| The goal of this study is the definition of stages in the acquisition of Spanish by native speakers of Quechua using linguistic, sociological, and psychological criteria.; The investigation is based on current methods of discourse analysis, on psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic survey techniques. The data base are recordings of extensive interviews with 21 non-initial adult bilinguals in Lima, Peru.; The study arrives at a distinction between three linguistic systems which are representative of three different stages in the acquisition process of Spanish as a second language. System A represents an earlier stage in the second language acquisition process, system B an intermediate stage, and system C an advanced stage.; These linguistic systems are correlated with seventeen social variables which characterize different groups of bilingual speakers. The social variables which turned out to be primary indicators of the bilingual behavioral differences are in order of importance, social class and occupation, parents' linguistic ability, the variety of Spanish to which speakers are exposed, the sequence of language acquisition, degree of education before arrival in Lima, place of origin, and speaker's age at acquisition of Spanish.; This dissertation shows that it is possible to differentiate different pragmatic and semantic systems to indicate different stages within the second language acquisition process. It is possible to correlate the use of these different systems with socio-psychological factors which in turn characterize the social differences between bilingual speakers. These social-psychological factors serve as indicators of differences in bilingual behavior and can be used in a typology of bilingualism. |
