Linguistic Change in a Language Contact Situation: A Cross-Generational Study
Torres, Lourdes Maria
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/70981
Description
Title
Linguistic Change in a Language Contact Situation: A Cross-Generational Study
Author(s)
Torres, Lourdes Maria
Issue Date
1988
Department of Study
Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese
Discipline
Spanish
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Language, Linguistics
Speech Communication
Abstract
The focus of this dissertation is the language contact situation of New York bilingual Puerto Ricans. The subjects of the study are ten first and second generation Puerto Ricans. This dissertation addresses two hypotheses: first that 'a life cycle of language use' exists in the El Barrio community, and second, that emigrant languages undergo simplification in a non-native environment. A corpus of approximately thirty hours of informal speech is analyzed in order to examine these hypotheses. Specifically, the following areas are studied: the distribution of verb forms, mood selection, progressive/present tense distinction, borrowing and code-mixing. The results of the study generally confirm the first hypothesis. The second generation speakers were speaking a Spanish more or less comparable to that of the first generation, although the first generation spoke more Spanish. The data from the study do not strongly support the second hypothesis.
Since I have relied on a case study approach, the results of this study should not be generalized beyond similar populations in the New York Puerto Rican community. However, if more studies such as the present are replicated, a more accurate picture of speech communities can be developed.
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