Reference Impersonals in Texas Spoken Spanish: A Corpus-Based Analysis of Sociopragmatic Variation

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dc.contributor.advisorGutiérrez, Manuel J.
dc.contributor.committeeMemberFairclough, Marta A.
dc.contributor.committeeMemberGoodin-Mayeda, Elizabeth
dc.contributor.committeeMemberMoreno Sandoval, Antonio
dc.creatorMilner, Allison Lynn
dc.creator.orcid0000-0002-6298-6405
dc.date.accessioned2022-12-29T03:35:26Z
dc.date.available2022-12-29T03:35:26Z
dc.date.createdMay 2022
dc.date.issued2022-05-03
dc.date.updated2022-12-29T03:35:27Z
dc.description.abstractReference impersonals comprise a subtype of impersonal expression under the agentdefocusing approach to impersonality (Siewierska, 2011). These forms, which employ man-type pronouns or subject pronouns used anaphorically, hold a variety of pragmatic functions that, to date, have been underexamined (Akinrẹmi, 2013). In an effort to analyze Spanish reference impersonals under a comprehensive pragmatic framework, the current study examines the use of impersonal se, indefinite uno, and reference impersonal forms of second-person singular tú, first-person plural nosotros, and third person-plural ellos/ellas in corpus data collected from the Spanish In Texas Corpus. Specifically, this study investigates the potential relation between the use of these impersonal forms and specific sociolinguistic (gender, generation, age, age range, education level) and linguistic (verb tense, verb mood, presence of adverbs of time, overt pronouns, or conditional if clauses) variables through a series of chi-square tests of association. Qualitative analysis also explores how the aforementioned reference impersonals serve as mechanisms for generalization, inclusive defocalization, and speaker concealment. Results indicate that U.S. Spanish speakers employ a host of reference impersonals in achieving distinct pragmatic intentions, including focalized generalization and rhetorical usage in addition to the three uses listed above. Additionally, statistically significant differences in reference-impersonal use based on speaker gender and verb tense point to a complete, developed reference-impersonal framework. This study is innovative in its consideration of reference-impersonal forms in addition to traditional impersonality mechanisms and demonstrates the need for a comprehensive framework for reference-impersonality that takes all reference-impersonal forms into account.
dc.description.departmentHispanic Studies, Department of
dc.format.digitalOriginborn digital
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10657/13156
dc.language.isoeng
dc.rightsThe author of this work is the copyright owner. UH Libraries and the Texas Digital Library have their permission to store and provide access to this work. Further transmission, reproduction, or presentation of this work is prohibited except with permission of the author(s).
dc.subjectReference-impersonals
dc.subjectImpersonality
dc.subjectDeictic shift
dc.subjectU.S. Spanish
dc.subjectCorpus linguistics
dc.titleReference Impersonals in Texas Spoken Spanish: A Corpus-Based Analysis of Sociopragmatic Variation
dc.type.dcmiText
dc.type.genreThesis
thesis.degree.collegeCollege of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
thesis.degree.departmentHispanic Studies, Department of
thesis.degree.disciplineSpanish
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Houston
thesis.degree.levelDoctoral
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophy

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