Llegaron en sus canoa: Grammatical Innovation in Peruvian Amazonian Spanish

Abstract

This study investigates the cognitive and functional motivations behind the emergence of an innovative construction in Peruvian Amazonian Spanish. In this variety, the head of a noun phrase does not necessarilyagree in number with its modifier, when this is a possessive pronoun. Thus, noun phrases with number mismatch, such as sus canoa ‘their canoe,’ are common. A previous study found that the probabilitiesof using this innovative pattern increase when the pronoun makes anaphoric reference to multiple individuals. The present study examines exclusively contexts with multiple possessors to identify the parameters behind the alternation between concordant and discordant patterns. The variables that play a role are the gender of the speaker and the animacy of the possessor and the possessed. The use of the innovative pattern is slightly more frequent among women, and when the possessive pronoun refers to multiple entities high in animacy and the possessed noun to an entity low in animacy.