Rafael Orozco
[IMPACT: Studies in Language, Culture and Society 46] 2018
► pp. 27–60
This chapter explores the expression of futurity in terms of the distribution of its variants (morphological future, periphrastic future, and simple present) and the linguistic predictors that condition them. The more frequent occurrence of the periphrastic form and the reduction in the morphological future usage are congruent with findings throughout the Hispanic World. The similarity of predictor effects found to exist between Barranquilla and New York City suggests that, despite the influence of language contact, the two speaker cohorts are still members of the same speech community. Moreover, the results indicate that the change in progress from the preferential use of the morphological future to that of the periphrastic future seems to have accelerated in the diasporic setting. The findings help explain other instances of morphosyntactic variation, especially those involving analytic and synthetic variants, thus augmenting our knowledge of language variation and change.