About

Javier Rivas is a professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Colorado Boulder, where he also serves as Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies. His research areas include usage-based grammar, discourse syntax, language variation and change, Hispanic linguistics, and Galician linguistics. Rivas has contributed extensively to the understanding of morphosyntactic variation, grammaticalization processes, and discourse markers in Spanish and Galician, employing a usage-based approach to analyze language variation and change. He has authored and co-authored numerous publications, including books, journal articles, and book chapters, focusing on topics such as oral Spanish variation, the grammaticalization of future references in Galician, and the analysis of verb-object compounds. His work emphasizes the importance of usage patterns in shaping linguistic structures and explores diachronic and synchronic variation across Ibero-Romance languages. Rivas's research has significantly advanced the field of Hispanic linguistics, particularly in the areas of morphosyntactic variation, language contact, and grammaticalization, making him a prominent figure in his field.

Research topics

• Humanities
• Artificial Intelligence
• Philosophy
• Computer Science
• History
• Linguistics
• Ethnology
• Art

Selected publications

• Desigualdad regional de la evolución histórica del suicidio en Chile, 1921-2021

  Historia 396 · 2025-08-11 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  El siguiente artículo analiza la evolución histórica de la tasa de suicidio en Chile entre 1921 y 2021, tomándola como un indicador de salud mental y, en general, como un importante indicador de salud de la población. Lo anterior se realiza a nivel regional, lo que nos permite realizar un aporte a los estudios sobre desigualdad geográfica en el bienestar chileno, para una dimensión clave: la salud mental. El artículo da cuenta de variaciones regionales significativas en la tasa de suicidio en Chile entre los años 1920 y los años 2010, que evidencian un problema serio: la persistencia de desigualdades regionales en la salud mental en Chile. Parte de estas diferencias entre regiones se explica por diferencias en las tasas de masculinidad entre dichas zonas, así como por el disímil perfil de sus pirámides poblacionales. Sin embargo, no todas las diferencias en las tasas de suicidios regionales pueden ser atribuidas a estas variables: otros determinantes macro-contextuales son también relevantes, como las diferencias en la tasa de pobreza, y otras variables sociales y culturales.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Does increased grammaticalization yield decreasedduration?

  Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone linguistics · 2025-05-15

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract This study employed naturalistic data to provide a descriptive overview of the patterns of reduction in the Spanish [ ir ( present ) a + infinitive ] construction (the default future marker). A durational analysis of N = 158 tokens of vamos (‘we go’) confirms faster rates of articulation across the [ vamos a ] construction when followed by an infinitival form than when followed by an allative complement. Results reveal that the phonological reduction of vamos a occurs regardless of the meaning it conveys (future, hortative, habitual). We suggest shorter durations may not reflect the meaning of futurity, but rather may be associated with those constructions in which vamos a has undergone a process of auxiliarization as it becomes part of the infinitival periphrastic form.

  PublisherDOI

• VERB-INDIRECT OBJECT-DIRECT OBJECT and VERB-DIRECT OBJECT-INDIRECT OBJECT

  Isogloss Open Journal of Romance Linguistics · 2025-07-16 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the study of constituent order in ditransitive constructions by means of a variationist analysis based on spoken Spanish from Madrid. We analyze the variable position of objects in ditransitive clauses. We identify two variants: (1) Verb-Direct Object-Indirect Object and (2) Verb-Indirect Object-Direct Object. We include in the envelope of variation ditransitive constructions in which the DO is expressed by a noun phrase (sometimes preceded by the marker a) and the IO is expressed by means of a prepositional phrase preceded by a ‘to’. The percentage of V-IO-DO constructions in our data is 33%. The results of our statistical analyses show that V-IO-DO is significantly conditioned by the following linguistic factors: grammatical person of the IO, type of DO, and verb type. Unlike previous studies, we find that information flow factors do not have a significant effect on this word order variation. Considering its recurrent usage patterns in the discourse, we identify the verb decir ‘to say’ and the constructions it occurs in as the likely source and spread of the V-IO-DO order.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Testing Cumulative Lexicalized Effects in Study Abroad: Variable Subject Pronoun Expression in Spanish as an Additional Language

  Languages · 2025-05-08

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  We examine variable first-person singular subject pronoun expression in Spanish learner data to investigate the effects of study abroad in Mexico and Spain on the acquisition of sociolinguistic variation. In addition to exploring pre- and post-study abroad effects, this work considers whether such impacts wane over time after the study abroad experience. We include in the analyses novel usage-based factors estimating lexically specific usage patterns. We conduct a mixed-effects linear regression model predicting overt yo (‘I’) expression. Results indicate that overt yo expression is more likely after studying abroad (compared to pre-study abroad). Additionally, learners acquire a usage-based pattern of variation evident after the study abroad experience. This effect is not just apparent immediately after studying abroad, but it persists in data collected after a time delay.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Variant Choices of Future Time Reference in Galician: The Grammaticalization of [haber (de) + infinitive] as a Window to Diachronic Change

  Languages · 2024-04-15

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Compared to neighboring Romance languages, Galician currently maintains a more ubiquitous usage of the construction [haber (present) + (de) + infinitive] as a future marker in variation with the periphrastic construction with ir ‘go’ and the morphological future. We examine this under-studied construction to gain a better understanding of Galician grammar and also contribute new data with which to consider diachronic change regarding the grammaticalization of the future from obligation markers. We conduct a variationist analysis of 1589 tokens of future forms in recorded conversations (CORILGA) in order to determine the frequency of usage, patterns of variation, linguistic conditioning and degree of grammaticalization of the periphrastic forms with haber and ir in contrast to the morphological variant. We find evidence to suggest that the periphrastic construction with haber is highly grammaticalized as a future marker and we identify factors of the production context that modulate the grammaticalization process.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Constructional sources of durational shortening in discourse markers

  Linguistics · 2024-03-19 · 2 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Abstract Using naturally occurring data from Spanish from Madrid, this study is the first to analyze durations of the Spanish word decir ‘to say, to tell’ both as a verb with prepositional meaning and as part of the reformulating construction [ es decir ] ‘that is to say’ ( N = 388). We show that, although it is neither highly grammaticalized nor frequent, [ es decir ] undergoes phonological reduction to a significantly greater degree than the more frequent lexical source decir ‘to say’. Results of linear mixed-effects models predicting target duration suggest these durational differences cannot be explained due to conditioning factors of the target context controlled in this analysis (speech rate of the target word context, predictability of following words, number of phones, distance from pause). They do not appear to stem from an accumulation in memory of patterns of likelihood of use in those conditioning environments. We propose that [ es decir ] is stored as a lexical unit that contains as part of the lexical representation shorter word durations relative to the lexical form decir and that this durational shortening is part of the [ reformulator ] construction.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The Future of Usage‐Based Approaches

  2023-07-07

  otherOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Ser, estar y los verbos semicopulativos

  Routledge eBooks · 2023 · 1 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Computer Science
  • Linguistics
  • Artificial Intelligence

  Copulative verbs are verbs of little semantic content that establish a relationship (identity, attribution, location) between the subject and predicate of the clause. The main copulative verbs in Spanish are ser and estar, but there are other verbs with a heavier semantic load such as volverse (loco) “go (mad)” which are subsumed under the term semi-copulative. Formal approaches account for the difference between copulative verbs by means of semantic oppositions. For example, ser is associated with individual-level predicates, which express permanent properties, whereas estar occurs with stage-level predicates, which express transient properties. However, these differences cannot account for the variable contexts of use of these verbs. In this chapter, we describe the contrast between ser and estar from a wider perspective that takes into account the history of Spanish, geographic and social variation and contact varieties of Spanish. We determine the probabilistic grammar of ser and estar on the basis of the results of variationist studies on monolingual and bilingual varieties, and we examine the hypothesis of contact-induced acceleration of change. In addition, we account for the processes of variation and change that concern copulative and semi-copulative verbs by means of the exemplar model, through which their distribution is conditioned by usage patterns based on frequency and semantic similarity.

  PublisherDOI

• La temporalidad de la transición epidemiológica en Chile, 1862-2018

  Dynamis · 2023-12-27 · 4 citations

  articleOpen access

  Este artículo analiza la naturaleza y temporalidad de la transición epidemiológica (TE) en Chile, prestando especial atención a la composición de las causas de muerte en dicho país desde 1862 hasta el 2018. La evidencia aportada en este artículo permite establecer que la TE efectivamente ocurrió en Chile bajo el modelo “contemporáneo-tardío”, a lo que podríamos agregar el adjetivo “acelerado”. Nuestros resultados destacan lo reciente de la superación de la primera fase de la TE chilena en comparación con la mayor parte de los países desarrollados, debido al protagonismo que mantuvieron las enfermedades infecciosas como principal causa de muerte hasta mediados del siglo XX, así como lo acelerado de dicho proceso (el corto período de tiempo entre los años 1940s y los 1960s). La superación de la primera fase de la TE fue posible principalmente por la “importación” súbita de avances tecnológicos internacionales (sulfamidas y antibióticos en particular), en un periodo en que aún no se observaban mejoras nutricionales substantivas en la población, ni tampoco avances importantes en la provisión de servicios de agua potable o alcantarillado.

  PublisherDOI

• Rates and Constraints of Present Perfect and Preterit in Costa Rican Spanish

  BRILL eBooks · 2023

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Humanities
  • Humanities
  • History
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Esther Lucile Brown

  18 shared

• Katherine Quinteros

  5 shared

• Marcela Aranda

  Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

  5 shared

• Natalia Soto

  5 shared

• Pablo Lacoste

  Universidad de Santiago de Chile

  5 shared

• Jocelyn Gaete

  4 shared

• Enrique Bosch

  4 shared

• Amalia Castro

  Universidad Mayor

  4 shared