Language variation and change through an experimental
lens
Contextual modulation in the use of the Progressive in three
Spanish dialects
Spanish exhibits two markers to convey a
progressive meaning: the Simple Present and the
Present Progressive. The use of these markers is contextually
biased: the Simple Present requires contexts where speaker and
addressee share perceptual access to the situation
at issue, while the Present Progressive does not require such
support. We test this generalization through real-time
comprehension: the Simple Present marker in contexts
without shared perceptual access should elicit
slower reading times than within shared perceptual
access contexts. A self-paced reading study
(n = 176) in three different varieties of Spanish
(Mexican, Rioplatense, and Castilian) bears this prediction out.
Additionally, we find that the Mexican variety appears further
advanced in the Progressive-to-Imperfective
diachronic shift than its dialectal counterparts.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Communicative situations, context and linguistic markers
- 3.The meanings of the Progressive and the Imperfective
- 4.Spanish diachronic and synchronic facts
- 5.A questionnaire study on the event-in-progress
reading
- 6.Real-time interpretation of an event-in-progress
reading: An SPR study
- 7.Results
- 7.1Behavioral results
- 7.2Reading time results
- 8.Discussion
- 9.Conclusion
-
Notes
-
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