Syntactic variation and communicative style

Advances in the study of morphosyntactic variation make it possible to move beyond the view of variants as merely formal alternatives conveying a single meaning and covarying with social features and formality of the situation. Alternating grammatical structures always entail certain communicative differences at the discursive-pragmatic and cognitive levels, and speakers can deploy their formal choices as stylistic resources. In this paper we will outline some basic tenets for a comprehensive theoretical approach to variation, starting from a concept of style as the construction of meaning in interaction. We will survey some cases of syntactic variation in Spanish, showing how the approach proposed can help explain their existence within the system by taking their communicative and perceptual foundations into account.

Research highlights► Variation in linguistic form always entails some parallel alteration in meaning. ► Formal variability configures perceptions of reality as diffuse and ever-changing. ► Linguistic choice aims to configure meaningful styles in interaction. ► All internal and external levels of meaning are connected under the concept of style. ► Cognitive notions like salience and informativity help explain syntactic phenomena.