Haber impersonal en el habla de Caracas. Análisissociolingüístico

This study examines the selection of singular/plural forms for the existential impersonal verb haber (habia/habian casas) in a sociolinguistically stratified corpus of native Spanish speakers from Caracas. The aim of this study was to determine the linguistic and extralinguistic factors that favor the use of singular vs. plural forms. Out of 754 cases of haber found in the corpus, 477 (63%) were in plural and 277 (36%) were in singular. The results show that the non-canonical plural form is found in all sociolinguistic groups and is equally used by men and women of any age. Findings suggest that simple tenses, affirmative clauses and plural noun phrases favor pluralization. The speakers low and middle low socioeconomic status also favor pluralization. Other factors like negative clauses, specified quantifiers, verbs in preterite and high socieconomic status speakers tend to favor the use of the singular form.