Intensifiers have been the focus of a number of studies over the past decade, with considerable interest in their meaning and variability. Several scholars have discussed the use of such forms, particularly in English (Ito and Tagliamonte 2003, Tagliamonte 2008) and Spanish (Brown and Cortés-Torres 2013; Kanwit et al. 2017), exploring their…

The aim of a discourse-pragmatic approach to teaching the indicative/subjunctive contrast in Spanish is to engage students to move beyond grammar and semantics and enter the domain of language use in complete texts. Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research have mostly focused on the morphology, semantics and syntactic aspects of…

I provide an update on the state of the art of the research--the last one being Collentine (2003)--on the acquisition of the function of the subjunctive and mood selection, as well as the research's implications for pedagogy. The article considers what we currently know about the role of universal grammar, psycholinguistic perspectives on the…

Provides representative statistics concerning the degree and rank-ordering of irregularity among verb tenses of Spanish. Indicates that the present is the most morphologically irregular of all Spanish tenses. The least irregular tense is the imperfect. (SL)

Regardless of the syntactic variation of the direct object "a" in Spanish, a great deal of semantic unity underlies its use. Argues that it carries an invariant meaning that is present in every use of the form, and, concomitantly, its absence before a direct object carries an equally invariant meaning within the systematic semantic structure of…

Investigates the apparent correspondences for infinitival "to," and analyzes the basis for the common error of equating it with "a"--the mistaken identification of an English grammatical complementizer with a Spanish lexical preposition. (SL)

Discusses the distinctions that exist among the uses of "ser" and "estar" in Spanish. They are explained with reference to the semantic values present in the three basic functions of these verbs: principal, auxiliary, and attributive. (NCR)

Presents examples of how children acquire language through the principles-and-parameters model, a highly modular system in which different theories interact so that only permissible sequences arise, and highlights research on Spanish syntax and semantics. (136 references) (CB)

Considers question of appropriate translation of English gerund into Spanish. While English has two distinct constructions, the gerund and the clause (tensed or infinitive), Spanish has both types of clauses but no comparable use of the gerund. Suggests that English gerund be translated into Spanish not by a bare clause, but instead by the…

Analyzes inter-dialect contact at the lexical level among the four largest Hispanic groups in New York City and investigates whether each group maintained its country's regional lexicon, assimilated that of the city's largest Spanish speaking group or the most prestigious variety, or produced another, "New Yorker Spanish" lexicon. (37…

Problems encountered in attempting to teach the Spanish verb system can be traced to misconceptions arising from the inadequate or misleading names of many of the tenses. The nature of descriptive terminology is the level at which the problem of nomenclature is treated in this study. (SL)

A review of the significant advances made in the study of Spanish language history during the 1980s describes recent developments in introductory textbooks, manuals, external histories, phonological research, morphological research, syntactic research, semantic research, dictionaries, learned vocabularies, bibliographies, and literary research.…