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In:Hispanic Contact Linguistics: Theoretical, methodological and empirical perspectives
Edited by Luis A. Ortiz López, Rosa E. Guzzardo Tamargo and Melvin González-Rivera
[Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 22] 2020
► pp. 215–234

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Chapter 9
The distribution and use of present and past progressive forms in Spanish-English and Spanish-Brazilian Portuguese bilinguals

 | Rutgers University
 | Purdue University
Published online: 14 February 2020
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ihll.22.09lop
Abstract
This study examines the distribution and use of simple and progressive forms in two groups: English-speaking heritage speakers of Spanish in the U.S. (n = 9) and Brazilian Portuguese-speaking heritage speakers of Spanish in Brazil (n = 15). We hypothesized that the groups would show different crosslinguistic influence from their dominant languages in their choice of verb forms. We collected semi-spontaneous production data via oral narratives and analyzed group differences in verb form, either simple or progressive, in activity and accomplishment verbs (Vendler, 1967). The results show a main effect for group, confirming that English-Spanish bilinguals favor progressive verb forms in such contexts, while Brazilian Portuguese-Spanish bilinguals opt for simple verb forms. We discuss our findings following previous work by Jiang (2000) and Putnam & Sánchez (2013).
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical background
    • 2.1Tense and aspect
    • 2.2Semantic constraints in the selection of the Spanish present tense
    • 2.3Semantic constraints on the selection of the imperfect progressive in Spanish and BP
  • 3.Previous acquisition research
    • 3.1The Spanish present progressive
    • 3.2The Spanish imperfect progressive
    • 3.3Research question and hypothesis
  • 4.The experiment
    • 4.1Participants
    • 4.2Methods and structures under analysis
  • 5.Results
  • 6.Discussion and conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
References (34)
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Berríos, Juan & Matthew Kanwit
2024. Progressive aspect across temporalities: variation between synthetic and analytic forms in L1 and L2 Spanish. Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 17:2 ► pp. 161 ff. DOI logo
Delgado-Díaz, Gibran J.
2024. The imperfect progressive in Puerto Rican Spanish: a case of language contact or grammaticalization?. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 2024:286 ► pp. 137 ff. DOI logo

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