Theses and Dissertations

Date of Award

8-1-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

English

First Advisor

John Foreman

Second Advisor

Ramses Ortin

Third Advisor

Minhee Eom

Abstract

This thesis focuses on the transfer of syntactic structures, known as existential free relative clauses (EFRCs), from Spanish to English. The factors contributing to the transfer of such syntactic structure are suggested to be the common interaction between speakers of Spanish and English, as well as individuals who are raised bilingual in the Rio Grande Valley. While finding the use EFRCS as acceptable in the English of Spanish-English bilingual speakers is expected, the study also aims to discover if individuals who are English monolinguals, and either raised in the Rio Grande Valley or another location outside of the state of Texas, do also make use of EFRCs due to the constant contact with the Spanish of the Rio Grande Valley. The results obtained in this thesis demonstrate that there is a negative correlation between speakers whose dominant language is English and the acceptability of EFRCs. Balanced bilinguals of Spanish and English accepted EFRCs more frequently than people who could be considered English monolinguals. Our findings also demonstrate that acceptability of EFRCs depended on the wh-word that would be used in the EFRC as well as the type of verb that would introduce the EFRC.

Comments

Copyright 2026 Rene Omar Cabrera Rios. All Rights Reserved. https://proquest.com/docview/3409011469

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