Lexical borrowability in Arizona Spanish: Types, frequency and diffusion
Document Type
Paper Presentation
Presenter Language
English
Research Area
Sociolinguistics; Language contact; Bilingualism and multilingualism; Spanish in the US
Location
MBSC Omaha Room 304
Start Date
17-10-2024 5:00 PM
End Date
17-10-2024 5:30 PM
Abstract
Lexical borrowings are part of the daily interactions of bilingual speakers and have been widely investigated in different bilingual communities in the US (Aaron, 2015; Lynch, 2017; Varra, 2018, among others). This study examines the use of borrowings in Spanish spoken in Southern Arizona inspired by Aaron’s (2015) work in New Mexico and Varra’s (2018) results for New York so that commonalities across US Spanish varieties can be traced. Based on Poplack’s (2018) variationist methodological approach to lexical variation, we ask what types (semantic domains and linguistic categories) are more common first. Then, we investigate the frequency and diffusion of each type in the community. The data analyzed were extracted from 51 oral sociolinguistic interviews extracted from the Corpus del Español en el Sur de Arizona (CESA) (Carvalho, 2012-). Results show that despite the general tendency among speakers to perceive US Spanish as highly mixed, the overall frequency of lexical borrowings in Southern Arizona is under 1% of the total output, similar to what Varra (2018) found in New York. In addition, we found that nouns are the most frequent category borrowed, as predicted, followed by nominal compounds and discourse markers, also in line with previous studies (Aaron, 2004; Andersen, 2022; Kern, 2019; Sankoff et al., 1997). Moreover, the semantic domains tend to be clustered around the topics that were common during the interviews, such as academia and school. In terms of frequency, the lexical types that are more frequently borrowed from English are “so”, “you know” and “high school”, which are also among the most frequent ones in New York as well (Varra, 2018). Finally, in terms of diffusion, the great majority of the data are nonce borrowings (uttered by one individual only), with “so” and “high school” being the items more widely shared by the community. This study provides first insights into the use of borrowings by Spanish-English bilinguals in Southern Arizona and indicates clear continuities across the Spanish varieties spoken in the US, pointing to commonalities in terms of types, frequency and diffusion.
Lexical borrowability in Arizona Spanish: Types, frequency and diffusion
MBSC Omaha Room 304
Lexical borrowings are part of the daily interactions of bilingual speakers and have been widely investigated in different bilingual communities in the US (Aaron, 2015; Lynch, 2017; Varra, 2018, among others). This study examines the use of borrowings in Spanish spoken in Southern Arizona inspired by Aaron’s (2015) work in New Mexico and Varra’s (2018) results for New York so that commonalities across US Spanish varieties can be traced. Based on Poplack’s (2018) variationist methodological approach to lexical variation, we ask what types (semantic domains and linguistic categories) are more common first. Then, we investigate the frequency and diffusion of each type in the community. The data analyzed were extracted from 51 oral sociolinguistic interviews extracted from the Corpus del Español en el Sur de Arizona (CESA) (Carvalho, 2012-). Results show that despite the general tendency among speakers to perceive US Spanish as highly mixed, the overall frequency of lexical borrowings in Southern Arizona is under 1% of the total output, similar to what Varra (2018) found in New York. In addition, we found that nouns are the most frequent category borrowed, as predicted, followed by nominal compounds and discourse markers, also in line with previous studies (Aaron, 2004; Andersen, 2022; Kern, 2019; Sankoff et al., 1997). Moreover, the semantic domains tend to be clustered around the topics that were common during the interviews, such as academia and school. In terms of frequency, the lexical types that are more frequently borrowed from English are “so”, “you know” and “high school”, which are also among the most frequent ones in New York as well (Varra, 2018). Finally, in terms of diffusion, the great majority of the data are nonce borrowings (uttered by one individual only), with “so” and “high school” being the items more widely shared by the community. This study provides first insights into the use of borrowings by Spanish-English bilinguals in Southern Arizona and indicates clear continuities across the Spanish varieties spoken in the US, pointing to commonalities in terms of types, frequency and diffusion.