Cover not available

Article published In: Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada/Spanish Journal of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 35:1 (2022) ► pp.120–148

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

The use of the intensifier bien among bilinguals in Southern Arizona Spanish and its grammaticalization process

ORCiD logo with link | Grand Valley State University
Published online: 14 February 2022
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/resla.19045.flo
Abstract
This variationist study examines the contexts of appearance of the Spanish intensifiers muy (very) and bien (very) in the bilingual community of Tucson, Arizona. Although some descriptive work has been published on these intensifiers ( (2006). Bien + adjectivo como perífrasis de superlativo en español. Particularidades semánticas y sintácticas. Verba, 33 1, 215–233.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), little quantitative research has been conducted with the exceptions of studies by Brown, E., & Cortés-Torres, M. (2013). Puerto Rican intensifiers: Bien–Muy variables. In A. M. Carvalho & S. Beaudrie (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the 6th workshop on Spanish sociolinguistics (pp. 11–19). Someville: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar and Kanwit, M., Terán, V., & Pisabarro Sarrió, S. P. (2017). Un fenómeno bien curioso: New methods for analyzing variable intensification across four dialects of Spain and Argentina. Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 10 (2), 259–295. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar. Based on a formal, syntactical analysis of the intensifiers, the present study adds to this research (Pastor, A., & Armstrong, G. (2016). Una “buena” manera de hablar acerca de grados: Bien con adjetivos en español. Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 9 (2), 401–427. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) by establishing possible new conditioning factors such as emphasis and reiteration for the selection of one variant over the other. An analysis of 1,385 tokens in 43 interviews shows an overall use of muy of 81%, a figure that is comparable to the results reported in most previous studies. Verb type, emphasis, and reiteration prove significant in determining which variant is used. A discussion of these results provides a more in-depth description of the characteristics of these intensifiers in the focal bilingual community and offers a position on the debate over whether bien has come to the end of its grammaticalization process or continues to hold a positive value from its past as a modal adverb.
Resumen
El uso del intensificador bien entre hablantes bilingües de español del sureste de Arizona y su proceso de gramaticalización
Este estudio variacionista examina los contextos de aparición de los intensificadores muy y bien en la comunidad bilingüe de Tucson, Arizona. Aunque se han publicado estudios descriptivos sobre estos intensificadores ( (2006). Bien + adjectivo como perífrasis de superlativo en español. Particularidades semánticas y sintácticas. Verba, 33 1, 215–233.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), existen pocas investigaciones que los examinen desde un punto de vista cuantitativo a excepción de Brown, E., & Cortés-Torres, M. (2013). Puerto Rican intensifiers: Bien–Muy variables. In A. M. Carvalho & S. Beaudrie (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the 6th workshop on Spanish sociolinguistics (pp. 11–19). Someville: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar y Kanwit, M., Terán, V., & Pisabarro Sarrió, S. P. (2017). Un fenómeno bien curioso: New methods for analyzing variable intensification across four dialects of Spain and Argentina. Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 10 (2), 259–295. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar. Basándose en el análisis formal y sintáctico de estos intensificadores ofrecido por Pastor, A., & Armstrong, G. (2016). Una “buena” manera de hablar acerca de grados: Bien con adjetivos en español. Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 9 (2), 401–427. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, el presente estudio añade un nuevo enfoque al investigar de forma cuantitativa el papel que juegan factores como el énfasis y la reiteración en la selección de una variante u otra. El análisis de 1.385 muestras recogidas en un total de 43 entrevistas muestra que muy es la variante elegida en un 81%, un dato comparable a los resultados de estudios anteriores. El tipo de verbo, énfasis y reiteración resultan factores significativos a la hora de la selección de la variante. La discusión de estos resultados proporciona una descripción detallada de las características del uso de estos intensificadores en esta comunidad bilingüe. A su vez, ofrece una postura en el debate de si bien ha finalizado ya su proceso de gramaticalización o si, por el contrario, aún mantiene un claro valor positivo, herencia de su pasado como adverbio modal.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The muy/bien variable
    • 2.1The process of intensification
    • 2.2Previous variationist research on the muy/bien variable
  • 3.Method
    • 3.1Participants
    • 3.2Defining the envelope of variation
    • 3.3Linguistic factors
  • 4.Results
  • 5.Discussion
    • 5.1Verb type
    • 5.2Emphasis
    • 5.3Reiteration
    • 5.4Adjective type
  • 6.Regionalisms, identity, and the use of bien
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (38)
References
Aaron, J. E. (2016). The road already traveled: Constructional analogy in lexico-syntactic change. Studies in Language. International Journal sponsored by the Foundation “Foundations of Language”, 40 (1), 26–62. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Agha, A. (2003). The social life of cultural value. Language & communication, 23 (3–4), 231–273. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Arce Castillo, A. (1999). Intensificadores en español coloquial. Anuario de estudios filológicos, 22 1, 37–48.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Arjona, M. (1990). El adverbio muy y otros intensificadores en el habla popular de México. Anuario de Letras, 28 1, 75–96.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Becker, K. (2009). /r/and the construction of place identity on New York City’s Lower East Side 1. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 13 (5), 634–658. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bessett, R. M. (2015). The extension of estar across the Mexico-US border: Evidence against contact-induced acceleration. Sociolinguistic Studies, 9 (4), 421–443. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brown, E., & Cortés-Torres, M. (2013). Puerto Rican intensifiers: Bien–Muy variables. In A. M. Carvalho & S. Beaudrie (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the 6th workshop on Spanish sociolinguistics (pp. 11–19). Someville: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Camacho, J. (2012). Ser and estar: The individual/stage-level distinction and aspectual predication. In J. I. Hualde, A. Olarrea, & E. O’Rourke (Eds.), Handbook of Hispanic linguistics (pp. 453–475). Boston, MA: Blackwell. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Carvalho, A. M. (2012). Corpus del Español en el Sur de Arizona (CESA). [URL]
Demonte, V. (2011). “Adjectives”. Semantics: An International Handbook of Natural Language Meaning ed. by K. Von Heusinger, C. Maienborn, & P. Portner, vol. II1, 1314–1340. Berlin: De Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Eckert, P. (2008). Variation and the indexical field 1. Journal of sociolinguistics, 12 (4), 453–476. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Guy, G., & Oushiro, L. (2015). The effect of salience on covariation in Brazilian Portuguese: University of Pennsylvania Working Papers. Linguistics, 21 (2), Article 18.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hernanz, Mª Lluisa. (1995). “Bien y la polaridad positiva en español”, Estudio inédito.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hopper, P. & Traugott, E. (2003). Grammaticalization. 2nd edn. USA: CUP. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kanwit, M., Elias, V., & Clay, R. (2018). Acquiring intensifier variation abroad: Exploring muy and bien in Spain and Mexico. Foreign Language Annals, 51 (2), 455–471. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kanwit, M., Terán, V., & Pisabarro Sarrió, S. P. (2017). Un fenómeno bien curioso: New methods for analyzing variable intensification across four dialects of Spain and Argentina. Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 10 (2), 259–295. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Labov, W. (1985). Intensity. In D. Schiffrin (Ed.), Meaning, form and use in context: Linguistic applications (pp. 43–70). Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Labov, William. (2001). Principles of linguistic change, Vol. 21: Social factors. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mazzaro, N. (2005). Speaking Spanish with style: /s/ deletion in Argentine Spanish and Lavob’s decision tree. University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics, 10 (2), 171–190.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ortiz López, L. A. (2000). Extensión de estar en contextos de ser en el español de Puerto Rico: ¿Evolución interna o contacto de lenguas? BAPLE, 98–118.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pastor, Alberto. (2011). Sobre las interferencias entre el grado, la (in)definitud y la (in)especificidad. Revista Española de Lingüística 41 (2). 117–145. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pastor, A., & Armstrong, G. (2016). Una “buena” manera de hablar acerca de grados: Bien con adjetivos en español. Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 9 (2), 401–427. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Quadrado Gomes, A. (2011). Uma proposta de distinção semântica para os intensificadores muito e bem. Estudos Linguísticos (São Paulo. 1978), 40 (1), 379–394.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sacks, N. P. (1971). English very, French très, and Spanish muy: A structural comparison and its significance for bilingual lexicography. Publications of the Modern Language Association of America, LXXXVI (2), 190–201. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schwenter, S. A. (2011). Variationist approaches to Spanish morphosyntax: Internal and external factors. The handbook of Hispanic sociolinguistics, 123–147. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sedano, M. (2002–2004). Este tema es muy/bien interesante . Archivo de filología aragonesa, 59–60 1, 859–73.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Serradilla Castaño, A. (2004). Superlativos cultos y populares en la historia del español. Edad de Oro, 231, 95–133.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2006). Bien + adjectivo como perífrasis de superlativo en español. Particularidades semánticas y sintácticas. Verba, 33 1, 215–233.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Silva-Corvalán, C. (1994). Language contact and change: Spanish in Los Angeles. Oxford University Press, 1981 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016–4314.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sinclair, J. (2000). Lexical grammar. Naujoji Metodologija, 24 1, 191–203.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tagliamonte, S. (2012). Sociolinguistics as language variation and change. Variationist sociolinguistics change observation interpretation, 1–22.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2008). “So different and pretty cool!” Recycling intensifiers in Toronto, Canada. English Language and Linguistics, 12 (2), 361–394. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tagliamonte, S., & Roberts, C. (2005). So weird; so cool; so innovative: The use of intensifiers in the television series Friends . American Speech, 80 (3), 280–300. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Torres Cacoullos, R., & Travis, C. E. (2018). Bilingualism in the community: Code-switching and grammars in contact. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Cruz, Abel
2024. Expressing diminutive meaning in heritage Spanish: linking the heritage experience to diminutive use in everyday speech. Frontiers in Language Sciences 3 DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 30 november 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