Convergence and transfer in Spanish in contact

Abstract

Our essay intends to delve into the actual scope of the convergence and transfer phenomena that potentially arise when Spanish is spoken in a multilingual setting. This is motivated by the current debate between the scholars advocating a broader view of contact-induced change and those in favor of restricting its scope. From a brief, yet relevant selection of references from phonological (Aaron and Hernández, 2007; Alvord and Rogers, 2014), morphosyntactic (Heine and Kuteva, 2003; Muntendam, 2013), and pragmatic approaches (Livert and Otheguy, 2010; Torres Cacoullos and Travis, 2010, 2015), we analyze convergence and transfer phenomena that might be contributing innovations to Spanish and, where possible, we hypothesize the extent to which these phenomena may assist in favoring and/or stabilizing certain changes (i.e., those being potentially irreversible or, at least, willing to remain in the language system). Next, some representative examples are analyzed, especially those that may be generalized to Spanish and language theory. Such examples, which come from the aforementioned selection of references, appear to shed some light on the alleged inevitability of convergence as well as its conditioning factors. In conclusion, we provide a contrasting –and potentially generalizable– description that specifically illustrates how phonology and morphosyntax behave in situations that are potentially conducive to language change. Based on evidence from our references, we claim that contact-induced change might not be as widespread as it could be initially assumed.