De repente and de pronto epistemic operators in the PRESEEA corpus: function and variation

Abstract

In this article, we address the pragmatic function and the dialectal and social variation of the epis- temic operators de repente and de pronto in different Spanish-speaking communities. Our work falls within a field of variation that combines pragmatics, dialectology, and sociolinguistics. The general aim is to analyze the use of the epistemic operators de repente and de pronto in different varieties of Spanish, both in Spain and in America, using the available sample of the PRESEEA corpus. Our specific aim are: a) to analyze the pragmatic functioning of the epistemic operators de repente and de pronto in the sample, and b) to compare their frequencies of use with respect to their dialectal and social distribution. The results show that de repente and de pronto are equivalent epistemic operators of possibility. Furthermore, the use of de repente is widespread across more countries, while that of de pronto is highly concentrated in varieties of Colombian Spanish. Finally, a different social distribu- tion was observed between the two operators with respect to gender and educational level, but not in relation to the age of the informants.