Cover not available

In:Study Abroad and the Second Language Acquisition of Sociolinguistic Variation in Spanish
Edited by Sara Zahler, Avizia Y. Long and Bret Linford
[Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 37] 2023
► pp. 266–290

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
authorization required

Chapter 9
The variable use of first-person-singular subject forms during an academic year abroad

 | Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
 | Université Côte d’Azur
Published online: 6 June 2023
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ihll.37.09gud
Abstract
The goal of the current study was to investigate the variable use and development of first-person-singular subject forms in additional-language Spanish before and at the end of an academic year in Spain. Our data came from the LANGSNAP corpus (http://​langsnap​.soton​.ac​.uk). We examined oral semi-guided interviews from 16 participants. We coded all contexts of first-person-singular subject forms, either the personal pronoun yo or an unexpressed subject (K = 3,571), for 11 independent variables. Our mixed-effects model showed that a range of linguistic factors (polarity, clause type, referent continuity, and perseveration) and individual characteristics (engagement with English and placement type) impacted the variable use of first-person-singular subjects and that the use of these subject forms changed over the course of an academic year in Spain.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Background
    • Sociolinguistic variation
    • Subject expression in Spanish
  • The current study
  • Method
    • Corpus
    • Data coding and analysis
  • Results
  • Discussion
  • Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (65)
References
Abreu, L. (2009). Spanish subject personal pronoun use by monolinguals, bilinguals, and second language learners (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Florida, Gainesville, FL.
Baker-Smemoe, W., Dewey, D. P., Bown, J., & Martinsen, R. A. (2014). Variables affecting L2 gains during study abroad. Foreign Language Annals, 47, 464–486. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bayley, R., & Tarone, E. (2012). Variationist perspectives. In S. M. Gass & A. Mackey (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 41–56). London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bayley, R., & Pease-Álvarez, L. (1997). Null pronoun variation in Mexican-descent children’s narrative discourse. Language Variation and Change, 9, 349–371. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bentivoglio, P., & Sedano, M. (1987). Estudio sociolingüístico de Caracas. Unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bowden, H. W. (2016). Assessing second language oral proficiency for research. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 38, 647–675. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cameron, R. (1995). The scope and limits of switch-reference as a constraint on pronominal subject expression. Hispanic Linguistics, 6, 1–27.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cameron, R., & Flores-Ferrán, N. (2004). Perseveration of subject expression across regional dialects of Spanish. Spanish in Context, 1(1), 41–65. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Carvalho, A., Orozco, R., & Shin, N. L. (Eds.) (2015). Subject pronoun expression in Spanish. Washington D.C.: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cook, V. (1992). Evidence for multicompetence. Language Learning, 42, 557–591. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
DeKeyser, R. (2007). Study abroad as foreign language practice. In R. DeKeyser (Ed.), Practice in a second language: Perspectives from applied linguistics and cognitive psychology (pp. 208–226). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dewey, D. P. (2017). Measuring social interaction during study abroad: Quantitative methods and challenges. System, 71, 49–59. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
The Douglas Fir Group. (2016). A transdisciplinary framework for SLA in a multilingual world. The Modern Language Journal, 100(Supplement 2016), 19–47. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Edmonds, A., Gudmestad, A., & Metzger, T. (2020). A longitudinal study of grammatical-gender marking in French as an additional language. Applied Linguistics, 41, 733–755. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Enríquez, E. V. (1984). El pronombre personal sujeto en la lengua española hablada en Madrid. Madrid: Instituto de Cervantes.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fernández, J., & Tapia, A. M. G. (2016). An appraisal of the Language Contact Profile as a tool to research local engagement in study abroad. Study Abroad Research in Second language Acquisition and International Education, 1(2), 248–276. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Freed, B., Dewey, D., Segalowitz, N., & Halter, R. (2004). The language contact profile. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 26, 349–356. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Geeslin, K. L. (2000). A new approach to the second language acquisition of copula choice in Spanish. In R. Leow & C. Sanz (Eds.), Spanish applied linguistics at the turn of the millennium: Papers from the 1999 Conference on the L1 & L2 Acquisition of Spanish and Portuguese (pp. 50–66). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2003). A comparison of copula choice in advanced and native Spanish. Language Learning, 53, 703–764. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Geeslin, K. L., Fafulas, S., & Kanwit, M. (2013). Acquiring geographically-variable norms of use: The case of the present perfect in Mexico and Spain. In C. Howe, S. Blackwell, & M. Quesada (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the 15th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (pp. 205–220). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Geeslin, K., García-Amaya, L., Hasler, M., Henrikson, N., & Killam, J. (2012). A study of the second language acquisition of the present perfect in an immersion context. In K. Geeslin & M. Díaz-Campos (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the 14th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (pp. 197–215). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Geeslin, K. L., & Gudmestad, A. (2008). Comparing interview and written elicitation task in native and non-native data: Do speakers do what we think they do? In J. Bruhn de Garavito & E. Valenzuela (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (pp. 64–77). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Geeslin, K., Linford, B., & Fafulas, F. (2015). Variable subject expression in second language Spanish: Uncovering the developmental sequence and predictive linguistic factors. In A. M. Carvalho, R. Orozco & N. L. Shin (Eds.), Subject pronoun expression in Spanish: A cross-dialectal perspective (pp. 193–212). Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Geeslin, K., Linford, B., Fafulas, S., Long, A., & Díaz-Campos, M. (2013). The L2 development of subject form variation in Spanish: The individual vs. the group. In J. Cabrelli Amaro, G. Lord, A. de Prada Pérez, & J. E. Aaron (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the 16th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (pp. 156–174). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Geeslin, K. L. with Long, A. Y. (2014). Sociolinguistics and second language acquisition: Learning to use language in context. New York, NY: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gudmestad, A. (2014). Variationist approaches to second language Spanish. In K. L. Geeslin (Ed.), Handbook of Spanish second language acquisition (pp. 80–95). Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gudmestad, A., & Edmonds, A. (2016). Variable future-time reference in French: A comparison of learners in a study-abroad and a foreign-language context. Canadian Journal of Linguistics, 61(3), 259–285. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gudmestad, A., Edmonds, A., & Metzger, T. (2019). Using variationism and learner corpus research to investigate grammatical gender marking in additional-language Spanish. Language Learning, 69(4), 911–949. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2021). Moving beyond the native-speaker bias in the analysis of variable gender marking. Frontiers in Communication, 6, 165. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gudmestad, A., House, L., & Geeslin, K. L. (2013). What a Bayesian analysis can do for SLA: New tools for the sociolinguistic study of subject expression in L2 Spanish. Language Learning, 63(3), 371–399. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Howard, M. (2012). The advanced learner’s sociolinguistic profile: On issues of individual differences, second language exposure conditions, and type of sociolinguistic variable. The Modern Language Journal, 96, 20–33. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Iwasaki, N. (2019). Individual differences in study abroad research: Sources, processes and outcomes of students’ development in language, culture and personhood. In M. Howard (Ed.), Study abroad, second language acquisition and interculturality (pp. 237–262). Clevenon, UK: Multilingual Matters. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kalocsai, K. (2011). The show of interpersonal involvement and the building of rapport in an ELF community of practice. In A. Archibald, A. Cogo, & J. Jenkins (Eds.), Latest trends in English as a lingua franca research (pp. 113–138). Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kanwit, M., Fafulas., & Geeslin, K. (2015). The role of geography in the SLA of variable structures: A look at the present perfect, the copula contrast, and the present progressive in Mexico and Spain. Probus, 27, 307–348. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kanwit, M., & Solon, M. (2013). Acquiring variation in future-time expression abroad in Valencia, Spain and Mérida, Mexico. In J. Cabrelli Amaro, G. Lord, A. de Prada Pérez, & J. E. Aaron (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the 16th Hispanic linguistics symposium (pp. 206–221). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kinginger, C. (2012). Enhancing language learning in study abroad. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 31, 58–73. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Klein, W. (1998). The contribution of second language acquisition research. Language Learning, 48, 527–550. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Knouse, S. M. (2012). The acquisition of dialectal phonemes in a study abroad context: The case of the Castilian theta. Foreign Language Annals, 45, 512–542. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lafford, B., & Collentine, J. (2006). The effects of study abroad and classroom contexts on the acquisition of Spanish as a second language: From research to application. In B. Lafford & R. Salaberry (Eds.), Spanish second language acquisition: From research findings to teaching applications (pp. 103–126). Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Linford, B. G. (2016). The second-language development of dialect-specific morpho-syntactic variation in Spanish during study abroad. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Indiana University, Bloomington, IN.
Linford, B. G., Zahler, S., & Whatley, M. (2018). Acquisition, study abroad and individual differences: The case of subject pronoun variation in L2 Spanish. Study Abroad Research in Second Language Acquisition and International Education, 3, 243–274. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Long, A. Y. (2016). The acquisition of sociolinguistic competence by Korean learners of Spanish: Development and use of the copula, subject expression, and intervocalic stops. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Indiana University, Bloomington, IN.
McManus, K., Mitchell, R., Tracy-Ventura, N. (2014). Understanding insertion and integration in a study abroad context: The case of English-peaking sojourners in France. Revue française de linguistique appliquée, 19(2), 97–116. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mitchell, R., McManus, K., & Tracy-Ventura, N. (2015). Placement type and language learning during residence abroad. In R. Mitchell, N. Tracy-Ventra, & K. McManus (Eds.), Social interaction, identity and language learning during residence abroad (pp. 115–137). Amsterdam: Eurosla Monographs Series.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mitchell, R., Tracy-Ventura, N., & McManus, K. (2017). Anglophone students abroad: Identity, social relationships, and language learning. New York, NY: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Orozco, R. (2015). Pronominal variation in Colombian costeño Spanish. In A. M. Carvalho, R. Orozco, & N. Lapidus Shin (Eds.), Subject pronoun expression in Spanish: A cross-dialectal perspective (pp. 17–37). Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ortega, L. (2014). Ways forward for a bi/multilingual turn in SLA. In S. May (Ed.), The multilingual turn: Implications for SLA, TESOL, and bilingual education (pp. 32–53). New York: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Otheguy, R., & Zentella, A. C. (2012). Spanish in New York: Language contact, dialect leveling, and structural continuity. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Otheguy, R., Zentella, A. C., & Livert, D. (2007). Language and dialect contact in Spanish in New York: Toward the formation of a speech community. Language, 83, 770–802. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Papatsiba, V. (2006). Study abroad and experiences of cultural distance and proximity: French Erasmus students. In M. Byram & A. Weng (Eds.), Living and studying abroad: Research and practice (pp. 108–133). Clevendon: Multilingual Matters. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Prada Pérez, Ana de. (2015). First person singular subject pronoun expression in Spanish in contact with Catalan. In A. M. Carvalho, R. Orozco, & N. Lapidus Shin (Eds.), Subject pronoun expression in Spanish: A cross-dialectal perspective (pp. 121–142). Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Quesada, M. L. (2014). Subject pronouns in second language Spanish. In K. L. Geeslin (Ed.), The handbook of Spanish second language acquisition (pp. 253–268). Malden, MA: Wiley Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Quesada, M. L., & Blackwell, S. E. (2009). The L2 acquisition of null and overt Spanish subject pronouns: A pragmatic approach. In J. Collentine, M. García, B. Lafford, & F. M. Martín (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the 11th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (pp. 117–130). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
R Core Team. R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria, 2020. URL [URL]
Regan, V., Howard, M., & Lemée, I. (2009). The acquisition of sociolinguistic competence in a study abroad context. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rothman, J. (2009). Pragmatic deficits with syntactic consequences?: L2 pronominal subjects and the syntax-pragmatics interface. Journal of Pragmatics, 41, 951–973. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Salgado-Robles, F. (2018). Efectos del context de inmersión en la competencia sociolingüística de EL2: La adquisición del laísmo madrileño. Círculo de Lingüística Aplicada a la Comunicación, 74, 307–332. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Shin, N. (2012). Variable use of Spanish subject pronouns by monolingual children in Mexico. In K. L. Geeslin & M. Díaz-Campos (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the 14th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium (pp. 130–141). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Smith, T. J., & McKenna, C. M. (2013). A comparison of logistic regression pseudo R2 indices. Multiple Linear Regression Viewpoints, 39(2), 17–26.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Swain, M., & Deters, P. (2007). “New” mainstream SLA theory: Expanded and enriched. The Modern Language Journal, 91, 820–836. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Torres Cacoullos, R., & Travis, C. (2010). Variable yo expression in New Mexico: English influence? In S. Rivera-Mills & D. Villa Crésap (Eds.), Spanish of the U.S. southwest: A language in transition (pp. 189–210). Madrid, Spain: Iberoamericana/Vervuert. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tragant, E. (2012). Change or stability in learners’ perceptions as a result of study abroad. In C. Munoz (Ed.), Intensive exposure experiences in second language learning (pp. 161–190). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Travis, C. (2007). Genre effects on subject expression in Spanish: Priming in narrative and conversation. Language Variation and Change, 19, 101–135. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (3)

Cited by three other publications

Fernández, Julieta & Rachel Shively
2025. Methodologies in Spanish-language study abroad research. Journal of Spanish Language Teaching 12:2 ► pp. 123 ff. DOI logo
Gudmestad, Aarnes
2025. The development of sociolinguistic competence in Spanish: insights from study-abroad research. Journal of Spanish Language Teaching 12:2 ► pp. 137 ff. DOI logo
Michalski, Ian & Aarnes Gudmestad
2025. An exploration of L1 attitudes and individual characteristics in the study of sociolinguistic perception in additional-language Spanish. In Research at the Intersection of Second Language Acquisition and Sociolinguistics [Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 43], ► pp. 289 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 12 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue