The interpretation of verbal moods in Spanish: A close replication of Kanwit and Geeslin (2014)

There now exists a large body of research on how learners acquire instances of sociolinguistic variation in their second language (L2). Such studies have importantly demonstrated that learners can develop similar sensitivity to the linguistic and extralinguistic factors that influence variable patterns in their input (e.g., Geeslin & Long, 2014). However, this research has largely focused either on learner production or on the selection of variable forms through preference tasks. This means that very little is known about how learners develop the ability to interpret variable structures (cf. Gudmestad, 2022). The study that we will replicate, Kanwit and Geeslin (2014), is important because it is the first in variationist second language acquisition (SLA) that investigates the interpretation of a variable structure. In this study, Kanwit and Geeslin examined the interpretation of verbal moods (i.e., the subjunctive and indicative) in adverbial clauses in Spanish. They analyzed L2 development using cross-sectional data and compared learners’ patterns to those of a group of native speakers of Spanish. Crucially, Kanwit and Geeslin (2014) provide other researchers with a methodological model for investigating the interpretation of variable forms.