Spanish in Context - Volume 20, Issue 1, 2023

Resumen

Los documentos mallorquines en castellano del siglo XVIII muestran una distinción entre 〈b〉 y 〈v〉 más estable que otros textos producidos de la Península Ibérica. El objetivo de este artículo es examinar la distribución de estas grafías mediante una aproximación multidisciplinar que combina un análisis diacrónico y sincrónico con métodos estadísticos, y tratar de ponerlas en relación con rasgos de la variedad actual de catalán hablada en la isla. De esta forma, se ofrece una interpretación fonética que contribuye a la caracterización de la variedad histórica del español de Mallorca y que puede ayudar a profundizar en la comprensión de los fenómenos de variación y cambio lingüísticos en una situación de contacto.

Abstract

In previous studies of the mitigators that occur when a speaker wants to show disagreement with his or her interlocutor, morphosyntactic markers occupy the most relevant part. In oral communication, however, phonic markers play a central role. This research presents the analysis of these markers in a corpus of interviews with B1 level university exchange students (CEFR). The aim is to check for the presence of phonic attenuation markers when foreign students express a divergent opinion in Spanish from that expressed by the native speaker. The analysis leads to a categorization of these markers and attempts to provide empirical basis for a better understanding of the phonic markers in the academic interlanguage.

Abstract

The social meaning of language is embedded in a cultural system of ideas that circulates throughout the historicity of peoples in contact. Border areas are useful for studying the permeability of category constructions, including language boundaries and fluidity of identities. The present study reports survey data from 168 Spanish-English bilinguals in the border region of the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas in the ways they define ‘Spanglish’ vis-à-vis ‘Tex-Mex’ as two distinct ways of speaking. In explaining the contact forms that each label represents and ideologies that have given rise to this distinction, results are discussed using iconization and fractal recursivity (Irvine and Gal 2000) and enregisterment (Agha 2005). Overall, results indicate that for those who make a distinction between Spanglish and Tex-Mex, Spanglish is valorized as more legitimate, whereas Tex-Mex is seen as a localized style of Spanglish also considered more informal.

Abstract

The current study analyzes mood alternation in Spanish spoken in Georgia among first-generation Mexican immigrants. Using sociolinguistic interview data, tokens of the subjunctive and indicative in dependent clauses were examined, particularly in the following syntactic contexts: depender, aunque, me gusta que, no porque, quizás, tal vez, and no sé si/ cómo/dónde/qué. We argue that mood selection in the contexts under study is determined by the evaluation of the proposition in the dependent clause. We then use this data to inform theories of possible world semantics (i.e., Anand and Hacquard 2013; Giannakidou and Mari 2021; Villalta 2008) to better understand mood alternation. Moreover, while many U.S. Spanish varieties may demonstrate what Silva-Corvalán (1994, 91) refers to as “a reduced system that made it more difficult to distinguish between more or less possible situations in a hypothetical world,” we show that cases of alternation in the present data still differentiate speaker meaning and evaluation.

Abstract

This study examines the perceptions of inclusive language among first- and second-generation Spanish speakers residing in North Carolina, USA, based on survey data collected from 337 speakers by undergraduates. The survey examines familiarity with innovative inclusive language forms (including -@, -x, and -e), as well as opinions about different forms (including standard morphology forms such as masculine default and noun doubling – i.e., chicos y chicas), and reported use of inclusive forms. A majority of participants expressed negative opinions of innovative forms, and very few reported actually using them in their speech. Acceptance varied based not only on participant social characteristics, but also on the morphology and the context in which the form is used. Exceptions to these trends, as well as the possible future development of inclusive language forms, receive additional attention. Research methodologies with undergraduates are also discussed.

Resumen

Este artículo se propone realizar un análisis socio-discursivo de cómo se construye y se negocia la autenticidad en el discurso del turismo, asumiendo el acercamiento imparable que ha tenido lugar hacia la figura del cliente (Austin 2009) a través de un fenómeno comunicativo esencial como es la dialogicidad. Este discurso ha ido encarnando progresivamente una autenticidad negociada (Cohen 1988), que va ajustándose a variables sociales, como ocurre con la pandemia por COVID-19, pero que incluye igualmente variables culturales. Utilizamos 100 muestras de oralización dialógica en español e inglés de varios cibergéneros (páginas web institucionales y redes sociales de turismo) que apoyan nuestra argumentación. Pretendemos ofrecer una visión contrastiva sobre la negociación de la autenticidad discursiva y de las emociones como elemento central en el turismo digital, según el trinomio turismo-sociedad-lenguaje, que permita una mejor comprensión de la tendencia comunicativa social actual con propósito mercantilista.

Abstract

Romance varieties differ in their usage of preterit and present perfect verb tenses. Both are past perfectives, but whereas Portuguese uses the preterit in most contexts, spoken French prefers the present perfect. Peninsular Spanish lies between the two, though evidence indicates that the present perfect is becoming the default past perfective (Schwenter and Torres Cacoullos 2008) in a process of ‘aoristic drift’ (Squartini and Bertinetto 2000). How does speaker multilingualism affect this? Semi-structured interviews were conducted with second-generation members of the Portuguese diaspora in Andorra. We might expect native competence in Portuguese to inhibit aoristic drift in Spanish, since contact has been shown to affect past perfective verb tense in other Romance varieties (Gili Gaya 1993; Hawkey 2020). Contrary to expectations, participants demonstrated aoristic drift. Dense and multiplex migrant networks are, however, shown to favour the maintenance of vernacular norms (Milroy 1980), including generalising the function of the present perfect.

Resumen

La expresión Qué A ni qué B constituye enunciados exclamativos que aparecen en intervenciones reactivas como comentarios de rechazo. Presenta variantes en su segundo miembro, algunas de ellas son términos minimizadores o malsonantes, con diferente grado de intensificación. Constituyen una construcción semifijada en la que se unen la descortesía del acto de habla de rechazo, el uso de formas malsonantes y la emoción inherente a la modalidad expresiva.

Abstract

This investigation examines how dialect identity and linguistic ideologies are negotiated and performed through dar +gerund, a northern Andean Spanish construction used to express an attenuated request or favor. Specifically, positive, neutral, and negative sentiments expressed through metalinguistic commentary are analyzed from a corpus of 450 tweets collected on Twitter between 2008- May 2019. This analysis shows how a higher degree of emotional intensity in negative sentiments signals linguistic and cultural discrimination towards this Kichwa-contact induced construction. On the other end, positive sentiments celebrate and defend this feature as an intrinsic part of the Andean Ecuadorian dialect and identity. This negotiation of the linguistic and cultural significance of dar +gerund serves to destabilize dominant negative perceptions and renegotiate the meaning of this NAS feature.

This article reviews Claves para entender el multilingüismo contemporáneo978-84-1340-155-3

This article reviews Comunicación, partículas discursivas y pragmática experimental978-84-7133-852-5