Variación lingüística en la expresión del pretérito en el español del siglo XIX de España y México: Rasgos deícticos y aspectuales

Abstract

This article examines and analyzes the linguistic variation of two verbtenses - present perfect (PP) and preterit (PRET) - in the 19th CenturyPeninsular and Mexican Spanish. Scholars have been interestedin the dialectal differences of the time values in the European andAmerican Spanish, from a synchronic angle in the contemporarystages of language. Synchronically it has been pointed out that theprocess of grammaticalization results in the loss of lexical sense ofhave in the construction of complex tenses. However, there has beenno examination of the phase between the formation of PP and thegeneralization on the Peninsular Spanish. Given the need to describethis transformation, we are seeking to establish whether there areparallel differences in the usage frequency of both tenses in Spainand Mexico, and to examine the time function in the Spanish of bothcontinents in this time. Our data comes from two works representingthe 19th Century Spanish of Spain and Mexico, which we analyzedusing GoldVarb. In addition to the dependent variables (PRETand PP), we take into account six linguistic factors as independentvariables. Our analysis shows that there is a significant differencebetween 19th Century Mexican and Peninsular Spanish in the use ofPRET and PP. The preference for the complex form in the European Spanish, distinct to that of the American Spanish, indicates anexisting dialectal variation. Our study reveals that the time systemdistinguishing the Peninsular Spanish in the preterit contour is anolder phenomenon than it was believed to be.