Spanish in Context - Volume 22, Issue 3, 2025

Abstract

Disability can be understood as a (subtle) physical and/or mental condition, or as a representation of legal, medical, and media discourses that construct non-normative bodies as deviant. Language plays an essential role in the construction of disability through, for example, the use of linguistic labeling and naming practices (i.e., “disabled person”, “handicapped”, etc.). These linguistic practices have not been fully explored in Colombian media and it remains critical to (a) identify labels of how news outlets represent this underserved community based on ideological preferences, and (b) investigate the use of person-first language (i.e., person with disabilities) vs. identity-first language (i.e., disabled person). Thus, this exploratory study aims at filling this gap by using a corpus-based approach with a large collection of Colombian news articles. Findings indicate that, unlike the press in English, Colombian media recurrently opts for person-first naming, with a relatively higher occurrence in the left-leaning press as compared to conservative-leaning outlets.

Abstracta

Este trabajo se centra en el análisis del régimen la discursividad afectiva para la defensa del bien común, que surgió durante la prepandemia y la pandemia del covid-19. Se llevará a cabo a través del análisis exploratorio y cualitativo de los marcadores léxico-semánticos y semióticos multimodales que están presentes en el paisaje de Madrid. También se analizarán las principales temáticas que confluyen dentro de dicho régimen discursivo: el duelo, las crisis multinivel y la solidaridad. Además, se estudiarán las estrategias que se han empleado en la construcción del paisaje covídico: la (re)contextualización, la descontextualización, la resemantización, la resignificación, los neologismos, y las figuras retóricas multidiscursivas. Los resultados indican la importancia de la geosemiótica y el espacio a la hora de recrear nuevos significados en esta crisis global.

Abstract

This exploratory study investigates the evolution of coda /s/ weakening in Andalusian Spanish as a heritage language spoken in Brussels. Ongoing change promoted by dialect contact with other Spanish varieties was assessed on speech data retrieved via interviews with first- and second-generation Andalusian immigrants in the city. Their coda /s/ production was analyzed in terms of perceptual categorization, acoustic evidence of frication, and duration. A contrastive analysis throughout these parameters confirmed that, within the sample studied, second-generation speakers weaken coda /s/ considerably less than speakers from the first generation, suggesting a shift from traditional Andalusian speech. These results highlight the importance of sociolinguistic approaches for a thorough understanding of the subtle changes that languages undergo in diasporic contexts.

Abstract

A fall-to-mid intonation in Spanish has traditionally been associated with meanings like uncertainty, incompleteness, command and politeness. In syntactic constructions, it is attested in a subject followed by a non-restrictive relative clause and enumerations, etc. These descriptions report its high frequency use in tightly controlled speech. Yet, further research is necessary to understand better the linguistic reasons behind its presence in spontaneous speech. In this study, a sub-corpus of highly natural dialogues in European Standard Peninsular Spanish is selected from the corpus Glissando (Garrido et al., 2011) and all the instances of the tone are identified acoustically. Following the corpus linguistics methodology, we tagged instances of modal meanings manifested in the use of the specified tone, to later compute the frequency and distribution of words bearing it, as well as retrieved concordances. This allowed the identification and categorization of modal meanings expressed by the presence of the tone. The results suggest that the fall-to-mid tone can be mapped into a wide range of word categories to express deontic and epistemic modality, together with various evaluative and interpersonal meanings.

Resumen

El presente artículo explora la construcción discursiva de la ciudadanía en el imaginario colectivo de los italoargentinos a partir de las siguientes preguntas de investigación: (a) ¿qué imágenes evoca la ciudadanía en los italoargentinos? (b) ¿qué significa ser italoargentino hoy? (c) ¿cómo se construye la identidad italoargentina –y en particular la ciudadanía– en las narrativas de los descendientes de italianos? Para contestar a estas preguntas se analiza una colección de 20 entrevistas semiestructuradas realizadas a italoargentinos a la espera en la cola dedicada a los trámites para la Ciudadanía en el Consulado italiano de Buenos Aires. Tras trascribir y analizar discursivamente los textos, se identifican y clasifican las tipologías de narrativas de los entrevistados. Los resultados confirman la visión estereotipada e idealizada que tienen muchos italoargentinos, sobre todo los descendientes de tercera y cuarta generación, fruto de una mercantilización de la italianidad y una instrumentalización de la ciudadanía.

Abstract

This study explores language attitudes towards voseo as expressed in metalinguistic comments across social media platforms. Employing a quantitative approach, this research utilizes sentiment analysis, ordinal logistic regression, and multiple logistic regression models to uncover diverse sentiments and perceptions of voseo across 21 Spanish-speaking countries and three social media platforms. The results indicate that attitudes toward voseo are shaped by a constellation of factors, including its association with regional identity, the commenter’s country of origin, and localized social stigma directed at voseante speakers. These findings highlight how social media platforms serve as globalized arenas where language ideologies are both reflected and actively shaped, as perceptions of voseo are dynamically negotiated through cross-cultural online interactions, enabling the perpetuation of stigmatizing ideologies while simultaneously fostering opportunities for their contestation and reevaluation.

Abstract

In Spanish, the verbs llevar and tener variably occur in durative temporal constructions, as in “llevo dos años cantando” and “tengo dos años cantando.” Despite occurring in functionally equivalent contexts, the distinct semantic origin of the verbs –llevar encoding movement, direction, and causativity, and tener being a prototypical possession verb– makes these constructions an ideal locus to examine how the persistence of core semantic properties influence alternation in grammaticalizing constructions. Adopting a variationist approach, we analyzed internal and external factors affecting the use of 221 occurrences of temporal constructions in Mexican Spanish. Results reveal that llevar + time is favored in contexts associated with change and affectedness, whereas tener + time is preferred in contexts associated with control and invariability. These findings suggest that despite semantic bleaching, the core semantic features of llevar and tener persist, shaping the distribution of their corresponding durative constructions. This can be taken as further evidence for the grammaticalization of durative temporal constructions in Spanish.

This article reviews Language practices and processes among Latin Americans in Europe9780367672980