Tense, Aspect, and Mood in the Spanish of Southern Arizona

Abstract

In this study I analyze the use of the Spanish verbal system in the Heritage Spanish speakers of Southern Arizona across three sociolinguistic generations. By using 15 oral interviews from the Corpus of Spanish in Southern Arizona (CESA), I replicate the study that Silva-Corvalán developed in 1994, which studied the tense, aspect, and mood in Spanish speakers in Los Angeles. Therefore, this investigation aims to contribute to the understanding of the verbal system of Spanish speakers in the Southwest region of the United States in order to determine if there is simplification or loss in their verbal system as well as the triggering factors. The results show that second generation heritage speakers experience loss, and the third generation undergoes simplification due to a lack of use or incomplete acquisition.