Volume 2008, Issue 193-194

Currently, the study of linguistic change is understood to examine the process linked to the most general aspects of linguistic variation. It seems inexcusable today to focus on sociolinguistic methodology by adopting a purely sociolinguistic approach to the history of language. Sociolinguistics is the discipline that has best explained the mechanisms of change in language, but the incorporation of this approach into diachronic research is not free from difficulties, one of which is the relative ignorance of how past societies functioned, as well as the limitations of relying exclusively on written texts. Given these circumstances, it is imperative to add a wide range of documental material to traditionally used literary sources, and especially important to include those that are closest to oral speech as well as those representing lower and less common registers. In this process we must remember that, over and above the work carried out by institutions, it has been the progressive rates of literacy in society, promoted by general schooling, that has contributed through written texts to the establishment of the linguistic standard.

This article reviews some variable processes active in urban Castilian speech: the yeísmo , the treatment of the intervocalic -|d|-, the relaxation or the emphasis of the implosive -|s| and -|d|, the leísmo, laísmo , and loísmo and the replacement of the subjunctive with the conditional. The objective here is to examine who is driving these changes, the direction they are taking, and what prompts their spread or disappearance. The analysis confirms a movement of convergence from the periphery with the center, which is becoming more marked among higher sociocultural levels, but is also affecting the lower strata whereby the dialectical variations lose the prestige that is enjoyed in the cities.

Aragon was one of the kingdoms in the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages, and its language was Aragonese, a language replaced by Castilian (Spanish later) in mid- and lower Aragon around the end of the fifteenth century. This article presents the most relevant linguistic characteristics of Spanish in the historical region of Aragon. Attention is paid to the presence of old Aragonese linguistic elements in Spanish spoken today, as well as to the linguistic attitudes, social uses, and legal situation of linguistic varieties in northern and eastern Aragon.

In this study an analysis is made of Madrid's role as a source of dissemination of innovations and linguistic trends from the perspective of urban sociolinguistics. From its geographical position in the center of the Iberian Peninsula, midway between the conservative dialects of Castile-León and the more innovative speech of Castile-La Mancha, Madrid is now one of the references for standard Castilian. This reference is not localized in equal measure in all the city's areas and social strata: the innovations with the greatest likelihood of spreading to the speaking community as a whole come from educated middle-class and upper-middle-class speakers from the center of the city.

The aim of this article is to present a sociolinguistic appraisal of Extremadura varieties among regional dialects of Spanish. Spanish of Extremadura has historically received influences from different linguistic varieties: Castilian, Portuguese, Old Leonese, and, more recently, Andalusian dialects. Extremadura is a territory where the prestigious Castilian fights with popular uses, exhibiting an innovative phonetics, combined with some old phonetic features, especially in the north, and archaisms in the lexical level. It is interesting to note the existence of two linguistic islands in the province of Cáceres: Malpartida de Plasencia and Serradilla.

In the same way that Murcia has historically been a transition area where many different cultures and civilizations have met (Iberians, Carthaginians, Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Visigoths, Muslims, Jews, Castilians, Aragonese, Catalans, and Genovese), the Spanish spoken in Murcia is a transition dialect, sharing features with Valencian Catalan, Castilian, Aragonese, and Andalusian Spanish. Its linguistic characterization has, therefore, traditionally been notably nonstandard, like the rest of southern varieties of peninsular Spanish. The aim of this article is to give an account of the current sociolinguistic situation of the Spanish spoken in Murcia, in southeastern Spain, focusing on its covert prestige characterization and its consequences in terms of dialect obsolescence in favor of the adoption of Standard Castilian Spanish, the structure of diffusion of this standard, and dialect choice in public contexts.

The aim of this article is to provide a sociolinguistic appraisal of Andalusian dialectal varieties of Spanish. Andalusian is derived from a southern simplification of the phonological system of thirteenth-century Castilian as the result of dialect koineization. Innovatory varieties accept natural phonological changes affecting syllable structure and reduce phoneme inventory. Since standard Spanish is a conservative dialect, Andalusian is said to be divergent. Nevertheless, convergent trends of pronunciation also develop among the most educated speakers, so that Andalusian speech communities exhibit a great deal of variation, and southern divergent features can be reversed through social pressures into a less natural and more complex phonemic system. What characterizes today's Andalusian speech behavior is a certain division between eastern and western varieties, which is the result of historical, social, and structural conditions. Convergence and divergence from the national standard underlie recent developments. On the one hand, western divergence and social acceptance of southern features is taking these varieties away from the national standard of Spain and bringing them nearer to the innovatory dialects of America. On the other hand, eastern convergence is contributing to the formation of a regional koiné where separated varieties are hardly recognized.

These pages present, in summary form, the features that typify a linguistic modality that, situated halfway between the Spanish of Spain and that of the Americas, has its own well-defined personality within the broad range of geographical variation that is Spanish. These pages also show the confrontation that occurs between forms of various origins — traditional and innovative — within the limited space of the islands, where we find an array of solutions resulting from the different impact of the various social determinants.

A general vision of immigration in Spain will be presented in the following pages, with an emphasis on the sociolinguistic aspects of the teaching/learning of Spanish as an L2. The changes that Spain has undergone over the last quarter century have been so intense that they have had an impact on the traditional migratory tendency of the country, causing it to pass from the producer of migrants to the receiver of immigrants. Figures support this statement: the fact, for instance, that a million and a half Spanish immigrants were still living abroad in 1995, while the number of foreigners residing in Spain at present has reached more than three million. In spite of the fact that Spain is still far behind neighboring countries in terms of the numbers of immigrants living there, immigration has contributed to the demographic rise and economic development of the nation. At the same time, however, it has also caused a series of social demands that have not always been met adequately; for example, the schooling of child and teenage immigrants, access to the labor market for immigrant workers, access to the health system, housing, etc. Also, for a high percentage of the immigrant population, the learning of the Spanish language becomes one of their primary necessities upon arrival. This need, in the case of children and teenagers, is being met by the educational institutions, though with differing results. A lack of an official Spanish as an L2 curriculum that combines general communicative as well as academic competence causes the Spanish-language teaching programs to become less efficient.

This article presents a linguistic and sociolinguistic description of l'Alguer (Alghero), a Catalan linguistic enclave in Sardinia (Italy). Within the framework of linguistic-enclave research, the linguistic, geographic, historical, and political specifics of Alghero are presented, along with local dynamics involving multilingualism, heteroglossia, and linguistic hybridization. The relationship between codes (mainly Catalan, Sardinian, and Italian), local language ideologies and identities, as well as macrosociolinguistic data, suggests an ongoing process of language shift, with both bottom-up and top-down policies of language maintenance developing in response. The point of view adopted here is Catalan, rather than Italian, highlighting the relationship of the local dialect “Algherese” with its homeland Catalan speech area and the Catalan speech community. The Italian political context is considered to the extent that it bears on the current linguistic status and likely prospects of Algherese, and reference is made to other linguistic enclaves in Italy, but no full comparative inquiry is intended.