So pues entonces: An examination of bilingual discourse markers in Spanish oral narratives of personal experience of New York City-born Puerto Ricans

Authors

  • Nydia Flores-Ferrán Rutgers University Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/sols.v8i1.57

Keywords:

code switching, discourse markers, bilinguals, Spanish narratives

Abstract

In narratives, discourse markers (DMs) have been found to contribute to the coherence of the discourse by signaling a relationship across utterances. These forms have been reported as having multiple functions (e.g. Norrick, 2001, Schiffrin, 1987; 2001; Torres, 2002). With regard to the use of DMs produced by bilinguals, Lipski (2005) offers insight into the penetration of English ‘so’ in Spanish discourse. He maintains that its appearance is common in Spanish-English bilinguals in the U.S. and it cuts across the entire spectrum of bilingual abilities. As free forms, Torres (2002) also suggests that DMs lend themselves to borrowing. While Torres’ (2002) research on DMs produced by English and Spanish dominant Puerto Ricans produced a wide range of outcomes, Torres contends that all speakers regardless of language dominance employ English markers in their Spanish narratives. This current study expands on Torres’ (2002) and Lipski’s (2005) work. It investigates all lexical DMs produced among bilingual New York City born Puerto Ricans and Islanders. It discusses the pragmatic function of the discourse markers (i.e. causative, connective, clarification, participatory), bilingual marker doubling (e.g. ‘so’ pues), the preferred language in which the DMs were produced, and how information structure (i.e. old vs. new) conditions the use of these forms. The study reveals that while New Yorkers show a general favoring towards the use of Spanish DMs, they exhibit restricted pragmatic uses of these forms. Further, they use more English and bilingual DMs than their counterparts suggesting a grammaticalization in progress.

Author Biography

  • Nydia Flores-Ferrán, Rutgers University
    Nydia Flores-Ferrán is Associate Professor with a joint appointment in Graduate School of Education, Dept. of Learning and Teaching and School of Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Spanish and Portuguese, at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Her research interests are Spanish sociolinguistics in the United States, Spanish pragmatics and discourse analysis of native and L2 learners of Spanish, and bilingualism: Spanish/English. Among Flores-Ferrán’s publications are those related to Spanish sociolinguistics and pragmatics: A sociolinguistic perspective on the use of subject personal pronouns in Spanish narratives of Puerto Ricans in New York City (2002); ‘An examination of mitigation strategies used in Spanish psychotherapeutic discourse’, Journal of Pragmatics 42 (2010); ‘Are you referring to me? The variable use of UNO and YO in oral discourse’, Journal of Pragmatics 41(9) (2009).

Published

2014-07-21

How to Cite

Flores-Ferrán, N. (2014). So pues entonces: An examination of bilingual discourse markers in Spanish oral narratives of personal experience of New York City-born Puerto Ricans. Sociolinguistic Studies, 8(1), 57-83. https://doi.org/10.1558/sols.v8i1.57