A diatopic analysis of the use of demonstratives in the variety of sevillian spanish

Abstract

The objective of this research is to describe the use of demonstratives in the oral modality of the Andalusian Spanish variety. The interest stems from the possibility of reducing the ternary system of demonstratives, where two main norms can be identified in spanish: (i) ese fits into the functional field of aquel, establishing a variable in which ese is opposed to este; (ii) ese is neutralized and este is opposed to aquel, something similar to what occurs in some varieties of Brazilian Portuguese. We advance the research by analyzing how this variation occurs in the spanish spoken in Seville. Based on the theoretical-methodological framework of Variationist Sociolinguistics, we analyzed the data available in the PRESEEA Corpus. The results reveal, a variation in the use of este and ese with anaphoric function and others uses, such as conversational operators and affective and ironic values. According to Eguren Gutiérrez (1999), this can also assume anaphoric and cataphoric values, that is, for textual reference or to introduce a subject, respectively. However, the data analyzed indicate a quantitative preference for ese (“el Trump ese es un personaje […] no sé todavía cómo ha ganado ese tío”). Variations with deictic uses of the first, second, and third person were also observed. Furthermore, other uses were identified in the analyses of demonstratives, such as conversational operators, affective, and ironic values.