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Article published In:
Spanish in Context
Vol. 14:1 (2017) ► pp.53–78

Language contact in the US Southeast

The case of Spanish subject expression in an emerging bilingual community in Georgia

| University of Georgia

This study examines the use of subject pronouns among Spanish speakers in the Southeastern US and explores the incipient stages of language contact through a case study of speakers in Roswell, Georgia, an emergent (recently developing) variety that thus far has rarely been studied in the literature. Sociolinguistic interviews were conducted in Roswell (Wilson 2013) and transcribed to allow for analysis of pronouns and factors that may influence subject expression (e.g. person/number) as well as social variables (e.g. length of residency). Results indicate an overall pronoun rate of 21%, similar to that of Mainland newcomers in New York (Otheguy, Zentella, and Livert 2007). However, results from the multivariate analysis suggest that pronoun usage in Roswell diverges from these communities, with differential effects observed for factors such as Coreferentiality Index (subject continuity). This analysis of subject expression reveals an intermediate stage of language shift in this particular community.

Keywords: subject pronouns, Spanish in the United States, Georgia
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Subject expression in Spanish
    • 2.1Pronoun rates and influencing factors
    • 2.2Linguistic variables
      • 2.2.1Person/number
      • 2.2.2Coreferentiality index
      • 2.2.3Clause type
      • 2.2.4Tense-mood-aspect
      • 2.2.5Lexical content
    • 2.3Social variables
      • 2.3.1Gender
      • 2.3.2Age
      • 2.3.3Investigating English contact: Length of residency and age of arrival
  • 3.Methodology
    • 3.1Speakers
    • 3.2The envelope of variation
    • 3.3Coding of variables
      • 3.3.1Person/number
      • 3.3.2Coreferentiality index (CI)
      • 3.3.3Clause type
      • 3.3.4TMA
      • 3.3.5Lexical content
    • 3.4Social variables
    • 3.5Predictions
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Overall pronoun rate
    • 4.2Conditioning factors of SP expression
      • 4.2.1Person/number
      • 4.2.2Clause type
      • 4.2.3TMA
      • 4.2.4Lexical content
      • 4.2.5CI
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References


This article is currently available as a sample article.

Published online: 4 May 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sic.14.1.03lim
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