Paradigmatic Uniformity: Evidence from Heritage Speakers of Spanish

Subject-verb agreement mismatches have been reported in the L2 and heritage literature, usually involving infinitives, analyzed as default morphological forms for fully specified T-heads. This article explores mechanisms behind these mismatches, testing two hypotheses: form surface-similarity hypotheses. It compares non-finite finite S-V with subjects different persons, whether similarity other paradigmatic makes them more acceptable, controlling role of verb frequency. Participants were asked to rate sentences on a Likert scale that included (a) infinitive first, second third person subjects, (b) verbal subjects. Two stem-stressed verbs (e.g., tra.j-o ‘brought.3p.past’) affix-stressed me.ti-o ‘introduced.3p.past’), varying frequency tested. Inflectional affixes are similar paradigm both phonologically being unstressed (tra.j-o ‘brought.3p.past’ vs. trai.g-o ‘bring.1 p.pres’), whereas dissimilar stress patterns (me.ti-o ´introduced.3p.past’ me.t-o ‘introduce.1p.pres’). Results show significantly higher acceptability non-matching, 1st 2nd Stem-stressed showed ratings than ones, suggesting surface-form correspondence, partially confirming previous findings.