Antes di que hubo: Aproximación al marcador antes di que en el español de México

Abstract

This paper presents a first approach to the new discursive functions of the adverb antes (before) in Mexican Spanish, particularly when it is used in the locution antes di que (before say that). The functions of these usages have not been sufficiently described and are only briefly mentioned in dictionaries, where they are compared to adverbs like fortunately or luckily. The study aims to identify the functions of antes di que using data collected from Mexican Spanish, primarily from the social network Twitter. The results indicate that antes di que is primarily used in contrastive contexts to introduce a state of affairs that the speaker evaluates positively despite adverse circumstances, inviting the interlocutor to consider the validity of this evaluation. Overall, this study sheds light on a previously unexplored area: the specific discursive functions of antes di que in Mexican Spanish.