La variable expresion del sujeto en el espanol de los Colombianos y Colombo-Americanos residentes en el condado de Miami-Dade

This dissertation examines the linguistic and social factors that control variation in subject expression in the case of the Colombian speech community in Miami-Dade County in South Florida. The analysis is focused on the explicit expression or omission of the second person pronouns (you-formal, usted), third person pronouns (he, she), and the impersonal "one" (uno). Field work was conducted to collect 51 interviews within the Colombian community. The speakers were divided according to two major dialectal varieties (Coastal and Andean Spanish) and two generational groups (those born in Colombia or who arrived in the U.S. after 11 years old, and those born in the U.S. or who arrived before 11). Subsequently, the data were transcribed and codified for submission to statistical analysis, using the VARBRUL program, a type of multivariate analysis which tests the statistical significance of the effects of linguistic and extralinguistic factors on the expressed or non-expressed use of the subject.;The hypothesis points to the influence of the ambiguity of the verbal form in the variable subject expression, and to the differences of rates of explicit subjects among the dialectal varieties of Colombian Spanish. Moreover, the influence of factors such as contact with varieties of other Hispanic communities and contact with English are considered as possible motivators of the subject expression.;The findings suggest that linguistic factors determine more the use of explicit subjects than social factors: (1) The specificity of the referent along with the ambiguity of the verbal form were the most influential linguistic factors. (2) There were no overall dialectal differences among the Colombian community but it was shown that the dichotomy stated by Cameron between Peninsular and American Spanish can be questioned when analyzing the second person usted, tu and the impersonal uno. (3) There is no relation between subject expression and the level of contact with English and English proficiency, but rather with the level of proficiency in Spanish. We conclude that there is a strong relationship among the linguistic factors, and a complex situation depending on the dialectal varieties of Spanish.