{"title":"Regional pragmatic variation in the use of conventional expressions at three Spanish-speaking sites","authors":"Kathleen Bardovi-Harlig , Llorenç Comajoan-Colomé , Sabrina Mossman , Enrique Rodríguez Sánchez","doi":"10.1016/j.lingua.2025.104021","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper reports on an empirical investigation of regional pragmatic variation in the use of conventional expressions in Spanish at three sites: two in Spain (in the Barcelona and Extremadura areas) and one on the US-Mexico border (El Paso/Ciudad Juárez). Conventional expressions are multi-morphemic expressions and one type of pragmalinguistic resource. They are inherently social in nature and characterize language use within speech communities. Conventional expressions are associated with specific pragmatic situations and are the preferred expression of L1 speakers in those contexts. Data were elicited via computer-delivered oral production tasks from 107 L1 speakers of Spanish in the Barcelona (N = 38), Extremadura (N = 33), and El Paso/Ciudad Juárez (N = 36) areas. The tasks were regionally adapted so that speakers would feel that they were speaking to interlocutors from their respective speech communities. Conventional expressions were identified as occurring in at least 50% of the responses in any one community. Speakers in some sites used more conventional expressions than others. Some situations elicited the same expressions at all three sites, some show agreement at two sites, and some yield a different expression from each site. The sites show substantial overlap in expressions, although not in contexts of use (exhibiting <em>variety-preferential variation</em> rather than <em>variety-specific variation</em>).</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47955,"journal":{"name":"Lingua","volume":"326 ","pages":"Article 104021"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3000,"publicationDate":"2025-08-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Lingua","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0024384125001469","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This paper reports on an empirical investigation of regional pragmatic variation in the use of conventional expressions in Spanish at three sites: two in Spain (in the Barcelona and Extremadura areas) and one on the US-Mexico border (El Paso/Ciudad Juárez). Conventional expressions are multi-morphemic expressions and one type of pragmalinguistic resource. They are inherently social in nature and characterize language use within speech communities. Conventional expressions are associated with specific pragmatic situations and are the preferred expression of L1 speakers in those contexts. Data were elicited via computer-delivered oral production tasks from 107 L1 speakers of Spanish in the Barcelona (N = 38), Extremadura (N = 33), and El Paso/Ciudad Juárez (N = 36) areas. The tasks were regionally adapted so that speakers would feel that they were speaking to interlocutors from their respective speech communities. Conventional expressions were identified as occurring in at least 50% of the responses in any one community. Speakers in some sites used more conventional expressions than others. Some situations elicited the same expressions at all three sites, some show agreement at two sites, and some yield a different expression from each site. The sites show substantial overlap in expressions, although not in contexts of use (exhibiting variety-preferential variation rather than variety-specific variation).
期刊介绍:
Lingua publishes papers of any length, if justified, as well as review articles surveying developments in the various fields of linguistics, and occasional discussions. A considerable number of pages in each issue are devoted to critical book reviews. Lingua also publishes Lingua Franca articles consisting of provocative exchanges expressing strong opinions on central topics in linguistics; The Decade In articles which are educational articles offering the nonspecialist linguist an overview of a given area of study; and Taking up the Gauntlet special issues composed of a set number of papers examining one set of data and exploring whose theory offers the most insight with a minimal set of assumptions and a maximum of arguments.