Subject personal pronouns in Spanish narratives of Puerto Ricans in New York City: A variationist study.
Item
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Title
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Subject personal pronouns in Spanish narratives of Puerto Ricans in New York City: A variationist study.
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Identifier
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AAI3037396
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identifier
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3037396
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Creator
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Flores, Nydia.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Ricardo Otheguy
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Date
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2002
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Language
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Spanish
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Language, Linguistics | Education, Language and Literature
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Abstract
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The variable use subject personal pronouns (SPPs) in Spanish has been studied in Peninsular dialects, U.S. Spanish, Latin America and Puerto Rico. This study further investigates the phenomenon in Puerto Rican residents of New York City (NYC) and compares findings with previous research conducted in San Juan.;We investigate the following linguistic factors and find that they have a positive effect on the use of SPPs: The form used in previous mention of the verb's subject, the distance to last mention of the verb's subject, and switch reference. In general, the speakers in this NYC study when compared to San Juan, exhibit similar patterns of pronominal expression with regard to most internal factors. Supplementary factors are also investigated: the verb's TMA, person and number, and verbs in phrases of habitual collocation.;We also discover that speakers favor the use of SPPs and null subjects in clusters, an effect that we believe serves as a pragmatic device which speakers use to maintain protagonists in their stories in the open and salient.;The external factors we investigated are narrative style, age, gender, and exposure to NYC, which we presume, can be indirectly related to contact with English.;The external factors that produced significant effects on SPPs were age and narrative style. We find similarities in the patterns of SPP expression to those documented in Puerto Rico with regard to age. Namely, older speakers in NYC have a more conservative use of overt SPPs when compared to the younger generation. We also find that conflict narrative has a positive effect on SPP use. The factor that investigated the effects of exposure to NYC points in two different directions. While the NYC native-born speakers showed a stronger tendency to use more overt SPPs than the recent arrivals and established residents, the study also shows support to a non-contact hypothesis.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
