A Key Milestone in the Evolution of Modal Infinitival Periphrases: a Sociolinguistic Analysis of the Alternation "haber de / tener que" in Nineteenth-Century Texts Reflecting Spoken Language "Communicative Immediacy"

Abstract

As part of a historical sociolinguistic study of modal infinitival periphrases in texts reflecting spoken language, this paper presents a variationist analysis about the process of variation and change affecting haber de and tener que + infinitive in the nineteenth century. The choice of this time period reflects the fact that this century seems to be a key moment in the abrupt change that, in modern times, has reduced haber de to some restricted contexts such as written and formal registers as well as to some dialectal areas. Contrary to what is suggested by other studies based on more formal discursive traditions, the data from this research allow us to conclude that the acceleration of this change has already become relatively strong in the nineteenth century. Among the structural contexts that favour this change, we note some specific loci such as negative sentences, first person, verbs of speech and movement, as well as some paradigms of the verbal conjugation. Moreover, some extralinguistic factors seem to be highly relevant in this process: i.e. the more informal styles -family and intimate letters-, as well as use by young men from the lower classes. This latter finding suggests the social diffusion of tener que as a change from below. On the contrary, a dialectal analysis shows that the Catalan speakers played a major role in the maintenance of haber de, probably as a result of linguistic convergence between Spanish and Catalan.