Examination of the behavior of different types of Spanish complements in two different grammatical constructions supports the argument that behavior differences result from the complement's different pragmatic status. Empirical evidence supports the hypothesis that complements representing old information appear in the subjunctive mood. The notion…

Discusses one highly visible and often stigmatized feature of Chicano Spanish--lexical innovation due to intimate contact with English and mainstream culture. Discusses socio- and psycholinguistic factors that play a role in loanword formation. (Author/VWL)

Spanish Sign Language (SSL) is now the second most used sign language. This article introduces resources for the study of SSL, including three SSL dictionaries--two from Argentina and one from Puerto Rico. Differences in SSL between and within the two countries are noted. Implications for deaf educators in North America are drawn. (Author/DB)

Provides an annotated bibliography of recommended Spanish-language children's books. A total of 15 books are grouped in the following categories: (1) books for the very young; (2) fiction; (3) folklore; (4) literature; (5) poetry; and (6) history. (EV)

Bilinguals in the Southwestern United States use Spanish as an ethnic marker to accept other speakers as members of the in-group, or English to exclude them, in situations in which they have a choice of code. Shows that the choice of code used in El Paso, Texas is based on the perceived ethnicity of the other bilingual speaker. (Author/VWL)

Investigates which phonological awareness tasks are more or less difficult in Spanish; whether phonological awareness is a good predictor of reading achievement in Spanish; and whether training in Spanish phonological awareness increases Spanish reading achievement. Offers examples of phonological awareness activities for Spanish early literacy…

Analyzes instances of syllabic consonants in New Mexico Spanish as the interaction of universal aspects of vocalic feature geometry, discussing a dialect-specific characteristic which allows resonants to absorb the feature (vocalic) when the remaining features of a vowel have been reassigned to neighboring segments, and, equipped both with a mora…

Shows that for the database in this study, analogy correctly assigns Spanish stress in 94% of the instances and is able to thresh out significant sub-patterns in Spanish stress placement without resorting to rules or schemas. (Author/VWL)

Examined the influence of language gender systems on perception. Spanish-speaking (with a gender system) and English-speaking (with a limited gender system) participants from three age groups assigned typical male or female names and attributes to objects. Language gender tags influenced Spanish adults' and early adolescents' choice of gender…

Attempts to stimulate research and discussion of the social and affective variables that may impact language development in the adult second language immersion experience, because they may be noticeably different from the social factors at play in primary and secondary school-age learners' experiences. (Author/VWL)

Provides an idea for teaching the Spanish preterite verb forms. Includes a flow chart that is useful for helping learners to organize preterite forms. (Author/VWL)

Two experiments were carried out to investigate the processing of the empty category PRO and the time-course of this in Spanish. Eye movements were recorded while participants read sentences in which a matrix clause was followed by a subordinate infinitival clause, so that the subject or the object of the main clause could act as controller of…

We report the performance of two aphasic patients in a morphological transformation task. Both patients are Spanish-Catalan bilingual speakers who were diagnosed with agrammatic Broca's aphasia. In the morphological transformation task, the two patients were asked to produce regular and irregular verb forms. The patients showed poorer performance…

This study provides a model for examining the second language (L2) acquisition of structures where the first language (L1) and (L2) are similar, and where native speaker (NS) use varies. Research on the copula contrast in Spanish ("ser" and "estar" mean "to be") has shown that an assessment of learner choice cannot rely on an error analysis…

The purpose of this study was to determine if educators were capitalizing on bilingual learners. use of their biliterate abilities to acquire scientific meaning and discourse that would formulate a scientific biliterate identity. Mixed methods were used to explore teachers. use of biliteracy and Funds of Knowledge (Moll, L., Amanti, C., Neff, D.,…