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Article In: Spanish in Context: Online-First Articles

Cultural contact and linguistic change

The use of definite articles with personal names in Chilean Spanish in contact with Mapudungun

ORCiD logo with link | The Pennsylvania State University
 | The Pennsylvania State University
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Abstract
Previous research has noted the prevalence of the definite article (DA) preceding personal names (PN) in certain Spanish-speaking communities, particularly in Chilean Spanish, often with derogatory connotations towards women. This study uses a variationist analysis spontaneous conversation from Mapuche speakers in two regions (N = 509). Results show a preference for DA+PN in the Metropolitan Region in comparison to the Araucanía Region. Different from previous studies, results suggest that names associated with feminine referents tend to favor DA+PN only in the Araucanía Region. Additionally, DA+PN choice in this region is sensitive to community membership. Contrary to derogatory implications, DA+PN usage appears to express discourse topicality, with syntactic subjects showing a greater propensity for DA presence, especially when the referent is subsequently mentioned in subject role. These results suggest that the Mapuche cultural view on names, which emphasizes establishing shared common ground, may influence how DA+PN is recontextualized in Chilean Spanish.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Background
    • 2.1Languages in contact: Mapudungun and Spanish
    • 2.2The anthropology of Mapuche personal names
    • 2.3Sociolinguistic studies of DA+PN variation within the Mapuche territory
    • 2.4Research question
  • 3.Methodology
    • 3.1Participants and data extraction
    • 3.2Dependent variable, exclusions and data coding
    • 3.3Independent variables
    • 3.4Statistical analysis
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Overall descriptive statistics
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusions
  • Note
  • Author queries
  • References
References (54)
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