Cover not available

In:Bridging Boundaries: Interdisciplinary perspectives on Hispanic Linguistics
Edited by Gregory L. Thompson and Scott M. Alvord
[Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 46] 2026
► pp. 250–275

Chapter 10
Infinitive constructions in L2 Spanish

 | University of North Carolina Wilmington
 | Purdue University
This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
Abstract
The present study examines the use and interpretation of the infinitive form by English-speaking second language (L2) learners of Spanish. We investigated infinitive forms in subject position and as objects of prepositions via an elicited production task and a contextualized preference task. Results showed high rates of infinitive forms in both subject and object positions in production; however, the receptive data showed higher preference for gerund forms in lieu of the infinitive. Proficiency and language experience modulated the probability of expected response. This was particularly the case in the preference task, where L2 learners with intermediate proficiency showed a marked preference for the gerund form. The findings suggest patterns of crosslinguistic influence as well as proficiency and task effects in the use and interpretation of infinitive forms in L2 Spanish.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Infinitives and gerunds in Spanish and English
    • 2.1The L2 learning task
  • 3.Previous acquisition research
  • 4.Research questions and hypotheses
  • 5.The study
    • 5.1Participants
    • 5.2Tasks and procedures
  • 6.Results
    • 6.1Elicited production task
    • 6.2Contextualized preference task
  • 7.Discussion
  • 8.Conclusions
  • References
References (35)
References
Alarcos Llorach, E. (2000). Gramática de la lengua española. Espasa Calpe.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Álvarez, M. L. (2024). Análisis contrastivo de la naturaleza categorial de las formas verbales finitas en español y en inglés [Doctoral dissertation, Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina].
Arseneau, M. (2009). The infinitive and the gerund-participle as complements of verbs of risk [Doctoral dissertation, Université Laval].
Belpoliti, F., & Bermejo, E. (2019). Spanish heritage learners’ emerging literacy: Empirical research and classroom practice. Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Biber, D., Johansson, S., Leech, G., Conrad, S., & Finegan, E. (1999). Longman grammar of spoken and written English. Longman.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bosque, I. (1989). Las categorías gramaticales. Síntesis.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bosque, I., & Demonte, V. (1999). Gramática descriptiva de la lengua Española. Espasa Calpe.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bruhn de Garavito, J. (2002). Verb raising in Spanish: A comparison of early and late bilinguals. In B. Skarabela, S. Fish, & A. H.-J. Do (Eds.), Proceedings of the 26th annual Boston University Conference on Language Development (pp. 84–94). Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Castilla-Earls, A. P., Pérez-Leroux, A. T., Restrepo, M. A., Gaile, D., & Chen, Z. (2018). The complexity of the Spanish subjunctive in bilingual children with SLI. Language Acquisition, 25(1), 72–84. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chomsky, N. (1981). Lectures on government and binding: The Pisa lectures. Foris.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Comrie, B. (1976). Aspect: An introduction to the study of verbal aspect and related problems. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cuza, A. (2013). Crosslinguistic influence at the syntax proper: Interrogative subject–verb inversion in heritage Spanish. International Journal of Bilingualism, 17(1), 71–96. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cuza, A., & Frank, J. (2015). On the role of experience and age-related effects: Evidence from the Spanish CP. Second Language Research, 31(1), 3–28. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cuza, A., Pérez-Leroux, A. T., & Sánchez, L. (2013). The role of semantic transfer in clitic drop among simultaneous and sequential Chinese-Spanish bilinguals. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 35(1), 93–125. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cuza, A., Solano-Escobar, L., Castillo, S., Clavijo, F., Gómez-Alzate, E. (2025). The acquisition of infinitive forms in Spanish/English bilingual children [Poster presentation]. International Symposium on Bilingualism, San Sebastian, Spain.
De Miguel, E. (1996). Nominal infinitives in Spanish: An aspectual constraint. Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue Canadienne de Linguistique, 41(1): 29–53. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
De Swart, H. (1998). Aspect shift and coercion. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, 16 (2), 347–385. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Demonte, V., & Varela, S. (1997). Los infinitivos nominales eventivos del español. Signo y seña, (7), 123–154.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Duffield, N., & White, L. (1999). Assessing L2 knowledge of Spanish clitic placement: Converging methodologies. Second Language Research, 15(2), 133–160. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Escobar, A. M., & Potowski, K. (2015). El español de los Estados Unidos. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Geeslin, K. L., & Guijarro-Fuentes, P. (2005). The acquisition of copula choice in instructed Spanish: The role of individual characteristics. In D. Eddington (Ed.), Selected Proceedings of the 6th Conference on the Acquisition of Spanish and Portuguese as First and Second Languages (pp. 66–77). Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hernanz Carbó, M. L. (1999). El infinitivo. In I. Bosque & V. Demonte (Eds.), Gramática descriptiva de la lengua Española (pp. 2197–2356, Vol. 2). Espasa Calpe.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jarvis, S., & Pavlenko, A. (2008). Crosslinguistic influence in language and cognition. Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Montrul, S. (2000). Transitivity alternations in L2 acquisition: Toward a modular view of transfer. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 22(2), 229–273. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Montrul, S., & Slabakova, R. (2003). Competence similarities between native and near-native speakers: An investigation of the preterite-imperfect contrast in Spanish. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 25(3), 351–398. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Radford, A. (2009). Analysing English Sentences: A Minimalist Approach. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ramírez, C. J. (2003). The Spanish nominalized infinitives: A proposal for a classification. Toronto Working Papers in Linguistics, 21, 117–133.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schwartz, B. D., & Sprouse, R. A. (1996). L2 cognitive states and the full transfer/full access model. Second Language Research, 12(1), 40–72. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schwartz, M., & Causarano, P. N. L. (2007). The role of frequency in SLA: An analysis of gerunds and infinitives in ESL written discourse. The Journal of Second Language Acquisition and Teaching, 14, 43–57.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Shin, N., Cuza, A., & Sánchez, L. (2023). Structured variation, language experience, and crosslinguistic influence shape child heritage speakers’ Spanish direct objects. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 26(2), 317–329. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Solano-Escobar, L., & Cuza, A. (2023). Infinitive vs. gerund use and interpretation in heritage Spanish. Languages, 8(3), 214. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Swan, M. (2016). Practical English Usage (4th ed.). Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Varvara, R. (2017). Verbs as nouns: empirical investigations on event-denoting nominalizations [Doctoral dissertation, University of Trento].
White, L. (2003). Second language acquisition and universal grammar. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yoon, J. H. S., & Bonet-Farran, N. (1991). The ambivalent nature of Spanish infinitives. In D. Wanner & D. A. Kibbee (Eds.), New analyses in Romance linguistics (pp. 353–370). Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue