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Within a sociolinguistic framework, in this paper, we describe the use of dequeísmo (use of 'de que' instead of 'que') in the utterances of Spanish speakers living in Santiago de Chile. A stratified sample of 120 interviews with people residing in Santiago was utilized for the analysis. The study intended to 1) identify the internal variables that prompted the use of dequeísmo and 2) correlate those variables with sociodemographic of the speakers (gender age and socioeconomic status). The results suggest that the contexts that foster the use of dequeísmo frequently allowed for the replacement of other de prepositions and appositive structures, although most cases occurred in clauses with functions of direct object and subject. Additionally, in the sample, the use of dequeísmo was frequently coincided in the speeches of male and older speakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]