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This paper offers an interactional analysis of discourse-connective que-constructions in Spanish. In particular, we discuss how these constructions operate at discourse level and we analyze the kind of interactional activities conversation participants are engaged in while using them. In previous studies, initial que has been described along the following lines: as an expletive element, as a marker of background information, as a modal particle, as signaling the presence of the speaker, and as part of a quotative construction. Nevertheless, analyses of free-standing que-constructions are usually based on subjective data from introspection and tend to focus only on the clause introduced by que, regardless of its discourse context. Our hypothesis is that the meaning of discourse-connective que-constructions is primarily indexical: they refer to a relevant piece of contextual information that can be retrieved from a previous utterance or turn, a previous discourse situation, a proposition being observed or one that is inferable from the speech situation. This paper helps define the discourse contexts where que-constructions are used more precisely, while also providing a description of the situated meanings que-constructions express in particular types of context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to contribute to recent research on bilingualism and emotions from a discourse approach, analyzing extracts taken from a spontaneous conversation between two Spanish/Galician female bilinguals. Spanish is the base language of this interaction and the dominant language of the speakers, but the extracts selected correspond to sequences of gossip and complaints about third parties including switches into Galician. The analysis reveals that these Spanish/Galician bilingual uses contribute towards the structure of the conversational activity and to foreground different affective stances. Spanish is employed to signal indignation at the arrogant attitude of the people talked about, while Galician is selected in producing a derogatory discourse on their social status or moral condition which displays contempt for them. While previous research on code-switching and emotions has linked the affective functions with the dominant language(s), this paper highlights the relevance of both the dominant language and the less dominant language in displaying affective stances. It is proposed that the specific emotive role of Galician in the contextualization of contempt could be related to the external symbolism of this language and its traditional lack of prestige. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analytical writing is an academic genre that combines features of expository and argumentative discourse. Although the ability to write analytically is crucial to succeed at school and beyond, the pathway to master this type of writing mode has rarely been explored. We analyzed the writings of 226 native-speakers of Iberian Spanish from elementary school, high school and university levels, each of whom wrote two texts in Spanish. Three types of rhetorical moves were identified based on the communicative goals of analytical writing: expository, argumentative, and assertive. The findings show a developmental improvement in rhetorical structure and a transition from assertion-based texts, where writers focus on their own standpoint as the pivot of the text, to exposition-based texts,where presentation and discussion of data and of evidence become more dominant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Language users have preferences for the connectives they choose to express causal relations. These choices may depend on the subjectivity involved in the relation. Dutch connectives illustrate this situation clearly: want ('since/for') is preferred typically for expressing subjective relations and omdat ('because') for objective ones. While various corpus-based studies have revealed a similar pattern in other languages, little attention has been paid to Spanish from this perspective. Recent corpus-based studies analyzed the connectives porque ('because'), ya que ('since') and puesto que ('given that') using two different methods of analysis. Surprisingly, the findings did not coincide with the previous literature on Spanish connectives, and the semantic profile of such connectives in terms of subjectivity remained unclear. The current study again aims to investigate whether these connectives show systematic variation in terms of subjectivity, using crowdsourcing experimentation. Results show that Spanish native speakers prefer puesto que over porque to express subjective relations. However, no statistically significant difference was observed between porque and ya que. This study offers a better understanding of Spanish connectives in terms of subjectivity. Furthermore, it contributes to the assessment of the use of crowdsourcing as a useful and reliable method to elucidate the meaning and use of connectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]