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This paper addresses three Spanish focus constructions: clefts, the Det+N+ SER construction (e.g. la verdad es que...), and the lo+ADJ+SER construction (e.g. lo bueno es que...). Since their status in the oral-written dimension is still ambiguous and it has even been proposed some closeness with the written language, the research focused on their frequency in an oral corpus of Mexican Spanish, as well as their discourse functions. The data collected shows that these constructions are more frequent in the telenovela, while among non-fictional genres they are linked to those situated within the communicative immediacy space (v. Koch y Oesterreicher 1985). Their functions are grouped in two dimensions: micro- and macrotextual; the latter being the prevailing one since by using these constructions the speaker organizes and marks topical lines in discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on expressions of age combined with the verbs ser and estar in the Spanish of Guatemala and Mexico. It analyses the linguistic and extralinguistic factors favoring the extension of estar and the process of linguistic change involved in the expression of age in the two dialectal groups. Based on the analysis of three linguistic corpora from these communities (one from Ciudad de México and two from Guatemala), the results show, on the one hand, that estar is the most frequent copulative form, and, on the other, that some age-related adjectives favor the extension of the copulative form: chico, chiquito, grande. The paper concludes that age expressions with ser and estar are a feature of dialectal differentiation and, at the same time, an evolution of estar at the expense of ser. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the constituent features of the textual type called memoria, in the context of the legal-administrative sphere of the Colonial Era. This textual type is embedded in both the Spanish and the native American legal tradition, so it is of particular interest for the history of the Spanish language, for the textual linguistics studies and for pragmatics studies. The research also aims to demonstrate that in the Peruvian judicial system of the 16th Century there was a particular type of memoria, modeled by the convergence of the Western way of recording data and the use of quipus as Andean recording medium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]