scholarly journals Belizean Varieties of Spanish: Language Contact and Plurilingual Practices

2020 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicté Fuller Medina
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Spanish Language ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
Current Paper ◽  
Official Language ◽  
Lingua Franca ◽  
Linguistic Ideologies ◽  
Linguistic Competency ◽  
Linguistic Agency

The current paper focusses on Spanish (de facto second official language) in contact with English (official language) and Belize Kriol (considered to be a lingua franca). These three languages are numerically the majority languages and, as a consequence, are an important axis of study for multilingualism. Previous quantitative analysis of interviews with a cohort of Spanish speakers who use all three languages in the same utterance are examined within the context of linguistic ideologies to draw insights into the Belizean semiotic landscape and the ways in which speakers enact linguistic agency. More than linguistic competency, this analysis makes evident speakers’ plurilingual competency which entails simultaneously navigating ideological norms as well as mulitple grammatical systems.

Dizque, evidentiality, and stance in Valley Spanish

2009 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 487-511 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANNA M. BABEL
Keyword(s):  
Interpersonal Relationships ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Information Source ◽  
Linguistic Anthropology ◽  
Spanish Language ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
Andean Spanish ◽  
Spanish Word ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

ABSTRACTWhile information sources have largely been treated as transparent categories in the literature on evidentiality, understandings of information source can be culturally and situationally variable. This article proposes that the strictly linguistic information encoded in reportative evidentials cannot be cleanly separated from social influences. Defining an information source, especially when referring to information reported by another person, serves social purposes, such as casting doubt, framing gossip, distancing oneself, or indicating empathy. Using the concept of speaker stance, this study explores the relationship of information source to the interpersonal relationships and interactions that are encoded in this linguistic form. Data from a contact variety of Spanish spoken in central Bolivia provide evidence thatdiz(que), a Spanish word, has undergone influence from Quechua to become a systematic reportative evidential marker in this variety of Bolivian Spanish. Speakers use information source marking in order to shade subtleties of relationships and authority. (Evidentiality, speaker stance, Andean Spanish, Bolivian Spanish, language contact, linguistic anthropology)*

An American Language

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosina Lozano
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
National Policy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Spanish Language ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
Language Recognition ◽  
Political Language ◽  
Political Issue ◽  
History Of ◽  
The U.S

An American Language is a political history of the Spanish language in the United States. The nation has always been multilingual and the Spanish language in particular has remained as an important political issue into the present. After the U.S.-Mexican War, the Spanish language became a language of politics as Spanish speakers in the U.S. Southwest used it to build territorial and state governments. In the twentieth century, Spanish became a political language where speakers and those opposed to its use clashed over what Spanish's presence in the United States meant. This book recovers this story by using evidence that includes Spanish language newspapers, letters, state and territorial session laws, and federal archives to profile the struggle and resilience of Spanish speakers who advocated for their language rights as U.S. citizens. Comparing Spanish as a language of politics and as a political language across the Southwest and noncontiguous territories provides an opportunity to measure shifts in allegiance to the nation and exposes differing forms of nationalism. Language concessions and continued use of Spanish is a measure of power. Official language recognition by federal or state officials validates Spanish speakers' claims to US citizenship. The long history of policies relating to language in the United States provides a way to measure how U.S. visions of itself have shifted due to continuous migration from Latin America. Spanish-speaking U.S. citizens are crucial arbiters of Spanish language politics and their successes have broader implications on national policy and our understanding of Americans.

Reaching Spanish-Speakers in Self-Administered Surveys

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
J Michael Brick ◽  
Andrew Caporaso ◽  
Douglas Williams ◽  
David Cantor
Keyword(s):  
Single Phase ◽  
Spanish Language ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The Internet ◽  
English Only ◽  
Eligible Population ◽  
The Us ◽  
Survey Estimates

Decisions on public policy can be affected if important segments of the population are systematically excluded from the data used to drive the decisions. In the US, Spanishspeakers make up an important subgroup that surveys conducted in English-only underrepresent. This subgroup differs in a variety of characteristics and they are less likely to respond to surveys in English-only. These factors lead to nonresponse biases that are problematic for survey estimates. For surveys conducted by mail, one solution is to include both English and Spanish materials in the survey package. For addresses in the US where Spanish-speakers are likely to be living, this approach is effective, but it still may omit some non-English-speakers. Traditionally, including both English and Spanish materials for addresses not identified as likely to have Spanish-speakers was considered problematic due to concerns of a backlash effect. The backlash effect is that predominantly English-speakers might respond at a lower rate because of the inclusion of Spanish materials. Prior research found no evidence of a backlash, but used a twophase approach with a short screener questionnaire to identify the eligible population for an education survey. In this paper, we report on experiments in two surveys that extend the previous research to criminal victimization and health communication single-phase surveys. These experiments test the effect of the inclusion of Spanish language materials for addresses not identified as likely to have Spanish-speakers. Our findings confirm most results of the previous research; however we find no substantial increase in Spanish-only participation when the materials are offered in both languages for addresses that are not likely to have Spanish-speakers. We offer some thoughts on these results and directions for future research, especially with respect to collecting data by the Internet.

scholarly journals La protección de la lengua castellana en el marco del multiparlamentarismo autonómico: el acceso a la información pública en español en la web oficial de los Parlamentos autonómicos // The protection of the Spanish language in the framework of the regional parliaments: the access in Spanish to the public information on their official websites

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (102) ◽  
pp. 155
Author(s):  
Ainhoa Uribe Otalora
Keyword(s):  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Public Information ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Spanish Language ◽  
Public Access ◽  
Official Language ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
The Public ◽  
Good Government ◽  
Estudio De Caso

Resumen:La Constitución española establece en su artículo 3 que el castellano es la lengua oficial del Estado, al tiempo que reconoce la existencia de un plurilingüismo. Sin embargo, existen territorios donde los ciudadanos se enfrentan a una situación desigual a la hora de emplear el castellano como lengua vehicular. Esta situación es aún más grave si la desigualdad procede de los poderes públicos. El artículo es un estudio de caso del acceso a la información pública en lengua castellana, no en vano, junto al mandato del artículo 3 CE, el artículo 9 CE obliga a los poderes públicos a publicar las normas (lo que supone publicarlas también en español), al tiempo que el principio de publicidad se vio reforzado por la aprobación de la Ley 19/2013, de 9 de diciembre, de Transparencia, Acceso a la Información Pública y Buen Gobierno, y por las respectivas leyes de transparencia autonómicas, que regulan el acceso de los ciudadanos a la información pública. Dicho acceso a la documentación de carácter público debe hacerse, por ende, en la lengua oficial del país, así como en las lenguas cooficiales en sus respectivos territorios. Por ello, el artículo analiza el mayor o menor grado de acceso en lengua castellana a los documentos que publican ensu página web los distintos parlamentos autonómicos, sean de naturaleza legal, política, económica o de otro tipo. En consecuencia, aquí se realiza un estudio de caso centrado en las seis Cámaras autonómicas con lenguas cooficiales, para verificar el grado de cumplimiento del artículo 3 CE, el artículo 9 CE, y el el artículo 12 de la Ley 19/2013, de 9 de diciembre, de transparencia, acceso a la información pública y buen gobierno. Son los siguientes: 1) El Parlamento Vasco (Eusko Legebiltzarra); 2) el Parlamento Navarro (Nafarroako Parlamentua); 3) el Parlamento Catalán (Parlament de Catalunya); 4) el Parlamento Valenciano (Corts Valencianes); 5) el Parlamento de Baleares (Parlament de les Illes Balears); y 6) el Parlamento Gallego (Parlamento de Galicia). El objetivo último de la presente investigación es abordar unas conclusiones que permitan fortalecer y hacer cumplir el mandato constitucional, así como permitir a los ciudadanos hacer uso de su lengua oficial.Summary:I. Introduction: Approach of the Study Object. II. Legal Approach to the question. 2.1. The article 3 of the Constitution: background and meaning. 2.2. The constitutional principles of multilinguism. 2.3. The regional legal framework of bilingualism 2.4. Jurisprudence on the Spanish language. 2.5. The right to get access to law and public information in Spanish language. III. The praxis of the regional parliaments in the compliance with the article 3CE, the art. 9 CE, and the art. 12 of the Act of Transparency. IV. Conclusions. V. Bibliography.Abstract:The Spanish Constitution establishes in the article 3 that the Spanish is the official language of the State. It also enshrines the existence of mutilinguism in the country. However, there are some territories where citizens face inequalities when using Spanish as their mother tongue. This situation is even harder if the inequalities come from public powers. The article focuses on the citizens’ access to public information in Spanish. In fact, not only the Spanish is the official language (art. 3 CE), but also the article 9 of the Constitution forces the public authorities to publish laws (which means also to publish them in Spanish), as well as the Act of Transparency, Access to Public Information and Good Government (Ley 19/2013) enables citizens to get access to public information (which means to access to the documents also in Spanish). Hence, the articleanalyses the level of public access in Spanish to the documents uploaded on the websites of the regional parliaments. Therefore, it is a case study focused on the six regional parliaments with more than one official language. They are the following ones: 1) The Basque Parliament (Eusko Legebiltzarra); 2) the Parliament of Navarra (Nafarroako Parlamentua); 3) the Parliament of Catalonia (Parlament de Catalunya); 4) the Valencian Parliament (Corts Valencianes); 5) the Parliament of the Balearic Islands (Parlament de les Illes Balears); and 6) the Galician Parliament (Parlamento de Galicia). It will study the level of compliance with the article 3 and 9 of the Constitution and the article 12 of the Act of Transparency, Access to Public Information and Good Government (Ley 19/2013). The aim of the article is to get to conclusions that enable the legislator to strengthen and force the compliance with the constitutional mandate, as well as to empower citizens to use the official language.

scholarly journals Les anglicismes en français et en tchèque contemporains : le cas des formes en –ing

2021 ◽  
Vol 2020 (4) ◽  
pp. 117-132
Author(s):  
Emmanuel Cartier ◽  
Jan Lazar
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Lingua Franca ◽  
Anglo American

The aim of this study is to analyze the neological borrowings from English that occur in contemporary French and Czech. Special emphasis is placed on neological borrowings with the -ing suffix. Considering the lingua franca status of anglo-american for several decades, anglicisms diffuse in all languages, and we would like to compare specifically the processes at stake for the -ing formations. After a quantitative analysis of the respective diffusion and productivity in both languages, we focus on a few specific words (phishing, géochaching, sharing, washing), attested in both languages, and compare their integration from several perspectives (phonological, orthographical, morphological, semantic and local variants).

Epilogue

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosina Lozano
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Bilingual Education ◽  
Latin American ◽  
The United States ◽  
Spanish Language ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
History Of ◽  
American Spanish ◽  
Education Act

This epilogue briefly identifies some of the major changes in Spanish language politics since World War II. These include community shifts in activism. For example, the Chicano Movementreclaimed the language and advocated for culturally affirming bilingual education programs. The epilogue also turns to federal support for Spanish instruction with the 1968 Bilingual Education Act and with the 1975 extension to the Voting Rights Act that provides federal protection for ballots in languages other than English. Spanish is no longer a language of just the Southwest and there are major populations of Spanish speakers in cities like Chicago, New York, and Miami today. In 2013, tens of millions of U.S. residents spoke Spanish in their homes. Spanish language perseverance in the United States is due to a long history of Latin American migration to the country. It began as a language of settlement and power in the nineteenth century and has transformed into a language often deemed as foreign or un-American. Spanish is an American language historically and this book has recovered that history.

scholarly journals Arabic-Spanish Language Contact in Puerto Rico: A Case of Glottal Stop Epenthesis

Languages ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 93
Author(s):  
Sherez Mohamed ◽  
Carolina González ◽  
Antje Muntendam
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Syllable Structure ◽  
Spanish Language ◽  
Language Dominance ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Bilingual Group ◽  
Glottal Stop ◽  
Vowel Height ◽  
Spanish Bilinguals

The current study examines the realization of adjacent vowels across word boundaries in Arabic-Spanish bilinguals and Spanish monolinguals in Puerto Rico, focusing specifically on the rate of glottal stop epenthesis in this context (e.g., hombre africano to [ˈom.bre.ʔa.fri.ˈka.no]). It was hypothesized that Arabic-Spanish bilinguals would show a higher rate of glottal stop epenthesis than Spanish monolinguals because of transfer from Arabic. In addition, we investigated the possible effects of stress, vowel height, language dominance and bilingual type on the rate of glottal stop epenthesis. Results from a reading task with 8 participants showed no significant difference in glottalization between bilinguals and monolinguals. For monolinguals, glottalization was significantly more likely when the first vowel was low or stressed; significant interactions between vowel height and stress were found for the bilingual group. Language dominance was a significant factor, with Arabic-dominant bilinguals glottalizing more than the Spanish-dominant bilinguals. In addition, early sequential bilinguals favored glottalization slightly more than simultaneous bilinguals, without reaching significance. Our data suggests some effects of syllable structure transfer from Arabic, particularly in Arabic-dominant participants. To our knowledge, our study is the first exploration of Arabic and Spanish in contact in Puerto Rico, and the first to acoustically examine the speech of Arabic-Spanish bilinguals.

Do contact languages influence the distribution of prepositions in Estonian dialects?

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 365-384
Author(s):  
Mirjam Ruutma
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Phrase Structure ◽  
Prepositional Phrase ◽  
Gradual Decrease ◽  
Current Paper ◽  
Regular Distribution ◽  
European Languages ◽  
Usage Frequency ◽  
New Findings

AbstractThe origins of prepositional phrase structure in Finnic languages shows little evidence of being contact-induced. However, whether language contact has influenced the structure at a later stage is debatable. The current paper provides new findings on the topic of contact-induced change by comparing the distribution of prepositions in Estonian dialects with the respective contact languages. The purpose is to determine whether the usage frequency of prepositions is higher in areas mainly in contact with prepositional Indo-European languages. The topic is approached from a corpus-based, frequency-driven viewpoint. The results show a small, gradual decrease in the use of prepositions from the northeastern to the western dialect areas. Thus, the uneven but regular distribution of prepositions in Estonian dialects cannot be explained with language contact. This evidence supports the general understanding that adpositions are an unlikely class to be influenced by contact.

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