Extending the sociolinguistic variable to the syntactic level: The case of para + lexical subject + infinitive/subjunctive in Venezuelan Spanish

Previous studies have analyzed variable use of the infinitive versus the subjunctive in clauses following the preposition para (‘for, in order to’) in Spanish in terms of discourse, syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic factors. However, no study has analyzed this phenomenon according to extralinguistic factors, nor determined which linguistic factors are the most significant predictors of this variation when considered together. The current study presents a variationist analysis of the choice of infinitive versus subjunctive after para. Social class, gender, and age are examined to address the role of extralinguistic variables. Six linguistic variables related to the para and/or matrix clause are also included (type and person of the para clause subject, coreferentiality between para and matrix clause subjects, transitivity of the para clause verb, and discourse theme and informational status of the para clause). Subjects are speakers of Venezuelan Spanish comprising the 1987 corpus Estudio Sociolingüístico de Caracas. Results show that none of the extralinguistic variables are significant. Coreferentiality, person and type of subject, and discourse theme, however, are significant. The relationship between these findings and prescriptive Spanish grammar is discussed, along with the study’s relevance to the debate concerning the extension of the sociolinguistic variable to the syntactic level.