Generational differences in the placement of clitic se in New York City Spanish

Abstract

Aims and objectives: This study analyzes the proclitic and enclitic positions of Spanish clitic se (e.g., ella se quería ir / ella quería irse ‘she wanted to go’) across two generations of Spanish speakers in New York City. In an effort to contribute to ongoing research aimed at better understanding Spanish in the US, the following questions are addressed. In syntactic environments that permit variation, does placement of Spanish se differ between the two generations? From the internal variables identified for this study (nonfinite verb type, finite verb, tense of finite verb, grammatical person, use of se, grammatical mood of finite verb, negation), which ones have a statistically significant effect on placement? From the external variables identified for this study (national origin, region, areal origins, sex, age, years in US, socioeconomic class, education, English skill, Spanish skill, general Spanish use), which ones have a statistically significant effect on placement? Design and data: This study is carried out within a variationist-sociolinguistic framework and the sample consists of 50 participants, 25 from the first generation (G1) and 25 from the second (G2). Analysis: Bivariate chi-square tests are performed in order to determine what internal and external variables constrain placement of the dependent variable (clitic se placement). Findings: Generation has a statistically significant effect on placement ( p = .016), wherein proclisis is more frequent amongst the G2 participants. These results corroborate previous research showing an overall preference for proclisis in both monolingual and bilingual/heritage speakers. Further, chi-square tests pinpoint five conditioning effects for G1 (nonfinite verb type, use of se, finite verb, years in US, and English skill), but only two for G2 (use of se and English skill). Originality and implications: The present study is the first to discover strong correlations between the proclitic position and the numerous internal and external variables quantitatively assessed. Future research is thus warranted.