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Free Variation in Grammar: Empirical and theoretical approaches
Edited by Kristin Kopf and Thilo Weber
[Studies in Language Companion Series 234] 2023
► pp. 315–349

Chapter 11
Variation of deontic constructions in spoken Catalan

An exploratory study

ORCID logo | Universitat de Barcelona | Laboratorio SQ - Lingüistas Forenses
ORCID logo | Laboratorio SQ - Lingüistas Forenses
ORCID logo | Universitat de Barcelona

Different areas of linguistic research have given different meanings to the notion of free variation. This paper reflects on this term and variationist linguistics. We focus on the variation between prescriptive and nonstandard deontic verbal constructions in Catalan. Through a variationist lens, we use decision trees to explore 1,060 tokens of infinitive constructions with caldre, haver de, tenir de, tenir que and haver-hi que. The discussion of results is broadened to show that variationist linguistics can dismiss but not prove the existence of free variation, a notion we argue is nevertheless relevant in linguistics, whether as a fuel for more empirical studies of language use or as a label for linguistic phenomena for which no explanation is (yet) known.

Keywords: variationist linguistics, free variation, Catalan, Spanish, deontic modality, verbal periphrasis, decision trees
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Free variation in language
  • 3.Deontic verbal constructions in Catalan
    • 3.1Catalan deontic constructions and linguistic factors
    • 3.2Sociolinguistic factors and variation in Catalan
  • 4.Methodology
  • 5.Results
  • 6.Discussion of results and possible future lines of research
  • 7.Can variationist linguistics prove the (non)existence of free variation?
  • 8.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at [email protected].

Published online: 31 October 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.234.11gim
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