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Article published In:
Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism
Vol. 13:2 (2023) ► pp.238–266

Re-examining the role of mood selection type in Spanish heritage speakers’ subjunctive production

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Verbal morphology is a particularly vulnerable domain in the grammars of Spanish heritage speakers (HSs). Among the most frequently studied phenomena is mood selection, identified as a pervasive locus of variability that affects the production of subjunctive more prominently. The present article explores this area of research by examining the effects of mood selection type on HSs’ subjunctive use. In contrast with previous studies, this investigation controls for propositional modality, focusing its analyses on instances of obligatory and variable subjunctive selection within deontic predicates. Results from a production task revealed that, despite the presence of between-group differences driven by participants’ levels of proficiency, type of selection did not significantly modulate their rates of subjunctive use. These findings challenge previous claims about the extent to which this factor affects Spanish HSs’ performance, and highlight the importance of considering propositional modality when examining the acquisition of mood.

Keywords: modality, variability, mood, heritage speakers, subjunctive
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Of mood and modality: Some considerations
  • 3.The development of modality and subjunctive mood in Spanish monolinguals and early bilinguals
  • 4.Method
    • 4.1Participants
    • 4.2Tasks and procedure
    • 4.3Coding
  • 5.Results
  • 6.Discussion and conclusion
    • 6.1Limitations and future directions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 16 July 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.20111.per
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