El caló español a comienzos del siglo XXI : el estado de la cuestión

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to offer a contextualized panoramic vision on the Spanish Romani at the beginning of the 21st century. In the first place, a brief introduction will be presented that will locate the Spanish calo in the context of the Romani varieties in contact with other languages, the so-called Pararomanies, and its main characteristics that define it within the framework of the methodology of languages in contact will be introduced. Then we will focus on the reception of the calo in the majority Spanish society and how this reception has influenced both the perception and the interpretation of the term by the Gypsy community itself. In this part we will work both with the documents produced by people outside the Gypsy community, as well as with those made by the Gypsies themselves. Naturally, until the twentieth century the testimonies come in general from non-Gypsies, while those uttered by the members of the collective are rather scarce. However, the main attention will be given to the current state of the Spanish Gypsy and, consequently, to the strategies of the linguistic policy that try to awaken its revitalization, with results that at the moment are, at least, unsuccessful and little convincing. At the end, some conclusions will be formulated that in addition to proposing a synthesis of the current state, will try to look to the future that, unfortunately, does not look very optimistic.