Usage Differential of Discourse Functions

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Discourse function

Usage differential*

Topic-launching

72.4%

Topic-linking

64.5%

Summative

52.2%

Contrastive

72.0%

 

 

*The usage differential is the difference in rate of use between US Spanish and non-US Spanish relative to that of US English. 

 

The higher the differential, the more closely the rate of use in US Spanish approximates that of US English.

 

Calculation of usage differentials

topic-launching: (6.3 - 0.0) / (8.7 - 0.0) = 0.724

topic-linking function: (85.7 - 50.0) / (85.7 - 30.4) = 0.645

summative function: (25.0 - 14.3) / (34.8 - 14.3) = 0.522

contrastive function: (18.8 - 0.0) / (26.1 - 0.0) = 0.720