Frequency of Subjunctive Use in Oral Production in Two Varieties of Spanish

This research establishes an analysis of mood use in semi-spontaneous oral production in two varieties of Spanish. A total of 104 adult monolingual native speakers of Spanish participated in the study (N=56 from Rosario, Argentina and N=48 from Toledo, Spain). Data were collected by means of a guided oral elicitation task. Results indicated vitality of subjunctive use among older speakers (51-73 years old) in both regions. However, non-subjunctive forms were more frequent among younger speakers (18-30 years old) in Rosario, while speakers in Toledo still favored the use of present subjunctive. This tendency was also evident in middle-aged speakers. Overall, reduction of present subjunctive use among younger generations is more notorious in Rosario while subjunctive use appears more robust in Toledo.