ABSTRACT
This chapter offers an analysis of the evolution of gender and number agreement across the determiner phrase (DP) of three Afro-Andean dialects: Yungueño Spanish (Bolivia), Chota Valley Spanish (Ecuador) and Chincha Spanish (Peru). Variable agreement is conceived here as a by-product of processing constraints applied at the morphology–syntax/semantics interface. Given that these phenomena are also common in advanced L2 varieties of Spanish, it is suggested that their presence in these Afro-Hispanic varieties should not necessarily be ascribed to a previous (de)creolization phase. Results point to a case of cross-generational change, which consists of the transition of these basilectal Afro-Hispanic systems to more prestigious regional varieties. The attested variability is explained in minimalist terms, as the result of differential specifications and computations of uninterpretable features in a derivation (Sessarego & Gutiérrez-Rexach 2011). It is argued this gradual shift is driven by social factors through a path that is highly constrained by syntactic ones.
