Variation and Change in Peruvian Spanish Word Order: Language Contact and Dialect Contact in Lima

Authors

Carol A. Klee, University of Minnesota
Daniel G. Tight, University of St. Thomas
Rocio Caravedo, Universita degli Studi di Padova

Abstract

Previous studies have revealed that the direct object/verb (OV) word order typical of Quechua and Aymara is also prevalent in Andean Spanish. The current study examines the frequency of such structures in Lima, Peru, where massive migration over the past 60 years has brought speakers of Andean indigenous languages and rural Andean Spanish into close contact with speakers of limeño Spanish. Goldvarb analysis of data from 34 participants (seven first-generation migrants, six 1.5-generation migrants, 10 second-generation migrants, and 11 native limeños) indicates that the pragmatic functions that motivated OV order among the participants include those found in noncontact varieties of Spanish, as well as others reported for rural Andean Spanish. Furthermore, L1 speakers of an indigenous language, who were almost all first- and 1.5-generation immigrants, were significantly more likely to use OV word order than L1 Spanish speakers. In contrast, in the speech of second-generation migrants, nearly all of whom spoke Spanish as an L1, the frequency of OV word order was similar to that documented for other non-contact varieties of Spanish.

Recommended Citation

Klee, Carol A.; Tight, Daniel G.; and Caravedo, Rocio (2011) "Variation and Change in Peruvian Spanish Word Order: Language Contact and Dialect Contact in Lima," International Journal of the Linguistic Association of the Southwest: Vol. 30: No. 2, Article 3.
Available at: https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/ijlasw/vol30/iss2/3