book in its entirety. To fill this gap, the current analysis involves a comprehensive scriptural discourse analysis of the entire book of Acts. The use of language in Acts that reflects dissent--resistance discourse--is examined, and common themes and discursive strategies are analyzed. The findings highlight themes such as resistance to the Roman government; resistance to the Pharisees, resistance to Satan (and evil spirits), and the discursive strategies discussed include lexical choice denoting resistance and opposition, pronominal choice to convey collectivity and solidarity, the use of legitimation strategies, and the use of metaphor. The discourse of Acts as a reflection of ideologies of social equality as well as Christo-anarchism is also discussed.

The Corpus of Spanish in Georgia is a collection of semi-structured interviews conducted in 2015 ... more The Corpus of Spanish in Georgia is a collection of semi-structured interviews conducted in 2015 with members of the Latinx immigrant community in the metropolitan Atlanta area, primarily in the city of Roswell, Georgia. The interviews lasted between 30 minutes and one hour. They were informal, conversational, and addressed topics of personal history, local community life, differences between the speakers’ home countries and the U.S., and experiences adapting to life in Roswell, among others.
https://corpusofspanishingeorgia.omeka.net/

This paper reports on a comparative analysis of variable subject pronoun expression (SPE) among f... more This paper reports on a comparative analysis of variable subject pronoun expression (SPE) among first-generation Mexican immigrants in the U.S. with differing regional origins. Using sociolinguistic interview data collected in Georgia, occurrence rates and usage patterns of first-person singular SPs were examined among two groups of speakers: those hailing from Mexico City (N=8) and those from other Mexican regions, such as Guerrero, Zacatecas, and Colima, among others (N=12). From a variationist sociolinguistic perspective, rates and constraints on SPs were examined comparatively across the two groups by means of logistic regression analyses in Rbrul, with results indicating wide variation in pronoun rates both across and within groups. This suggests that Mexican Spanish may exhibit a wider range of variation in SP rates than was previously assumed. Regarding usage patterns, the linguistic constraints on SPE (switch reference, TMA, verb class, polarity) show remarkable similarities between Mexico City speakers and non-Mexico City speakers, suggesting cross-regional uniformity for firstperson singular SPE in Mexican dialects. Additionally, the social predictors of age and gender were examined, and, while no significant main effects were observed, interaction effects between the linguistic and social predictors were differentially operative between Mexico City and non-Mexico City speakers, reflecting a more nuanced view on the sociolinguistic conditioning of variable SPE.

The current study analyzes mood alternation in Spanish spoken in Georgia among first-generation M... more The current study analyzes mood alternation in Spanish spoken in Georgia among first-generation Mexican immigrants. Using sociolinguistic interview data, tokens of the subjunctive and indicative in dependent clauses were examined, particularly in the following syntactic contexts: depender, aunque, me gusta que, no porque, quizás, tal vez, and no sé si/ cómo/dónde/qué. We argue that mood selection in the contexts under study is determined by the evaluation of the proposition in the dependent clause. We then use this data to inform theories of possible world semantics (i.e. Anand and Hacquard 2013, Giannakidou and Mari 2021, Villalta 2008) to better understand mood alternation. Moreover, while many U.S. Spanish varieties may demonstrate what Silva-Corvalán (1994, 91) refers to as "a reduced system that made it more difficult to distinguish between more or less possible situations in a hypothetical world", we show that cases of alternation in the present data still differentiate speaker meaning and evaluation.

The current study examines early-modern standardization practices of Spanish that occurred throug... more The current study examines early-modern standardization practices of Spanish that occurred through the reduction or elimination and codification of linguistic variation, specifically the standardization of graphic-phonetic features of Spanish. By comparing various manuscripts with the first printed version of the Siete Partidas--a legal text during the reign of Alfonso X--four graphic-phonetic variables are examined: ff/f, d/t, o/u, and e/i. Findings suggest that there is a movement toward standard variants in the more recent manuscripts, namely f, d, u, and i. It is argued that the republication and printing of the Siete Partidas not only had the purpose of linguistic updating, but also had the objective of standardizing these four variables (Harris-Northall, 1996; Tejedo-Herrero, 2009).

While racist discourse has received much attention in Critical Discourse Studies (CDS), there is ... more While racist discourse has received much attention in Critical Discourse Studies (CDS), there is a dearth of scholarship on anti-racist text and talk. A critical observation is that anti-racist movements, and hence, discourse, often exclude women. With the goal of contributing to this gap in the CDS literature, the current analysis examines Black women's discourses concerning anti-Black racism in general, and Black Feminism in particular. Four YouTube videos that feature both conference talks and news programs surrounding the topic of Black Feminism are analyzed for recurring themes using thematic analysis as well as discourse structures from the perspective of critical discourse analysis. Findings reveal that the primary themes that emerged are the inclusion of Black women, Police brutality and unaccountability, and Black Feminism Defined, with various subthemes. In addition, the discourse structures examined are lexical choice, presupposition, pronominal choice, and the use of tag questions, among others. This study serves to further our understanding of the linguistic manifestation of ideologies through discourse concerning anti-racism and Black Feminism.

The construction lo que pasa es que 'what happens is that' is a Spanish discourse marker that was... more The construction lo que pasa es que 'what happens is that' is a Spanish discourse marker that was originally a pseudo-cleft construction. Before becoming grammaticalized, the verb pasar contained its full lexical meaning 'to happen,' but later evolved into a fixed expression losing its lexical meaning and acquiring an implicit contrastive and causal meaning. The present study aims to describe the construction's evolution on the path of grammaticalization in relation to Traugott's (1989) three semantic-pragmatic tendencies. In addition, a Usage-based Theory approach is employed in order to describe some of the formal aspects of the construction. Using two corpora, CORDE and Corpus del Español, all instances of the construction were located and analyzed with regard to function and usage in context. Results indicate that the construction was first used in the 16 th Century and that its evolution as lexical > concessive > epistemic is in line with Traugott's tendencies. Mechanisms of change such as chunking and phonetic reduction and loss of compositionality and analyzability, as well as increase in overall frequency are also discussed in relation to this construction, lending further support to Usage-based theory.

Se emplean datos de un corpus conversacional del español mexicano en Atlanta, Georgia para examin... more Se emplean datos de un corpus conversacional del español mexicano en Atlanta, Georgia para examinar ejemplos de la expresión del sujeto pronominal (ESP) de segunda persona singular (n = 478) en términos de frecuencia y restricciones, incorporando factores tales como tiempo-modo-aspecto (TMA), cambio de referencia y especificidad en un análisis de regresión logística. Los resultados sugieren que tú, al igual que otros sujetos, está fuertemente afectado por el cambio de referencia y TMA. Sin embargo, el efecto de TMA es único en el sentido de que se demuestra que el aspecto imperfecto desfavorece tú explícito en relación con otros TMA, divergiendo de estudios previos. Además, la especificidad-un factor que se ha encontrado repetidamente significativo en la bibliografía-es inoperante, lo que sugiere que tú se comporta de manera diferente en este dialecto con respecto a su sensibilidad a factores lingüísticos.

El presente estudio examina los préstamos verbales del inglés en español y francés. Mientras que ... more El presente estudio examina los préstamos verbales del inglés en español y francés. Mientras que los préstamos de sustantivos se han tratado ampliamente en estudios previos, los préstamos verbales son menos investigados. Se exploran los procesos de integración y adaptación morfológica a las lenguas receptoras (español y francés) así como la variación en los sufijos de los préstamos verbales. Se emplean varios recursos (p. ej., diccionarios) para armar una lista de préstamos. Los hallazgos indican que los verbos se toman prestados como verbos en general y no tanto como sustantivos para después ser verbalizados. También, generalmente se usa la primera conjugación en las dos lenguas. Este análisis plantea nuevas preguntas para el estudio de los préstamos verbales.

The current study analyzes variable subject pronoun expression (SPE) for first-person singular (1... more The current study analyzes variable subject pronoun expression (SPE) for first-person singular (1sg) and third-person subjects in a variety of Mexican Spanish spoken by first-generation Mexican immigrants in the state of Georgia, Southeastern U.S. Conversational data from sociolinguistic interviews are employed to examine tokens of 1sg and third-person variable SPE and their usage patterns, considering factors such as tense-mood-aspect (TMA), switch reference, polarity, and verb class by means of logistic regression analyses. Results suggest that all four factors influence 1sg variation, but that third-person variation is restricted to switch reference and TMA. In addition, a significant link between switch reference and TMA is found for third-person subjects, but not for 1sg. The findings lend further support to previous scholars advocating the importance of studying individual grammatical persons in SPE research as this can reveal previously obfuscated nuances in the patterns of subject variation.

This paper reports on a preliminary analysis of the Spanish discourse marker (DM) por decirlo así... more This paper reports on a preliminary analysis of the Spanish discourse marker (DM) por decirlo así (PDA), a metapragmatic expression with an attenuating function used in various dialects of Spanish. Aside from brief descriptions (e.g. Piñero Piñero and Díaz Peralta, 2005), PDA has thus far not been studied in the literature. The present study, therefore, aims to provide a more thorough analysis of its discourse functions as well as to compare it to the functions of other DMs. Using oral data from the Corpus del Español (CdE, Davies, 2002-) and the Corpus de Referencia del Español Actual (CREA), 105 cases of PDA were analyzed and categorized according to Caffi's (1999) mitigation framework. Results indicate that PDA functions as both a bush and a hedge, with the former being more prominent. Further, the study suggests that, similarly to what has been observed for the DM o sea (Schwenter, 1996), PDA is used epistemically to reduce the speaker's commitment to an opinion or belief. Similarities with other DMs such as digamos and que digamos are also discussed.

The current study examines variable clitic placement (CP) in Spanish in a Mexican community in th... more The current study examines variable clitic placement (CP) in Spanish in a Mexican community in the metropolitan Atlanta area. By employing sociolinguistic interview data from 20 first-generation Mexican speakers, clitic frequencies and constraints are analyzed. Tokens of proclisis and enclisis were coded for linguistic and social factors that potentially influence clitic usage (e.g., topic persistence, specific clitic used, English proficiency, age, gender), and a logistic regression analysis was carried out using Rbrul (Daniel Johnson, 2009). Results indicate a proclisis rate of 64%, which is comparable to other varieties of Mexican Spanish. The regression analysis revealed that CP is sensitive to the particular construction used, the specific clitic, the presence of a pause, and the speaker’s gender. Additionally, English proficiency showed no effect on CP. This analysis supports previous research that CP is impermeable to contact-induced change and also reveals new conditioning factors (specific clitic, presence of a pause) that have not been examined in previous literature.

Variationist research on subject pronoun expression (SPE) in Spanish typically incorporates all g... more Variationist research on subject pronoun expression (SPE) in Spanish typically incorporates all grammatical persons/numbers into the same analysis, with important exceptions such as studies focusing exclusively on first-person singular (e.g. Travis 2005, 2007; Travis and Torres Cacoullos 2012), third-person singular (Shin 2014), and third-person plural subjects (Lapidus and Otheguy 2005). The current study is the first variationist analysis (to the best of my knowledge) to focus solely on first-person plural SPE. It is well-established that nosotros/nosotras exhibits one of the lowest rates of SPE relative to the other persons/numbers; however, factors conditioning its variation are less understood. Conversational corpus data from Mexican Spanish are employed to examine tokens of first-person plural SPE (n=660) in terms of frequency and constraints, incorporating factors such as TMA, switch reference, and verb class in logistic regression analyses. Results suggest that nosotros, like other subjects, is strongly impacted by switch reference and tense-mood-aspect (TMA). However, the TMA effect is unique in that preterit aspect is shown to favor overt nosotros relative to other TMAs, diverging from previous studies. Furthermore, verb class-a factor found to be repeatedly significant in the literature-is inoperative for nosotros. These results suggest that nosotros does not respond to the same factors as other persons/numbers. Additionally, the findings lend support to researchers regarding the importance of studying individual persons/numbers in subject variation research.

The dominant trend in variationist studies of Spanish subject expression is to focus on pronomina... more The dominant trend in variationist studies of Spanish subject expression is to focus on pronominal subjects, excluding lexical subjects (LSs). Due to such lack of attention to LSs in previous research, the current paper aims to fill this gap and to gain a better understanding of variation between LSs and subject pronouns (SPs). While previous research that analyzes LSs makes a significant contribution to the scholarship on subjects and enriches our understanding of the functions of LSs, a variable context for LSs in the variationist tradition has not heretofore been established. The current paper proposes a variable context methodology for LSs by investigating cases in which LSs are produced (e.g. mi mamá trabaja ‘my mom works’), particularly in contexts in which SPs (overt or null) could have alternatively been produced (e.g. ella/∅ trabaja ‘she works’). Overall frequencies, constraints, and pragmatic functions of LSs are discussed.

While much work has been done on discourse and populism in Europe concerning various minority gro... more While much work has been done on discourse and populism in Europe concerning various minority groups, little is understood about how populist ideologies are manifested through discourse in current US political and media discourses concerning African-Americans. Using the framework of Critical Discourse Analysis, the present study seeks to uncover such discursive patterns. Based on Wodak’s (2015) conception of populism as tied to fear, scapegoating, and ‘othering,’ the current paper aims to address populist discourse in US (social) media. A collection of diverse online media is employed (news articles, YouTube videos) to analyze the populist discourse of Donald Trump, his supporters, and his anti-populist opponents. Particular attention is paid to (anti) racist discourse concerning African-Americans, primarily the case of the Central
Park Five. Specifically, the discursive strategies in these types of discourses are examined in order to explain how populism is structured and manifested in discourse, affording the unique opportunity to further understand the unfolding of populist text and talk in its recent and ongoing stages. Findings indicate that the most prominent discursive strategies that characterize these media, and that manifest populist attitudes are despective lexical choice, legitimation, evasion, and exclusionary rhetoric. This qualitative analysis reveals the subtle ways in which African-Americans are discriminated against through language use and sheds light on (anti) populist ideologies in US media. Additionally, this work tries to fill a gap in exploring resistance discourse (i.e. anti-populist), an understudied area in the critical discourse studies literature.

While discursive racism is generally well studied in Latin America, it has received little attent... more While discursive racism is generally well studied in Latin America, it has received little attention in Uruguay. Findings of other countries indicate subtle forms of racism through the denial of racial discrimination and negative presentation of minorities. This study begins to explore how racism is manifested through discourse concerning Afro-Uruguayans by examining a debate between congressman Ortuño and journalist Hoenir Sarthou regarding affirmative action and employment of Afro-Uruguayans. An analysis was completed to uncover the race-related ideologies that exist in Uruguay as manifested by discourse. Results suggest that discourse in Uruguay follows similar patterns to other Latin American countries in that there is implicit racism as seen by discourse representing a 'racial democracy' ideology. The general denial of racism as well as the specific ideology of racial democracy were overarching themes in the current analysis, revealing that despite popular discourse of equal race relations, racism is constructed and reproduced through discursive practices.

Through an analysis of immigrant Spanish in Georgia, potential contact-induced language change is... more Through an analysis of immigrant Spanish in Georgia, potential contact-induced language change is investigated through the lens of subject pronoun expression. Pronoun variation among Mexican speakers is examined using sociolinguistic interview data. Tokens of overt and null subject pronouns (N = 4,649) were coded for linguistic variables previously shown to constrain subject expression (e.g. person/number, tense-mood-aspect [TMA], polarity) as well as social variables (e.g. English proficiency, age), and then analysed using multivariate analyses in Rbrul. Results indicate an overall pronoun rate of 27%, which is slightly higher than what has been reported for monolingual Mexican Spanish. Several linguistic variables (e.g. person/number, switch-reference, morphological ambiguity, polarity) and one social variable (age) played a significant role in pronoun variation. Moreover, differential effects were revealed when compared to monolingual Mexican Spanish for variables such as TMA. These findings point in the direction of dialect contact influences and the presence of a unique variety of Mexican Spanish in the U.S.

El presente trabajo pretendió explorar el papel no ortogonal de los factores que condicionan la ... more El presente trabajo pretendió explorar el papel no ortogonal de los factores que condicionan la expresión de los sujetos pronominales en español, al emplear análisis cuantitativos de entrevistas, sistematizadas por tabulación cruzada y árboles de inferencia condicional, con el fin de explorar dichos efectos de interacción. Este estudio revela que varios factores conjuntamente restringen el uso de SPE y que la gramática variable de los SPE es más compleja de lo que se ha observado, con meros efectos principales en la bibliografía sociolingüística.

The present study examines two syntactic properties of wh-questions in second-language Spanish: s... more The present study examines two syntactic properties of wh-questions in second-language Spanish: subject-verb inversion and preposition placement. Specifically, we examine difficulties that native English speakers have in acquiring feature strength and sentence structure in Spanish that differ from English, and we also examine the degree to which L2 speakers improve their question formation. We included three L2 speaker groups (beginner, intermediate, advanced) and a control group (native Spanish speakers), employing both a written production task and an acceptability judgement task. Results indicate that participants at all levels did not have problems with the placement of the interrogative element. However, difficulties arose with subject-verb inversion and preposition placement. Despite such difficulties, L2 speakers showed an improvement as their levels increased, particularly in the case of preposition placement. With regard to theoretical positions within the generative framework, the current data lend support to the Full Transfer/Full Access Hypothesis (Schwartz & Sprouse, 1996).

The present study examines two syntactic properties of wh- questions in second-language Spanish: ... more The present study examines two syntactic properties of wh- questions in second-language Spanish: subject-verb inversion and preposition placement. Specifically, we examine difficulties that native English speakers have in acquiring feature strength and sentence structure in Spanish that differ from English, and we also examine the degree to which L2 speakers improve their question formation. We included three L2 speaker groups (beginner, intermediate, advanced) and a control group (native Spanish speakers), employing both a written production task and an acceptability judgement task. Results indicate that participants at all levels did not have problems with the placement of the interrogative element. However, difficulties arose with subject-verb inversion and preposition placement. Despite such difficulties, L2 speakers showed an improvement as their levels increased, particularly in the case of preposition placement. With regard to theoretical positions within the generative framework, the current data lend support to the Full Transfer/Full Access Hypothesis (Schwartz & Sprouse, 1996).

This dissertation examines language contact between Spanish and English in the Southeastern U.S. ... more This dissertation examines language contact between Spanish and English in the Southeastern U.S. by analyzing Spanish spoken in Georgia. Through an analysis of immigrant Spanish in the city of Roswell, an exurb of Atlanta, potential contact-induced language change is investigated through the lens of subject expression. While most research on Spanish has been carried out in regions such as the Southwest and Northeast, the Southeastern U.S. has not received as much scholarly attention. Therefore, the present investigation seeks to examine understudied varieties of U.S. Spanish, specifically regarding the linguistic processes at work in recent language contact situations. Latin American immigration to the Southeast has led to recent demographic shift in this region and substantial Spanish-speaking populations are emerging that historically were not part of the Southeast. The city of Roswell in particular represents this demographic shift in the Southeast, making it an ideal test site for emerging bilingual speech communities.

The current study examines subject expression among 20 Mexican immigrants using sociolinguistic interview data. The speakers' average length of residency (LOR) in the U.S. is 12 years, and their average age of arrival (AOA) is 27. Tokens of subject pronouns from the interviews were coded for language-internal (linguistic) variables previously shown to constrain subject expression (e.g. person/number, switch reference, tense-mood-aspect [TMA]), morphological ambiguity, polarity, specificity) as well as language-external (social) variables (e.g. English proficiency, age, gender, LOR, AOA), and then analyzed using mixed-effects multivariate analysis in Rbrul (Johnson 2009). Results indicate an overall overt pronoun rate of 27% for Mexicans in Roswell, which is higher than what has been reported for monolingual Mexican Spanish. The multivariate analysis showed that several linguistic variables (e.g. person/number, switch reference, morphological ambiguity, polarity) and one social variable (age) played a significant role in pronoun variation. Moreover, differential effects were revealed when compared to monolingual Mexican Spanish for variables such as TMA and verb class, suggesting an influence of bilingualism. Such divergent linguistic configurations in Roswell Spanish suggest that we are seeing an emergent variety of Mexican Spanish in the U.S. with regard to subject pronoun expression.

WSS10, 2022

Variation in subject placement in Spanish (yo pienso vs. pienso yo) has been shown to be conditio... more Variation in subject placement in Spanish (yo pienso vs. pienso yo) has been shown to be conditioned by multiple factors, such as clause type (e.g. Rivas 2013; Mayoral 2014), verb type (e.g. Mayoral 2007, 2014; Sánchez 2008), and information structure (e.g. Bentivoglio 2003; Rivas 2008, 2013), among others. Other factors, however, such as person/number, TMA, and priming are less studied (but see, e.g., Brown & Rivas 2011; Benevento & Dietrich 2014). The current paper uses sociolinguistic interview data from the Corpus of Spanish in Georgia (Limerick 2021) to examine pronominal subject placement among 20 first-generation Mexican immigrants in the Atlanta metro area, constituting the first study (to the best of my knowledge) to analyze this phenomenon in Southeastern U.S. Spanish. Linguistic predictors (e.g. person/number of the subject, TMA, verb type, priming) as well as social predictors (e.g. age, sex, English proficiency, preferred media language) were incorporated into logistic regression analyses, with results suggesting that subject pronoun placement is most strongly influenced by the person/number of the subject. In particular, third person singular pronouns favor postverbal subjects while other pronouns favor preverbal position. Regarding social predictors, both sex and preferred media language appeared to play significant roles in the initial analysis; however, upon considering individual outlier speaker effects, the only predictor that remained significant was media language, with the apparent effect of sex disappearing. The media language effect shows that those with a preference for English media favor preverbal subjects, suggesting a potential language contact effect. The present work contributes to our knowledge of subject placement by revealing new patterns for underexplored linguistic and social factors that influence its variation. Furthermore, the findings have implications for the study of language contact and change more broadly, demonstrating the importance of considering how individual speakers could misrepresent the overall data, interpretations of results, and conclusions in sociolinguistic studies.