Más las oigo, mejor me parecen: comparativas proporcionales idiolectales

Abstract

Abstract In this work, the symmetric comparative correlatives attested in the journalist Rubén Amón’s speech and writing are analysed. The interest of these constructions lies in the fact that they are virtually non-existent in European Spanish (and have very low frequency in American varieties, as I show). By exhaustively analysing the linguistic production of this journalist, I describe these idiolectal syntactic uses (which have not always been part of his grammar) and I propose a hypothesis about their origin, based on language contact with Italian and French. To understand how an individual feature persists despite not being shared by other members of the community, I examine the perceptions of European Spanish speakers of these constructions.