A B S T R A C T This study examines the role of social class and gender in an ongoing change in Spanish spoken in New York City (NYC). The change, which has to do with increasing use of Spanish subject pronouns, is correlated with increased exposure to life in NYC and to English. Our investigation of six different national-origin groups shows a connection between affluence and change: the most affluent Latino groups undergo the most increase in pronoun use, while the least affluent undergo no

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... ange. This pattern is explained as further indication that resistance to linguistic change is more pronounced in poorer communities as a result of denser social networks. In addition we find a women effect: immigrant women lead men in the increasing use of pronouns. We argue that the women effect in bilingual settings warrants a reevaluation of existing explanations of women as leaders of linguistic change. (Language change, social class, gender, bilingualism, Spanish in the US, pronouns)* I N T R O D U C T I O N In monolingual settings, gender and social class have been shown to be relevant variables in our understanding of language change. But are these variables also relevant to language change in bilingual settings and, more specifically, in immigrant bilingual settings? In this article we examine an ongoing change in the Spanish spoken in New York City (NYC), and find evidence that this change occurs most rapidly among the more affluent Latino communities and among women.