Chapter 9
The distribution and use of present and past progressive forms in
Spanish-English and Spanish-Brazilian Portuguese bilinguals
This study examines the distribution and use of
simple and progressive forms in two groups: English-speaking
heritage speakers of Spanish in the U.S. (n = 9)
and Brazilian Portuguese-speaking heritage speakers of Spanish in
Brazil (n = 15). We hypothesized that the groups
would show different crosslinguistic influence from their dominant
languages in their choice of verb forms. We collected semi-spontaneous
production data via oral narratives and analyzed group differences
in verb form, either simple or progressive, in activity and
accomplishment verbs (Vendler,
1967). The results show a main effect for group,
confirming that English-Spanish bilinguals favor progressive verb
forms in such contexts, while Brazilian Portuguese-Spanish
bilinguals opt for simple verb forms. We discuss our findings
following previous work by Jiang
(2000) and Putnam
& Sánchez (2013).
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Theoretical background
- 2.1Tense and aspect
- 2.2Semantic constraints in the selection of the Spanish present
tense
- 2.3Semantic constraints on the selection of the imperfect
progressive in Spanish and BP
- 3.Previous acquisition research
- 3.1The Spanish present progressive
- 3.2The Spanish imperfect progressive
- 3.3Research question and hypothesis
- 4.The experiment
- 4.1Participants
- 4.2Methods and structures under analysis
- 5.Results
- 6.Discussion and conclusions
-
Notes
-
References
References (34)
References
Alarcos Llorach, E. (1994). Gramática
de la lengua
española. Madrid: Espasa Calpe.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bruhn de Garavito, J. (2002). Verb raising in Spanish: A comparison of early and late bilinguals. In Proceedings of the 26th annual Boston University conference on language development (pp. 84–94).![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Chaston, J. M. (1987). Aspect
choice in preterit and imperfect usage in the speech of
Mexican-American college students in Texas: a
sociolinguistic
approach (Unpublished
doctoral
dissertation). University of Texas at Austin.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Colomé, L. C. (2013). Tense
and aspect in second language
Spanish. In K. L. Geeslin (Ed.), The
handbook of Spanish second
language (pp. 235–252). Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Comrie, B. (1976). Aspect:
An introduction to the study of verbal aspect and related
problems. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cuza, A. (2013). Crosslinguistic
influence at the syntax proper: Interrogative subject–verb
inversion in heritage
Spanish. The International
Journal of
Bilingualism, 17, 71–96. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cuza, A. (2010). The
L2 acquisition of aspectual properties in
Spanish. Canadian Journal of
Linguistics, 55(2), 1001–1028. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cuza, A., Pérez-Leroux, A. T., & Sánchez, L. (2013). The
role of semantic transfer in clitic-drop among simultaneous
and sequential Chinese-Spanish
bilinguals. Studies in Second
Language
Acquisition, 35(1), 93–125. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
De Swart, H. (1998). Aspect
shift and coercion. Natural
Language and Linguistic
Theory, 16, 347–85. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Geeslin, K., & Fafulas, S. (2012). Variation
of the simple present and present progressive forms: A
comparison of native and non-native
speakers. In K. Geeslin & M. Díaz-Campos (Eds.), Selected
proceedings of the 14th Hispanic Linguistics
Symposium (pp. 179–196). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Jiang, N. (2000). Lexical
representation and development in a second
language. Applied
Linguistics, 21(1), 47–77. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Klein, F. (1980). A
quantitative study of syntactic and pragmatic indicators of
change in the Spanish of bilinguals in the
U.S. In W. Labov, (Ed.), Locating
language in time and
space (pp. 69–82). New York, NY: Academic Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lamanna, S. (2008). Usage
of imperfect and imperfect progressive verb forms in Spanish
as a majority and minority language: Is there an effect for
language
contact? In J. Bruhn de Garavito & E. Valenzuela (Eds.), Selected
proceedings of the 10th Hispanic Linguistics
Symposium (pp. 251–264). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lardiere, D. (2008). Feature-assembly
in second language
acquisition. In J. Liceras, H. Zobl & H. Goodluck (Eds.), The
role of formal features in second language
acquisition (pp. 106–140). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lardiere, D. (2009). Some
thoughts on the contrastive analysis of features in second
language acquisition. Second
Language
Research, 25, 173–227. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lavandera, B. R. (1981). Lo
Quebramos, but only in
performance. In R. P. Durán (Ed.), Latino
language and communicative
behavior (pp. 49–67). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Montrul, S. (2004). Subject
and object expression in Spanish heritage speakers: A case
of morpho-syntactic
convergence. Bilingualism:
Language and
Cognition, 7, 125–142. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Montrul, S. (2002a). Competence
and performance differences between monolinguals and 2nd
generation bilinguals in the tense/aspect
domain. In J. F. Lee, K. L. Geeslin, & J. C. Clements (Eds.), Structure,
meaning, and acquisition in
Spanish (pp. 93–114). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Montrul, S. (2002b). Incomplete
acquisition and attrition of Spanish tense/aspect
distinctions in adult
bilinguals. Bilingualism:
Language And
Cognition, 5(1), 39–68. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Montrul, S. & Potowski, K. (2007). Command
of gender agreement in school-age Spanish bilingual
children. International
Journal of
Bilingualism, 11(3), 301–328. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Montrul, S., & Slabakova, R. (2003). Competence
similarities between native and near-native speakers: An
investigation of the preterite-imperfect contrast in
Spanish. Studies in Second
Language
Acquisition, 25(3), 351–398. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Mrak, A. (1998). El
discurso del pasado en el español de Houston:
Imperfectividad y perfectividad verbal en una situación de
contacto. Southwest Journal
of
Linguistics, 17, 115–128.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Polinsky, M. (2011). Reanalysis
in adult heritage language: New evidence in support of
attrition. Studies in Second
Language
Acquisition, 33(2), 305–328. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sánchez-Muñoz, A. (2004). Transfer
in the Spanish progressive constructions in Los
Angeles. USC Working Papers
in
Linguistics, 2, 16–29.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Schmitt, C. (2001). Cross-linguistic
variation and the present perfect: The case of
Portuguese. Natural Language
& Linguistic
Theory, 19(2), 403–453. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Solé, Y. (1977). Continuidad/descontinuidad
idiomática en el español
tejano. The Bilingual
Review, 4, 189–199.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Valdés, G. (2001). Heritage
language students: Profiles and
possibilities. In J. Peyton, D. Ranard, & S. McGinnis (Eds.), Heritage
languages in America: Preserving a national
resource (pp. 37–80). McHenry, IL: Center for Applied Linguistics.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Vendler, Z. (1967). Linguistics
in philosophy. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Yllera Fernández, M. A. (1999). Las
perífrasis verbales de gerundio y
participio. In I. Bosque & V. Demonte (Eds.), Gramática
descriptiva de la lengua
española (pp. 3391–3441). Madrid: Real Academia Española, Colección Nebrija y Bello, Espasa Calpe.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cited by (1)
Cited by one other publication
Delgado-Díaz, Gibran J.
2024.
The imperfect progressive in Puerto Rican Spanish: a case of language contact or grammaticalization?.
International Journal of the Sociology of Language 2024:286
► pp. 137 ff.
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 28 june 2024. 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.