Amazonian Spanish/Language Variation & Change

(1) Peruvian Amazonian Spanish (in collaboration with Nicholas Henriksen, Erin O’Rourke, Miguel Rodríguez-Mondoñedo, and Ricard Viñas de Puig)

Documents the emergence of new language varieties and addresses issues of language maintenance and language shift  in the Peruvian Amazon. Incorporates analyses of non-traditional varieties of Spanish, as well as data on the endangered languages: Ocaina, Bora, and Yagua.

Presentations:
  • Fafulas, S., Henriksen, N., & O’Rourke, E. (2017, September). Bilingualism in the Peruvian Amazon: Intervocalic stops in Yagua-Spanish and Bora-Spanish. Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching. Salt Lake City, Utah.
  • Fafulas, S., O’Rourke, E., & Henriksen, N. (2017, February). Language contact and convergence in the Peruvian Amazon: The case of Yagua-Spanish and Bora-Spanish. Diversity and Variation in Language. Atlanta, Georgia.
  • Fafulas, S., Henriksen, N., & Viñas de Puig, R. (2017, January). Language contact in the Peruvian Amazon: the case of Yagua Spanish. Joint meeting of the Linguistic Society of America and Society for Pidgin and Creole Languages. Austin, Texas.
  • Rodríguez-Mondoñedo, M., & Fafulas, S. (2015, November). Doblado de posesivos a través de una cláusula relativa en el español amazónico bilingüe (bora) y monolingüe (iquitos). International Symposium on Amazonian Spanish. Lima, Peru.
  • Fafulas, S., & Rodríguez-Mondoñedo, M. (2014, November). Double possession in Amazonian Spanish. Hispanic Linguistics Symposium. West Lafayette, Indiana.
  • Fafulas, S., & Viñas de Puig, R. (2014, November). Pan-Amazonian Spanish: The case of Yagua Spanish. Hispanic Linguistics Symposium. West Lafayette, Indiana.
  • Fafulas, S., Rodríguez-Mondoñedo, M., & O’Rourke, E. (2014, October). Less common paths of acquisition: Language contact, development and bilingualism in the Peruvian Amazon. Second Language Research Forum. Columbia, South Carolina.
  • O’Rourke, E., & Fafulas, S. (2014, April). Language contact in the Peruvian Amazon: An examination of the linguistic and social factors affecting lenition of intervocalic stops among Bora-Spanish bilinguals. Workshop on Spanish Sociolinguistics. Madison, Wisconsin.
  • O’Rourke, E., & Fafulas, S. (2012, October). Lenition of intervocalic stops in Amazonian Spanish bilinguals. New Ways of Analyzing Variation. Bloomington, Indiana.
  • O’Rourke, E., & Fafulas, S. (2012, October). Spanish in contact with Amazonian languages: An examination of intervocalic stops. Laboratory Approaches to Romance Phonology. México D.F., México.

Publications:

  • Fafulas, S. (Editor). (In preparation). Amazonian Spanish: Language Contact and Evolution. To appear in Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics book series. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
  • Henriksen, N., & Fafulas, S. (2017). Prosodic timing and language contact: Spanish and Yagua in Amazonian Peru. Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 10(2), 225–257.
  • Rodríguez-Mondoñedo, M., & Fafulas, S. (2016). Double Possession in Peruvian Amazonian Spanish. In A. Cuza, L. Czerwionka, & D. Olson (Eds.), Inquires in Hispanic Linguistics: From Theory to Empirical Evidence (pp. 335–354). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
  • O’Rourke, E., & Fafulas, S. (2015). Spanish in Contact in the Peruvian Amazon: An Examination of Intervocalic Voiced Stops. In E. Willis et al. (Eds.), Selected Proceedings of the 6th Conference on Laboratory Approaches to Romance Phonology (pp. 145–162). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.

(2) New varieties of U.S. Spanish

Documents Spanish in the U.S. with an analysis of language contact in incipient Hispanic communities located in the U.S. South.

Presentations:
  • Lawrence, A., & Fafulas, S. (2016, October). Subject expression, dialect contact, and genre effects among native and heritage speakers of Spanish in eastern North Carolina. Hispanic Linguistics Symposium. Washington, D.C.
  • Becerra, M., & Fafulas, S. (2014, March). Reconstructing the Past with the Future: An Analysis of Aspect and Language Contact in an Emerging Hispanic Community in Eastern North Carolina. Southeastern Conference on Linguistics. North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Publications:

  • Lawrence, A., & Fafulas, S. (In preparation). Subject pronoun variation among native and heritage speakers of Spanish in eastern North Carolina. In revisions stage.

(3) Cross-linguistic Variation of Progressive Aspect

Examines the distinct set of constructions and prototypes that languages have developed for the expression of progressive aspect, while also uncovering the similarities indicative of a common grammaticalization pathway in their diachronic evolution of tense-aspect-mood expressions.

Presentations:
  • Fafulas, Stephen. “Dialect variation and progressive constructions in Spanish”. Spanish Linguistics in North Carolina (SLINKI) conference. Boone, North Carolina. February 8, 2014.
  • Fafulas, Stephen. “Morphosyntactic Variation in Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish and English: Simultaneous Narrations of the Pear Stories Film”. Inaugural Portuguese Linguistics in the United States (PLUS) conference. Athens, Georgia. November 16, 2013.

Publications:

  • Fafulas, S. (2015). The Pear Stories Film: Simple Presents and Present Progressives in Portuguese, Spanish and English. Estudos Linguísticos/Linguistic Studies, 11, 61–81.

 

Book chapter in print now!

Chapter 10. Stable variation or change in progress? A sociolinguistic analysis of pa(ra) in the Spanish of Venezuela | Stephen Fafulas, Manuel Díaz-Campos and Michael Gradoville

Stephen Fafulas, Manuel Díaz-Campos and Michael Gradoville

In John Benjamins Current Issues in Linguistic Theory series

Language Variation and Contact-Induced Change- Spanish across space and time | Edited by Jeremy King and Sandro Sessarego