Negative doubling in the Italo-Mexican community of Chipilo, Mexico

Abstract

This study describes the phenomenon of negative doubling in Chipilo, Mexico. It has been hypothesized that Italo-Mexican bilinguals who speak Veneto (L1) and Spanish (L2) have transferred a second final no (no fui no ‘I did not go NEG’) from their L1 into Spanish, a language that does not allow a repetition of the same negator in the postverbal position. This study analysed the data of 49 participants (Chipilenos, mixed groups, and monolingual speakers) classified into two sex groups and four ethnicity groups, who performed a preference forced choice task and a repetition task. The results suggest a transfer effect from L1 to L2 in the bilinguals’ speech, specifically in the discourse of males. Second negative mention and verbs as previous constituents had a strong effect on elicitation of negation doubling.