'El hotel está muy cercas de la playa', or the False Pluralization of Adverb 'Cerca' In Mexican Spanish

Abstract

This work introduces a review of the adverb cercas, particular to Mexican Spanish, as well as the social beliefs concerning its use, acceptance and geographical distribution. A general description of the adverb, its grammatical forms and semantic values is presented first, followed
by a historical account of the phenomenon, which suggests its use reached its peak during modern Spanish. This article argues that this adverbial form is not a ‘pluralization’ of the adverb cerca, but rather the result of a morphological analogy process, as it has been also noted in other adverbial derivatives ending in -s (quizá > quizás). The data obtained from an online survey (answered by 848 Mexican native speakers) reveals the following: a) the adverb cercas is portrayed as a stigmatized form in Mexican Spanish; b) the speakers who reject this form (83% of those who recognized its existence) elicit reasons linked to norms, education or sociolects; c) the majority of its users are young (18-30 years), a social
group that tends to break the standard norm; d) 58% of the sample considers cerca / cercas to have different meanings, although the later form lacks a fixed meaning; the remaining 42% of the sample thinks it is the same adverb but in different forms (depending on the presence of the adverbial suffix -s); and e) by correlating the socio-demographic data (age, sex) and the responses about the acceptance, use and values of the adverb cercas, statistically meaningful differences come to light.