Functional Constraints on Plural Marker Deletion in Peruvian Spanish

Bibliographic Data

ID3222490
AuthorsJames E Hundley (corresponding author)
Year1987
Volume70
Issue4
Pages891
Publication date1987-12-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueHispania (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0018-2133 • E-ISSN: 2153-6414
PublisherJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/342562
OpenAlexW2019909120
LanguageEN
Citations received11

The object of this paper is to investigate the various factors which condition the deletion of plural /s/ in Peruvian Spanish. Word-final /s/ in Spanish may appear in monomorphemes: Dios, as the second person singular marker: tienes, and as the plural marker: las nin-as. The plural marker appears redundantly across the noun phrase, i.e., in each determiner, adjective, and noun in the string: las verdaderaspenias criollas. In coastal Peruvian Spanish, word-final /s/ is variably subject to two well-documented weakening processes: aspiration ([h]) and deletion ([0]).1 The deletion of the plural markers from the NP, while reducing sentence redundancy, can theoretically render a plural NP indistinguishable from a singular NP, leading to potential ambiguity: la[g] nina[f] bonita[o]. In light of the above information, and following a hypothesis, that is, that there is a tendency for semantically relevant information to be retained in surface structures (Kiparsky 195; Labov et al. 130), we would expect word-final /s/ to be retained more often in plural forms like ninas, where it carries a heavy functional load, than in monomorphemic forms like Dios, where it carries no functional load. Conversely, we would expect more /s/ deletion in monomorphemes like Dios than in plural forms like ninas

Biology · Linguistics · Plural · Genetics · Philosophy · Phonetics and Phonology Research · Spanish Linguistics and Language Studies · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation

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