Program
Hispanic Linguistics
College
Arts and Sciences
Student Level
Doctoral
Start Date
7-11-2019 2:00 PM
End Date
7-11-2019 3:45 PM
Abstract
Archaisms like muncho, vide, and truje are often retained for longer periods of time in remote, isolated varieties, are associated with uneducated speakers, and considered non-standard forms (Wilson 2015; Bills & Vigil 2008). As these isolated varieties experience increased contact with mainstream varieties, archaisms tend to be replaced by modern forms. Nevertheless, before they disappear, archaisms coexist alongside their modern counterparts, resulting in a period of linguistic variation. This study investigates the use of muncho and its modern counterpart mucho in Traditional New Mexican Spanish (TNMS). Examples (1) and (2) are instances of archaic forms of mucho produced in TNMS: (1) "...hay m- -- munchos trabajos que necesitan de hablar español" (NMCOSS) (2) "Y // tenemos munchas programas aquí de enseñar hente que viene del México" (Las pláticas) Tokens of mucho, muncho, and their variants were extracted from the transcripts of two spoken Traditional New Mexican Spanish corpora: the New Mexico Colorado Spanish Survey (NMCOSS) (Bills & Vigil 1999) and Las Pláticas (Beké 2012). A total of 447 tokens, 180 tokens of archaic forms and 267 tokens of non-archaic forms, were coded for the following social and linguistic factors: Age (i.e. < 64 years and > 65 years), Gender of Participant (i.e. male and female), Formal Education in Spanish (i.e. 0-2 years, 3+ years), Grammatical Gender (i.e. masculine and feminine), and Grammatical Number (i.e. singular and plural). Results show that Grammatical Number and Grammatical Gender were not statistically significant. Age and Gender of Participant were statistically significant [p < .001], as was Formal Education in Spanish [p = .021]. More specifically, men used the mucho, or standard, form more than women. This is contrary to the generalization that women tend to lead language change (Labov 2001). This finding is explained by the social networks of the participants, as defined by their occupation. Male participants had occupations, such as truck drivers and church ministry, that would widen their social networks to include speakers of standard varieties of Spanish. Female participants had occupations, such as housekeepers and ranchers, that would limit their social networks to Spanish speaking individuals from their speech community.
Variable Use of mucho and muncho in Traditional New Mexican Spanish
Archaisms like muncho, vide, and truje are often retained for longer periods of time in remote, isolated varieties, are associated with uneducated speakers, and considered non-standard forms (Wilson 2015; Bills & Vigil 2008). As these isolated varieties experience increased contact with mainstream varieties, archaisms tend to be replaced by modern forms. Nevertheless, before they disappear, archaisms coexist alongside their modern counterparts, resulting in a period of linguistic variation. This study investigates the use of muncho and its modern counterpart mucho in Traditional New Mexican Spanish (TNMS). Examples (1) and (2) are instances of archaic forms of mucho produced in TNMS: (1) "...hay m- -- munchos trabajos que necesitan de hablar español" (NMCOSS) (2) "Y // tenemos munchas programas aquí de enseñar hente que viene del México" (Las pláticas) Tokens of mucho, muncho, and their variants were extracted from the transcripts of two spoken Traditional New Mexican Spanish corpora: the New Mexico Colorado Spanish Survey (NMCOSS) (Bills & Vigil 1999) and Las Pláticas (Beké 2012). A total of 447 tokens, 180 tokens of archaic forms and 267 tokens of non-archaic forms, were coded for the following social and linguistic factors: Age (i.e. < 64 years and > 65 years), Gender of Participant (i.e. male and female), Formal Education in Spanish (i.e. 0-2 years, 3+ years), Grammatical Gender (i.e. masculine and feminine), and Grammatical Number (i.e. singular and plural). Results show that Grammatical Number and Grammatical Gender were not statistically significant. Age and Gender of Participant were statistically significant [p < .001], as was Formal Education in Spanish [p = .021]. More specifically, men used the mucho, or standard, form more than women. This is contrary to the generalization that women tend to lead language change (Labov 2001). This finding is explained by the social networks of the participants, as defined by their occupation. Male participants had occupations, such as truck drivers and church ministry, that would widen their social networks to include speakers of standard varieties of Spanish. Female participants had occupations, such as housekeepers and ranchers, that would limit their social networks to Spanish speaking individuals from their speech community.
