The variable use of first-person-singular subject forms during an academic year abroad

Abstract

The goal of the current study was to investigate the variable use and development of first-person-singular subject forms in additional-language Spanish before and at the end of an academic year in Spain. Our data came from the LANGSNAP corpus (http://langsnap.soton.ac.uk). We examined oral semi-guided interviews from 16 participants. We coded all contexts of first-person-singular subject forms, either the personal pronoun yo or an unexpressed subject (K = 3,571), for 11 independent variables. Our mixed-effects model showed that a range of linguistic factors (polarity, clause type, referent continuity, and perseveration) and individual characteristics (engagement with English and placement type) impacted the variable use of first-person-singular subjects and that the use of these subject forms changed over the course of an academic year in Spain.