The singular/plural alternation of the concordance between the verb haber with existential meaning and its argument is a phenomenon that changes according to the variety of Spanish used –that will differ depending on the side of the Atlantic is used. This article presents the research carried out in Madrid, a linguistic community traditionally exempt from this innovative phenomenon, based on the analysis of 108 semi-directed interviews that conform the PRESEEA corpora and that correspond to the Salamanca and Vallecas-Puente de Vallecas districts. The analysis of the dependent linguistic variable (singular/ plural) has been carried out according to the guidelines proposed within the framework of PRESEEA. This framework considers the potential impact of 23 independent variables: eleven linguistic, four stylistic, and eight sociological. The results indicate that the pluralization, although still rare, is slowly being introduced in the variety of Spanish spoken in Madrid. Therefore, in addition to the analysis of the incidence of the stylistic, social and linguistic factors, the linguistic innovation stage has also been studied in detail, as well as the potential impact of the cognitive constraints and characteristics of the speakers that have introduced these pluralized constructions.
Keywords:
syntactic variation, existential haber, linguistic change, spoken Spanish, Madrid speech community
Paredes García, F. (2017). The pluralization of the existential verb "haber" in Madrid: Initial stages of a linguistic change?. Boletín De Filología, 51(2), 209–234. Retrieved from https://anuariocdh.uchile.cl/index.php/BDF/article/view/44877
Twitter