Receding or resurgent? On the use of cantase (and cantara) in Galician Spanish

Abstract

Predicting the outcome of language contact situations is complicated by the fact that the primary agents of linguistic change—individual speakers—are unpredictable (van Coetsem, 2000; Thomason, 2001). My dissertation examines the variety of Spanish spoken in Galicia, Spain, where individual language choices are often motivated not by utility but by complex identitary and ideological factors. Specifically, I employ both spoken and written data to investigate the distribution of two verb constructions that have parallel forms, but differing functions, in Galician and Spanish. I seek to determine the role of linguistic and social factors in conditioning the distribution of these forms in the contact variety of Spanish. Results indicate that, while language contact is likely at play in the region, both historical and more recent social factors such as education and mobility practices (i.e. Britain, 2010) must be taken into account in determining the impact of Galician on the Spanish spoken in the region.