Determinant + Proper Noun in Nahuatlatos Spanish. Internal Evolution or Language Contact?

Abstract

Starting from the analysis of the relative frequency of the use of nominal phrases where a determined proper noun is included in spoken Spanish by bilinguals of Nahuatl-Spanish, this work seeks to discuss the theoretical problem that underlies all phenomena attributable to the processes of linguistic contact. The quantitative behavior of the phenomenon is compared in the bilingual variant with the data obtain from different samples of Spanish from the 13th, 16th, 19, and 20th centuries. The drastic quantitative differences registered for Spanish in a Nahuatl- Spanish contact zone could be explained by linguistic interference, yet theoretically there are substantial obstacles for sustaining the hypothesis. The documentation of a parallel behavior in Spanish from the 13th century makes it impossible to explain the quantitative deviation from the Nahuatl region which means that it can only be explained as a reactivation phenomenon through contact.