Contact varieties of Spanish and Spanish-lexified contact varieties. Serie HSK (Handbooks for Linguistics and Communication Science

CENSABELLA, MARISA INÉS; ADRIANA ALICIA ZURLO

Capítulo 3.19. Spanish in contact with Guaicuruan Languages (Argentina)

Mouton De Gruyter

Año: 2023;

The influence of Guaikuruan languages on varieties of Spanish spoken by indigenous peoples in northeastern Argentina is barely studied. In this chapter, we briefly present studies of Spanish variation phenomena motivated by Qom/Toba language contact, with a special insight in three domains: the middle voice system in both languages, the prepositional alternation en/a together with the verbs ir/venir, and the encoding of the collective in nominal number agreement on verbs. In relation to these domains, we analyse usage patterns which are different from those documented in other varieties of Spanish. We claim that the manifestations of change are not always lexical or constructional calques but complex cognitive operations, which, even with low frequency of use, allow for the spread of the replica constructions as new patterns of use. The studied cases have allowed us to take some auspicious first steps in this less explored field of research: Spanish in contact with indigenous languages in the Gran Chaco of Argentina.