Eye Dialect in Spanish: Some Pedagogical Applications

Abstract

T HE phenomenon of is a fairly widespread literary device in Hispanic fiction. According to Zwicky, this term refers to authors making ... some attempt to indicate regional/ social dialects of their characters by means of special spellings. . . .' These typographical alterations are used in direct speech such as monologue and dialogue2 as well as recorded speech which has traditionally taken the form of letters, diaries and notes. They represent casual or colloquial speech which often characterizes an individual as belonging to the lower socio-economic stratum of society (thieves, prostitutes, pimps, beggars, etc.), a particular minority group (blacks, native Americans, gypsies, etc.), other identifiable divisions (foreigners, peasants, etc.) and gender (male, female). Thus, a dialect may be horizontal, i.e., geographical and/or vertical, i.e., hierarchical within a given society or subculture. In this sense, eye dialect may convey both social and geographical information.3 Creative writers accomplish their goal of character creation in a complex, holistic manner by utilizing not only language (phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and lexicon) but also through the personal motivation and interaction of the in-