Article published in:
Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada/Spanish Journal of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 28:1 (2015) ► pp. 118–144

The case of the conditional and the imperfect in variable mood-choice contexts in second-language and native-speaker Spanish

| Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
The current study builds on research on mood distinction in Spanish, which has focused on the subjunctive mood, by examining the full inventory of verb forms that second-language learners and native speakers (NSs) of Spanish use in mood-choice contexts. Twenty NSs and 130 learners corresponding to five proficiency levels completed three oral-elicitation tasks. The results show that participants use a wide repertoire of tense/mood/aspect forms in mood-choice contexts and that NSs and learners use largely the same forms. An analysis of the conditional and imperfect suggests that learners tend to restructure and strengthen their form-function connections between these verb forms and a range of functions.
Keywords: second language acquisition, variation, mood distinction, native speakers
Published online: 10 September 2015
https://doi.org/10.1075/resla.28.1.06gud
References
Andersen, R.W
(1984) The one-to-one principle of interlanguage construction. Language Learning, 341, 77–95. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(1988) Models, processes, principles and strategies: Second language acquisition inside and outside the classroom. Issues and Developments in English and Applied Linguistics (IDEAL), 31, 111–138.Google Scholar
Bardovi-Harlig, K
(2007) One functional approach to second language acquisition: The concept-oriented approach. In B. VanPatten & J. Williams (Eds.), Theories in second language acquisition: An introduction (pp. 57–75). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Bayley, R., & Preston, D.R
(2008) Variation and second language grammars. Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 1(1), 385–397. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Binnick, R.I
(1991) Time and the verb: A guide to tense and aspect. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Bosque, I
(Ed.) (1990) Indicativo y subjuntivo. Madrid: Taurus.Google Scholar
Butt, J., & Benjamin, C
(2004) A new reference grammar of modern Spanish (4th ed). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.Google Scholar
Collentine, J
(1995) The development of complex syntax and mood-selection abilities by intermediate-level learners of Spanish. Hispania, 781, 123–136. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(1997) The effects of irregular stems on the detection of verbs in the subjunctive. Spanish Applied Linguistics, 11, 3–23.Google Scholar
(2014) Subjunctive in second language Spanish. In K.L. Geeslin (Ed.), Handbook of Spanish second language acquisition (pp. 270–286). Malden, MA: Wiley Blackwell.Google Scholar
de la Puente-Schubeck, E.B
(1992) La pérdida del modo subjuntivo en el español chicano de Nuevo México. Doctoral dissertation, University of New Mexico Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Ellis, R
(2008) The study of second language acquisition (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
García, C
(2011) Distinguishing two “synonyms”: A variationist analysis of quizá and quizás in six Spanish dialects. In J. Michnowicz & R. Dodsworth (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the 5th Workshop on Spanish Sociolinguistics (pp. 103–112). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar
Geeslin, K.L
(2011) The acquisition of variation in second language Spanish: How to identify and catch a moving target. In M. Díaz-Campos (Eds.), The handbook of Hispanic sociolinguistics (303–319). Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Geeslin, K.L., & Gudmestad, A
(2008a) Comparing interview and written elicitation task in native and non-native data: Do speakers do what we think they do? In J. Bruhn de Garavito & E. Valenzuela (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (pp. 64–77). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar
(2008b) Variable subject expression in second-language Spanish: A comparison of native and non-native speakers. In M. Bowles, R. Foote, & S. Perpiñán (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the 2007 Second Language Research Forum (pp. 69–85). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar
Givón, T
(1984) Syntax: A functional-typological introduction, Volume 11. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
González Salinas, A
(2002) El empleo del presente de subjuntivo y la alternancia modal en tres grupos socioeducativos en Monterrey, Nuevo León, México. Análisis lingüístico descriptivo comparativo (Doctoral dissertation, State University New York Albany, 2002). Dissertation Abstracts International, 63, 12.Google Scholar
Gudmestad, A
(2010) Moving beyond a sentence-level analysis in the study of variable mood use in Spanish. Southwest Journal of Linguistics, 29(1), 25–51.Google Scholar
(2012) Acquiring a variable structure: An interlanguage analysis of second-language mood use in Spanish. Language Learning, 62(2), 373–402. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2014) Variationist approaches to second language Spanish. In K.L. Geeslin (Ed.), The handbook of Spanish second language acquisition (pp. 80–95). Malden, MA: Wiley Blackwell.Google Scholar
Gurzynski-Weiss, L., & Geeslin, K.L
in press). L2 classrooms as multifaceted sources of input: The synergy of variationist and usage-based approaches. In A. Tyler & L. Ortega (Eds.) Usage-based L2 instruction Amsterdam John Benjamins
Haverkate, H
(2002) The syntax, semantics and pragmatics of Spanish mood. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Iverson, M., Kempchinsky, P., & Rothman, J
(2008) Interface vulnerability and knowledge of the subjunctive/indicative distinction with negated epistemic predicates in L2 Spanish. EUROSLA Yearbook, 81, 135–163. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Larsen-Freeman, D
(2004) Reflections on FFC research and second language acquisition. In B. VanPatten, J. Williams, S. Rott, & M. Overstreet (Eds.), Form-meaning connections in second language acquisition (pp. 237–244). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
(2012) Complexity theory. In S.M. Gass & A. Mackey (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 73–87). London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Lubbers Quesada, M
(1998) L2 acquisition of the Spanish subjunctive mood and prototype schema development. Spanish Applied Linguistics, 21, 1–23.Google Scholar
Mitchell, R., Myles, F., & Marsden, E
(2013) Second language learning theories (3rd ed.). London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Palmer, F.R
(2001) Mood and modality (2nd ed). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Preston, D.R
(2000) Three kinds of sociolinguistics and SLA: A psycholinguistic perspective. In B. Swierzbin, F. Morris, M.E. Anderson, C.A. Klee, & E. Tarone (Eds.), Social and cognitive factors in SLA (pp. 3–30). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla.Google Scholar
Silva-Corvalán, C
(1985) Modality and semantic change. In J. Fisiak (Ed.), Historical semantics-historical word formation (pp. 547–572). Berlin: Mouton. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(1994a) The gradual loss of mood distinctions in Los Angeles Spanish. Language Variation and Change, 6(3), 255–272. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(1994b) Language contact and change: Spanish in Los Angeles. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
(2001) Sociolingüística y pragmática del español. Washington, D. C.: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Stokes, J., Krashen, S., & Kartchner, J
(1998) Factors in the acquisition of the present subjunctive in Spanish: The role of reading and study. ITL: Review of Applied Linguistics, 121-1221, 19–25. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Tagliamonte, S
(2006) Analysing sociolinguistic variation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Tarone, E
(2002) Frequency effects, noticing, and creativity: Factors in variationist interlanguage. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 241, 287–296. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
VanPatten, B., Williams, J., & Rott, S
(2004) Form-meaning connections in second language acquisition. In B. VanPatten, J. Williams, S. Rott, & M. Overstreet (Eds.), Form-meaning connections in second language acquisition (pp. 1–26). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Walker, J.A
(2010) Variation in linguistic systems. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 2 other publications

Gudmestad, Aarnes
2018.  In The Handbook of Advanced Proficiency in Second Language Acquisition, ► pp. 341 ff. Crossref logo
Gudmestad, Aarnes
2021.  In Advancedness in Second Language Spanish [Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 31], ► pp. 172 ff. Crossref logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 17 april 2022. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.