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Variation in Second and Heritage Languages: Crosslinguistic perspectives
Edited by Robert Bayley, Dennis R. Preston and Xiaoshi Li
[Studies in Language Variation 28] 2022
► pp. 159–198

Chapter 7
Linguistic variation and second language Spanish

A study of progressive and habitual marking by English-speaking learners

ORCID logo | Indiana University
ORCID logo | University of Mississippi

Research on progressive and habitual aspectual marking in Spanish provides a productive test case for second language variation research. In Spanish, two forms can be used to reference ongoing action at speech time (simple present and present progressive) while English predominantly makes use of the present progressive (Torres Cacoullos 2000). Nevertheless, the patterns of use and their acquisition are complex. One key difference for advanced non-natives (as compared to natives) is related to the range of lexical bases (e.g., estar ‘to be,’ andar ‘to walk,’ venir ‘to come,’ etc.) that form the progressive (Fafulas 2015). Additionally, the alternation between the simple present and the progressive is conditioned by a host of linguistic factors, such as lexical aspect, the presence of an adverb, clause type, and animacy, among others (Geeslin & Fafulas 2012). Finally, differences exist between these same two forms cross-linguistically for habitual aspectual marking such that the simple present is more likely to occur in English in habitual contexts than in Spanish and this constitutes another context for these variable forms (Fafulas 2012). Thus, the predictions for English-speaking learners are highly context-dependent.

The present study uses a written contextualized task designed to examine patterns of selection across the categories of lexical aspect (e.g., activities, statives, etc.) in combination with the influence that the presence or absence of adverbial phrases may have. We employ a cross-sectional design, collecting data from learners from multiple levels of enrollment, and compare these to native speakers of Spanish and to native speakers of English (tested in English). Our analysis provides an account of the patterns attested in English, in Spanish, and across levels of second language Spanish development.

Keywords: second language (L2) variation, progressive aspect, habitual aspect, aspectual marking, second language (L2) Spanish, sociolinguistic competence, written contextualized task, cross-sectional design, cross-linguistic contrast
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Previous research
    • L2 variation
    • Variable progressive aspectual marking in Spanish and English
    • Second language Spanish research on variable progressive aspect marking
  • Research questions
  • Methods
    • Participants
    • Measures
    • Coding and analysis
  • Results
    • Frequency of form selection by participant group
    • Effects of linguistic factors by group
    • Analyses by lexical aspectual class and adverb condition
      • Stative verbs: Cross-linguistic baselines and second language learners
      • Activity verbs: Cross-linguistic baselines and second language learners
      • Accomplishment verbs: Cross-linguistic baselines and second language learners
      • Achievement verbs: Cross-linguistic baselines and second language learners
  • Discussion
    • Contrasting use in English and Spanish
    • Path of acquisition
    • Connection to previous studies of L2 Spanish simple present/present progressive
    • Connection to the prototype theory and aspect hypothesis
  • Conclusions and future directions
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 14 July 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/silv.28.07gee
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