English wait and Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese espera/pera/perai 'wait (there)' are derived from imperatives that signal physical waiting. Using examples from tweets, text messages, and spoken interactions, we offer an exploratory investigation of the meta-discursive functions of these wait-forms as discourse markers that signal the need to pause and adjust interlocutors'mental discourse models of the common ground (CG) before proceeding. We show that wait-forms appear in dialogues and monologues, to signal misalignment with an interlocutor or with one's own expectations, and can be triggered by both linguistic and non-linguistic material in the CG or a speaker's own mental model. Wait-forms introduce expressions of surprisal, challenge presuppositions, refer back to unresolved discursive material, and convey sarcasm-all of which share the core pragmatic effect of initiating repair of a perceived misalignment in speakers' mental models of the ongoing discourse. Tests of pragmatic function show that these wait-forms are constrained to refer to content assumed to be part of the CG (Wait, didn't you hear the news?) and that their removal results in loss of an important pragmatic cue that relates the upcoming modification to existing CG content. Our analysis contributes to the body of pragmatic-typological literature on the cross-linguistic uniformity of discursive repair strategies. It goes beyond this research, however, in highlighting the role that discourse markers can play in CG management in dialogues, and furthermore demonstrating their capacity to indicate self-initiated misalignment of a speaker's mental model in monologues, despite the origins of these forms as addressee-oriented imperatives. (c) 2025 Elsevier B.V. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies.

The prepositional variation of grazie di/per + complement ‘thanks for X’ is often acknowledged in Italian grammars but has not yet been adequately examined. I appeal to key tenets of Construction Grammar to analyze 3000 tokens of this construction from the Italian Web 2020 Corpus. To fully probe the conditioning of di/per selection, I pair logistic regression of the entire dataset with a descriptive statistical analysis of various levels of constructional schematicity and frequent individual complements. Results confirm previous descriptions that per is now the majority variant and reveal that significant predictors of preposition selection include complement type (nominal, simple infinitive, compound infinitive), as well as complement complexity and quantity of intervening material (both measured in number of words). However, strong lexico-constructional effects are also observed, such that the older variant di remains strongly preferred in specific micro-constructions (e.g., grazie di tutto ‘thanks for everything’, grazie di esistere ‘thanks for existing’). These findings evince a complex case of variation which requires the joint consideration of both overall patterns and fine-grained constructional distinctions.

According to normative descriptions of Italian future-framed adverbial clauses, the future tense is the only option ( Quando verrai [F], ti presterò il libro ‘When you come, I’ll lend you the book’). However, the present tense may also be used ( Quando vieni [P], ti presto il libro ). I demonstrate that choice and acceptance of the present in future-framed adverbials are conditioned by the speaker’s presumption of settledness; that is, in every future world compatible with the speaker’s beliefs the eventuality necessarily occurs. The data come from an online questionnaire consisting of a forced-choice and an acceptability judgment task completed by 429 native speakers of Italian, and were analyzed using mixed-effects regression. Results show that the present is chosen most and rated highest when the future eventuality is presumed settled ([+certain, +immediate, +temporally specific]). These findings demonstrate that speakers use the present to express confidence in the realization of future eventualities.

Linguistic research on Spanish clitic pronouns has analyzed the expression, placement, and gender or number marking of direct (DO) and indirect objects (IO). We first provide a brief overview of the literature concerned with this variable clitic use, then offer a variationist perspective of three specific phenomena, with a focus on their linguistic conditioning: use of se los for se lo in ditransitive constructions; use of le for les with plural dative referents; and DO (and IO) clitic position or "clitic climbing." Using both new and existing data and pairing qualitative and quantitative methods, we demonstrate that while these three phenomena are distinct and vary across Spanish dialects, they are united by important cross-dialectal and cross-constructional patterns. Specifically, all three phenomena showcase the interrelated nature of DOs and IOs and the effects of animacy and referent accessibility on the expression of both DOs and IOs.

Linguistic research on Spanish clitic pronouns has analyzed the expression, placement, and gender or number marking of direct (DO) and indirect objects (IO). We first provide a brief overview of the literature concerned with this variable clitic use, then offer a variationist perspective of three specific phenomena, with a focus on their linguistic conditioning: use of se los for se lo in ditransitive constructions; use of le for les with plural dative referents; and DO (and IO) clitic position or “clitic climbing.” Using both new and existing data and pairing qualitative and quantitative methods, we demonstrate that while these three phenomena are distinct and vary across Spanish dialects, they are united by important cross-dialectal and cross-constructional patterns. Specifically, all three phenomena showcase the interrelated nature of DOs and IOs and the effects of animacy and referent accessibility on the expression of both DOs and IOs.

Abstract We examine the alternation between normative se lo/la and se los/las to express a plural indirect object and singular direct object. Using corpus data from Mexico City and Monterrey, we find that significant predictors of the more frequent variant, se los, are number of the verb, referential distance, and presence of a dative prepositional phrase. Contra previous claims that se los marks plurality in ambiguous dative referents, we argue that it serves as an accessibility marker that makes a plural referent more salient if not recently mentioned. Se los is used most frequently with first-person singular verbs, resulting in (near-)fixed expressions. These findings demonstrate the sensitivity of Spanish clitics to discourse-pragmatic context and highlight limitations of sentence-level analysis of morphosyntactic variants.

Abstract We performed a large-scale corpus study of the subjunctive across Argentine, Mexican, and Peninsular Spanish, in order to determine possible differences in productivity across dialects. Our data (N = 6,822) from the web/dialects section of Davies’ (2016–) Corpus del Español were collected through random sampling of 22 matrix verb governors. All three dialects were significantly different from one another in type:token ratio, whereas only Spain differed from the others in terms of hapax legomena:type ratio. Furthermore, only eight verbs showed the same behavior across all dialects. Subjunctive productivity thus varies by both dialect and governor, thereby revealing the critical importance of both inter- and intra-dialectal variation for the correct analysis of morphosyntactic phenomena. The conditioning of the variation across dialects, nevertheless, was similar: mixed-effects logistic regression in R revealed that negated governors and cases of non-coreferentiality between main and subordinate clause subjects select significantly more subjunctive.

AbstractSpanish locative adverbs may be followed by either a prepositional phrase (PP) (e.g.cerca de mí‘close to/(of) me’) or, nonstandardly, a tonic possessive (TP) (e.g.cerca mío‘lit. close mine’). Some also take feminine forms (e.g.cerca mía, detrás mía). Using R, I analyze 16,809 tweets representing 14 locatives from Buenos Aires, Madrid, and Mexico City and demonstrate that, although dialects and individual locatives vary widely in their rates of TP use, the person, number, and animacy of the possessor significantly predict PP/TP selection across varieties. Also, feminine possessives are used almost exclusively in Spain, and the seemingly feminine morphology of locatives ending in–a(e.g.encima) and subsequent extension to other locatives via analogy is the most plausible explanation for their use. Further evidence of analogy is TP use in non-locative contexts (e.g. Arg.pensás mío‘you think of me,’ Sp.enamorado tuyo/a‘in love with you’). These findings illuminate the interactions between avoidance of ambiguity, form-based analogy, and speakers’ conceptualization of possession. My findings regarding animacy, which find parallels in research on English dative and genitive constructions, highlight the utility of both cross-linguistic and cross-constructional comparisons in analyzing morphosyntactic variation.

Abstract In Spanish adverbial clauses containing cuando ‘when’ and a present-tense verb, it is assumed that indicative expresses habituality, but subjunctive futurity. However, in Rioplatense, indicative [I] occurs in future-framed adverbials, conveying epistemic pragmatic meaning: Cuando bajás [I] del bondi, llamame ‘When you get off the bus, call me.’ An online questionnaire containing 32 contextualized sentences was distributed to Rioplatense speakers (N = 140), and respondents assigned acceptability ratings using a Likert scale. Mixed-effects linear regression modeling shows that indicative is felicitous with immediate and temporally-delimited actions, and when epistemic certainty is conveyed; subjunctive is preferred for distant/unrestricted future actions, or uncertainty. These findings suggest an alternative criterion for mood choice in Rioplatense, based on epistemicity rather than differentiation between present and future events.

In Spanish subordinate adverbial clauses containing cuando and a present-tense verb, it is assumed that the indicative is used for actions prior to or simultaneous with speech time, while the subjunctive is the only option for unrealized actions. However, in Porteno Spanish, the indicative may occur in future-framed adverbials, as in (1), conveying pragmatic meaning not otherwise encoded in the grammar. (1) Te aviso cuando Ilego [I]. 'I'll let you know when I arrive.' Here I pair naturally-occurring data with constructed examples evaluated by native-speaker respondents to identify the contextual factors conditioning variable mood selection. I demonstrate that, although native-speaker acceptance of the indicative is highly variable, the indicative is felicitous with immediate and temporally-specific actions, and when epistemic certainty is conveyed. The subjunctive, on the other hand, is preferred for distant and unrestricted future actions, or when the speaker is uncertain that the action will occur. These findings reveal previously unattested nuances in Spanish mood variation and lead to a conception of mood choice as a gradient means of conveying pragmatic information about speaker epistemic commitment. Furthermore, I argue for the importance of qualitative analyses that carefully examine and control for the role of context in laying the groundwork for subsequent quantitative analyses. (C) 2018 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Some Portuguese verbs have two past participle forms: one regular (stem + -do), and the other irregular (often identical to the first person singular present indicative). Per grammars, the perfect auxiliaries ter/haver take regulars, while irregulars appear with passive/adjectival ser/estar. To test these claims, we analyzed naturally-occurring data from Brazil (twentieth century) and Portugal (nineteenth and twentieth). We coded 1077 tokens from 21 verbs for ten predictors and performed mixed-effects logistic regressions in R. Irregulars appear with ter/haver 54% overall and in 68% of cases from Portugal. Our results demonstrate that past participle choice is determined by the interaction of several linguistic factors. While lexical verb is the most significant predictor of participle selection, verbs with irregular participles identical to the first person singular present indicative occur in the irregular significantly more than other verbs. We conclude that analogical processes underpin the variation. This conclusion allows us to adjudicate between competing accounts of past participle choice in Portuguese.

Abstract I examine syntactic and discursive factors conditioning the variable a-marking of inanimate DOs in Argentine Spanish, using an online questionnaire which includes 16 contextualized discourse items recorded by native Argentines. Argentine respondents (N = 140) evaluated acceptability of the items using a 5-point Likert scale. Linguistic predictors analyzed include: definiteness, mono- vs. ditransitive constructions, and topicality, operationalized in terms of pre-/post-verbal position and referential distance. Mixed-effects analyses in R showed that although participants assigned significantly higher ratings to normative unmarked inanimate DOs than to a-marked ones, a-marking was still widely accepted, with definite DOs, pre-verbal position, and monotransitivity as significant predictors of acceptance. Furthermore, in 10/16 cases, participant ratings showed no significant difference between marked and unmarked DOs, demonstrating that participants are, to an extent, “a-blind” or uninfluenced by marking.

We examine the competition in Brazilian Portuguese 2SG direct object pronoun expression between clitic te and tonic você (e.g. Eu te vi ~ Eu vi você). We offer data from an online forced-choice survey, analyzed using mixed-effects logistic regression, to show that dialectal subject pronoun preference (tu/você) and contrast both play a significant role in conditioning this choice. Furthermore, we find that contrast, despite its traditional treatment as binary, shows gradient effects on pronoun choice- while te is the preferred DO pronoun overall, você is the variant preferred in contrastive contexts, especially in cases of double contrast.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------EVIDÊNCIAS EXPERIMENTAIS POR PREFERÊNCIAS PRONOMINAIS DE OBJETOS DIRETOS DE 2SG EM PORTUGUÊS BRASILEIROExaminamos a competição no português brasileiro entre o pronome clítico te e o tônico você para a expressão de objetos diretos de segunda pessoa singular (Eu te vi ~ Eu vi você). Apresentamos dados recolhidos de um questionário, e analizados utilizando a regressão logística de efeitos mistos, para mostrar que tanto a preferência do pronome de sujeito (você/tu) quanto o contraste têm um papel importante na escolha do pronome de objeto direto. Também, o contraste, apesar do tratamento tradicional como binário, mostra efeitos gradáveis na escolha de pronome- enquanto o te é preferido em termos globais, você é preferido em contextos contrastivos, especialmente nos casos de duplo contraste.---Original em inglês.

Parte del trabajo de los lingüistas es estudiar no solamente la variación lingüística, sino también las actitudes y el nivel de conciencia acerca de esta variación por parte de los hablantes. El presente trabajo se enfoca en el uso no normativo de la preposición a para marcar objetos directos (ODs) inanimados en el español argentino (e.g. Ya la vi a esa película). A pesar de que otros autores (Dumitrescu 1997, Montrul 2013) han aportado algunos datos sobre este fenómeno, aun no tenemos información sobre el lugar que ocupa en la comunidad de habla en términos de conciencia, estigma y/o prestigio. Este estudio toma como base algunas investigaciones previas (Hoff 2015a, 2015b; Hoff & Piqueres Gilabert aceptado para su publicación) y representa un análisis cualitativo en el que se determina, a través de un cuestionario electrónico, el nivel de conciencia que tienen los jóvenes de Buenos Aires acerca de un fenómeno no estándar que comunmente se asocia con el dialecto que emplean.Los resultados del análisis indican que existen diversos niveles de conciencia de la marcación no estándar de ODs entre estos participantes. De la misma manera, los jóvenes que completaron el cuestionario demuestran un rango variado de actitudes tanto positivas como negativas hacia esta marcación, lo que hace difícil clasificar este fenómeno como estigmatizado o prestigioso en sus comunidades de habla. Asimismo, los comentarios de los participantes sobre los hábitos lingüísticos no normativos de los porteños sugieren cierto nivel de inseguridad lingüística, lo cual contrasta con el orgullo manifiesto hacia la variedad local. Este estudio contribuye al estudio de las actitudes hacia la variación morfosintáctica, un tópico poco analizado en la literatura variacionista.

Part of the work of linguists is to study not only linguistic variation, but also speakers' attitudes toward and level of awareness of this variation. The present study is concerned with the non-normative use of the preposition a to mark direct objects (DOs) in Argentine Spanish (e.g. Ya la vi a esa pelicula 'I already saw (a) that movie'). Though other authors (Dumitrescu 1997, Montrul 2013) have already offered descriptions of this pattern of variation, information regarding this phenomenon's place in the speech community in terms of awareness, stigma, and/or prestige is still lacking. This study builds off of existing work (Hoff 2015a, 2015b; Hoff and Piqueres Gilabert to appear) and consists of a qualitative analysis that seeks to determine, by means of an online questionnaire, the level of awareness young people in Buenos Aires have of a non-standard phenomenon that is commonly associated with their dialect. The results of the analysis indicate that levels of awareness of the non-standard marking of DOs vary among these participants. Similarly, the young people that completed the questionnaire exhibit a wide range of attitudes, both positive and negative, toward this marking, which complicates the matter of classifying this phenomenon as either stigmatized or prestigious within their speech communities. Additionally, participants' comments about the non-normative linguistic habits of Bonaerenses suggest a certain level of linguistic insecurity, which contrasts with others' pride in their local variety. This study contributes to the study of attitudes toward morphosyntactic variation, a little-studied topic in the field.