The Past tense in the Caribbean (original) (raw)

The use of the preterit (Pret) and present perfect (PP) have been of great interest in variationist studies because these exhibit a great deal of variation across Spanish dialects (Hernandez, 2006, 2008; Howe, & Schwenter, 2008; Rojas Sosa, 2008; Sessarego, 2008; Schwenter & Torres-Cacoullos, 2008). Some studies state that the grammaticalization of the PP is a universal process (Schwenter & Torres-Cacoullos, 2008). However, Caribbean dialects are not included in these descriptions. This paper investigates the Pret and the PP in Dominican and Puerto Rican Spanish, with the purpose of providing empirical data on the use of both tenses. To meet this objective, we recorded seventeen (17) participants (six Puerto Rican, six Dominicans, and five Dominicans living in Puerto Rico). We coded each token for the Pret and PP, and analyzed the data using Valbrul. This research has found that the Pret is the default past tense marker in the Caribbean dialect. We also found that the PP is limited ...