Languages In Spain Research Articles

Arabic: another ‘other Spanish language’?

This article examines the present-day status of the Arabic language in Spain and compares its situation to that of Spain's officially recognised minority tongues. Arguments based on the role of Arabic in Spanish history, the mandates of Spanish legislation and the constitution, the dictates of various European bodies, the advantages of mother tongue instruction and multilingualism, and considerations of basic fairness, all suggest that it may be time to recognise Arabic as one of the ‘other Spanish languages’.

Los textos de la patria: Nacionalismo, políticas culturales y canon en Argentina (review)

Reviewed by: Los textos de la patria: Nacionalismo, políticas culturales y canon en Argentina Sergio Waisman Fernando Degiovanni . Los textos de la patria: Nacionalismo, políticas culturales y canon en Argentina. Rosario: Beatriz Viterbo Editora, 2007. 380 pgs. Fernando Degiovanni's Los textos de la patria is an insightful study of two major collections of Argentine classics published in that country in the early twentieth century: la Biblioteca Argentina (1915–1928, edited by Ricardo Rojas) and La Cultura Argentina (1915–1925, edited by José Ingenieros). Both of these sought to promote competing versions of national identity through projects of canon formation. In his thoroughly-researched book, Degiovanni explores the relationship between these collections, their systematic efforts to impose a national canon, and the resulting, fascinating battle over a definition of "la argentinidad." Both Rojas and Ingenieros, as Degiovanni shows, undertook their respective nationalist projects through the conscious retro-active reconstruction of past Argentine texts as the tradition, as each would have it. As Degiovanni states in his introduction: "El abordaje de las series populares retrospectivas lleva a cuestionar las más asumidas certezas sobre el desarrollo y el alcance de las políticas culturales nacionalistas y promueve la revisión de las perspectivas de análisis utilizadas en el abordaje del proceso de canonización en Argentina" (15). In addition to the excellent historical, political, and cultural contextualization that Degiovanni provides, one of the most interesting ideas that emerges from his analysis is the role—or perhaps the end goal—of nationalism in both Rojas' and Ingenieros' projects, as the vastly different and in many ways opposing thinkers were explicitly concerned with the formation of future national subjects through their specific reformulation of past texts. By bringing Ingenieros and his project into the picture, Degiovanni sheds new light on an otherwise fairly well-covered period. Inserting in his critical discussion a consideration of the very strategic program designed by Ingenieros, Degiovanni shows that: "una materialidad diferente y olvidada permite modificar sustancialmente la mirada dirigista . . . que ha dominado las explicaciones del período, dando lugar a la emergencia de un nuevo sistema de relaciones culturales en que ideas y objetos se cruzan y despliegan en un complejo campo de luchas" (17). Degiovanni's study of Ingenieros' La Cultura Argentina side-by-side with Rojas' la Biblioteca Argentina challenges the pre-established hypothesis that the period immediately following the Argentine Centenary (1910) is one of stabilization and consecration of a cultural nationalism based on a literary foundation closely linked to the policies of the State. The picture that emerges, instead, is one of a zigzagging series of conflicts enacted over the past—through the manipulation and presentation of texts, in a struggle to define the nation's tradition and canon—that serve to account for the ideological variations of Argentina's cultural nationalism (331). In the nineteenth century, processes of canon formation—always closely [End Page 526] connected to conceptions of the nation and of national identity—were enacted primarily through the limited-edition publication of poetry anthologies organized by established men of letters. As Degiovanni correctly points out, the cultural construction and objectives of these are quite distant from those in our own moment in time, or even from those of the early twentieth century (25). In Chapter 1, "Un siglo de antologías: canon y nación de la Emancipación al Centenario," Degiovanni illustrates this contrast as he traces a series of anthologies from 1824 to 1910. The most interesting section of this chapter focuses on the Antología de poetas hispano-americanos (1892–1894) edited by Menéndez Pelayo, and its subsequent influence on the Argentine cultural landscape, primarily in the form of several strong reactions against the esteemed Spaniard's imperialistic view of the literature of and language in Spain's former colonies. In Chapter 2, "Estado, inmigración y democracia: La Biblioteca Argentina de Ricardo Rojas," Degiovanni analyzes the development of Rojas' thought and ideology leading up to and including the period encompassed in the publication of la Biblioteca Argentina. Degiovanni studies which texts Rojas included in his collection, as well as Rojas' manipulation of these in the creation of a conservative nationalist tradition. Rojas...

Un notable antecedente del enfoque comunicativo en la enseñanza de lenguas extranjeras y de la apertura europeísta en la España de principios del siglo XX: memoria histórica de la enseñanza de idiomas

In this paper we refer to an innovative pedagogic movement in the teaching and learning of foreign languages in Spain at the beginning of the 20 th century. It might be considered as a clear precedent of the communicative approach. Within the Institucion Libre de Ensenanza, Jose Castillejo y Duarte proclaimed the need to learn several foreign languages within an international educational context. He was the founder of the Spanish International School, in which these innovative ideas were put into practice. It is wondered what would have happened if this interesting experiment hadn't been abruptly finished with the onset of the Spanish Civil War.

Spanish and Other Languages of Spain

Spanish and Other Languages of Spain

Minority Languages and Curriculum: The Case of Spain

From a legal and institutional point of view, the current situation of the different languages in Spain has a double basis: the fact that the Spanish Constitution acknowledges the country's multilingual and multicultural character, and the country's organisation into Autonomous Communities. Such a constitutional framework has made it possible for bilingual education to develop remarkably during the last 20 years in Spain. The fact that Autonomous Communities have a language of their own with full educational rights has generated an important number of bilingual educational programmes. Apart from the experiences of partial bilingual programmes in other territories, both Catalonia and the Basque Country now organise their education on the basis of fully bilingual criteria. Based on current statistics, the legal basis and social context in which minority languages are taught in schools is examined, the actions undertaken are assessed and some challenges for the future are put forward.

English in a multilingual Spain

IN RECENT years an increasing amount of literature has become available regarding the learning and use of English in a wide range of contexts, notably including continental Europe: cf. Berns 1995; Cenoz & Jessner 2000; Dushku 1998; Fonzari 1999; McCallen 1991; O'Reilly 1998; Petzold & Berns 2000; Phillipson & Skutnab-Kangas 1997; Schleppegrell 1991; and Van Essen 1997. However, little recent published work has explored the role of the language in Spain. The information provided here is based on on-site investigation, interviews with English teachers and other language specialists in Spain, and an examination of relevant curricular documents and other published sources. The aim of the article is to cover three areas in particular: the history of English in Spain; its current status in the nation's multilingual context; and the learning and teaching of the language nationwide of proficiency.

Small languages and school: the case of Catalonia and the Basque Country

From a legal and institutional point of view, the current situation of the various languages in Spain has a dual basis: the recognition of the country's multilingual and multicultural character in the Spanish Constitution, and the country's organization into autonomous communities. Such a constitutional framework has made it possible for bilingual education to develop remarkably during the last twenty years in Spain. The fact that the autonomous communities have languages of their own and have exclusive authority over education has generated an important number of bilingual educational programs. Therefore, it may be said that, unlike other territories, both Catalonia and the Basque Country organize their education on the basis of bilingual-education criteria. In the light of these facts, we analyze the legal basis and the social context in which minority languages are dealt with in the curriculum. Special emphasis is placed on the Catalan and Basque cases. The steps undertaken are assessed and some challenges for the future are put forward.

Del Estatuto de Radio y Televisión a la ruptura del monopolio: una mirada al panorama televisivo del los 90

Spanish television was inaugurated in Madrid on October 19, 1956, in a climate of secrecy political, economic and cultural characteristic of Franco dictatorship. The request for a television of their own by different nationalities was constant during years of political transition. The general reference to cover such a request was Article 20 of constitution. paragraph 3, states that the law shall regulate organization and parliamentary control of media that depend on state or any public entity, and ensure access to these means by significant social and political groups , respecting pluralism of society and various languages of Spain. In addition, statute itself provided for granting of RTVE a third channel managed by each region. Private Television Act was adopted on March 14, 1988. The television was defined as a public service.This legislation made it possible for privately held corporations have no place in management of service. La law limited to three number of concessions, saying estimates of economic viability and technical requirements or limitations, as well as public interest. The fragmentation of audience gained a new momentum in 1990 with introduction of first three private television channels, Antena 3, Tele 5 and Canal Plus. The best barometer of situation was Spanish TV, which saw its average audience for its programs widely accepted by 50%, in recent years of monopoly, 30%-final months of 1990 and first increase 1991.El number of television channels and broadcasting hours did not mean, however, a significant increase in television consumption.

Phonetik im Unterricht Deutsch als Fremdsprache in Spanien.

In this article I try to summarize the situation of the pronunciation within the classes ofGerman language in Spain, trying to find answers to the following questions: Ispronunciation a central topic of the classes or rather a secondary issue? Do the teachersknow the most important aspects regarding the special problems of Spanish learners?Do they know how to improve a bad pronunciation? What importance do learners giveto this problem?.

PERFORMING MUSICAL TEXTS IN A TARGET LANGUAGE: THE CASE OF SPAIN

This paper presents the situation of opera translation in Spain, a country where this translation activity has hardly been practised and where, as a consequence, it has hardly been paid attention to by translation scholars. Unlike plays, which are practically always conveyed in the target language in Spain, operas are normally performed in their source language, a fact which does not seem to be due simply to the close relationship between text and music, as (both American and English) musicals have been translated into Spanish for performance. As a translation activity normally initiated by the target context, the translation of musical texts is influenced by the socio-cultural, historical and economic factors prevailing in it, such as the attitude of singers, opera choruses and opera societies towards sung translations, the tradition regarding the language for performance, the need to pander to opera audiences in order to make it cost-effective and the position of the text in the target polysystem. The translation of musical drama once more points up the vital role of the target receptor in the preliminary norms of any translation activity, as the different perception Spanish audiences have of operas (as a foreign product intended for an elite audience) and musicals (a foreign product for a popular audience) seems to determine the language chosen for performance. The paper therefore studies which musical texts have been translated for performance into Spanish, when and where, and how translation may have affected our national production of these texts.

Las lenguas de España: Presente y futuro

In this paper we analyze the present situation of the languages of Spain: Spanish or Castilian, Catalan, Galician and Euskera or Basque. As an introduction to its topic, and with the aim of explaining the geographical spreading, degree of introduction and actual status of the four languages, we look back upon their historical background. Starting from the Spanish Constitution of 1978, which recognized the three minority languages of the State - Basque, Catalan and Galician - as languages of Spain, with equal status in their own Autonomous Regions vis-a-vis Spanish, we examine the different laws that govern their use, development and standardization. Based on the complete research carried out by the Spanish Center for Sociological Investigations in 1993 and in 1998, an accurate picture of the status of all four languages, their comparative weight, the relations among them and their individual development prospects in the near future may be drawn. Our conclusion is that language coexistence and contact in Spain is not only part of the country's history, but is nowadays a fundamental component of its present reality and a basic element that will shape decisively the future of Spain. The remaining obstacles for minority languages to attain the desirable level of development will be removed, in our opinion, through a respectful attitude of society regarding all languages, an intelligent education policy and a positive answer to linguistic technical innovations.

La mètrica catalana en les acadèmies i certàmens valencians del barroc

In the 17th century, Castilian was the dominant language in Spain; Catalan texts played a subordinate role in the field of fiction. Only a very small percentage of the poems presented at the literary acadèmies and poetry competitions in València during the Baroque period are therefore written in Catalan. This study covers the underlying metric forms, the poets, and the literary functions of their poems.

La investigación sobre análisis de contenido y los lenguajes documentales en las publicaciones periódicas españolas de información y documentación (1982-1984)

Analysis of the bibliographic production on Content Analysis and Documentary Languages in Spain from 1982 to 1994, based on the articles published in seven spanish journals devoted to Library and Information Science subjects. The distribution of the papers by journals, years, number of authors, subjects, places and research centers is studied, with the following results: a) the most productive period is 1988-1990; b) Madrid and Barcelona, followed by Granada, are the most important centers of research; c) the majority of the papers are written by two or more authors, and they are only sporadic contributions; and d) the UDC and thesauri are by far the most researched subjects, followed only by abstracting. It may be concluded that neither content analysis nor indexing and classifying are important research topics in Spain compared with other traditional LIS research fields. Excluding papers from CINDOC (Madrid) and those of a very small group of productive individuals, a lack of well-grounded research lines and groups is evident. So, establishing lasting research groups, promoting periodical discussion meetings and, perhaps, a journal devoted specifically to these subjects is highly recommended. FinalIy, the bibliography resulting from the research project is appended in an annex.

The syntactic recoverability of null arguments By Yves Roberge (review)

636LANGUAGE, VOLUME 67. NUMBER 3 (1991) dividual basis, as W has noted. This choice would then be more dependent on economic prestige. In her final chapter, W discusses the differences between first- and secondgeneration immigrants to Catalonia with regard to the learning of Catalan. For those immigrants who do not live in a predominantly Catalan neighborhood, W hypothesizes that those who were born outside Catalonia are more likely to learn Catalan than those who are native-born of immigrant parents. She says that immigrants who have moved to Catalonia are not part of a social group when they first arrive, so it is not a great risk for them to learn Catalan and thus define themselves as members of the Catalan social group. Those who are born in Catalonia, however, grow up with a social identity, which for immigrants is usually Castilian. These speakers must accept the risk of rejection by their own social group if they wish to learn Catalan. W points out that other researchers have keyed on the cognitive-linguistic background of immigrant children, but that in view of her findings in Catalonia it might be worthwhile to examine the social risks as well. In spite of shortcomings in the design of the matched-guise test, Woolard's book is a valuable study. She explains very clearly the complexity of bilingualism in Catalonia, and her ethnographic portrait elucidates the feelings and conflicts between Catalans and Castilian immigrants. This book will be of great interest to researchers in the areas of bilingualism, language prestige, ethnic identity, and language planning, and to anyone who wants to understand fully the unusual status of the Catalan language in Spain. REFERENCES Mier, Jeanne Zang. 1986. Estudi sociolinguistic de certs aspectes de la llengua catalana. Treballs de sociolinguística catalana 6.33-112. Vallverdú. Francesc. 1973. El fet linguistic com a fet social. Barcelona: Edicions 62. 5706 Vandegrift Avenue[Received 11 September 1990; Rockville, MD 20851revision received 11 January 1991.] The syntactic recoverability of null arguments. By Yves Roberge. Kingston & Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1990. Pp. x, 217. $34.95. Reviewed by Donna Jo Napoli, Swarthmore College Roberge begins his book with an introduction to the theoretical framework adopted, that of Government and Binding (GB) Theory. A survey of previous accounts of null arguments, particularly in Romance languages (the primary data base for the book), follows. The prose is clear and easy to understand, despite the fact that the works being summarized are full of complex arguments. The reader can be deceived into thinking this is a rather simple book; but the remaining chapters disabuse one of this initial false impression. There are four chapters in all: 'Syntactic theory and null arguments' (10-34), 'Null arguments in Romance languages' (35-84), 'On clitic doubling' (85-151), and 'Clitics and agreement markers' (152-80). The main thesis of the book has two parts. First, all empty categories must be licensed, a familiar concept in GB and one that R calls the Recoverability REVIEWS637 Principle (8). Second, two mechanisms for licensing null arguments are a rich enough inflection (AGR) and clitics. The notion of recoverability itself is not explored explicitly. But from the very fact that R claims that AGR and clitics can license because they have the relevant features of person, number, and, sometimes, gender and Case, we are led to the idea that recoverability here means not just predictability, but an actual subset relation between sets of assigned roles or features (as in Larson 1990;613, n. 14). For example, an act ofeating predictably involves something eaten (or to eat). But we cannot deduce from that pragmatic fact that a verb like eat has a syntactically present null object in a sentence like John ate already. With R's approach a verb could have a null argument only if there is some syntactically realized element that will allow us access to all the relevant information about the null argument. Since lexical pronouns in Romance languages are feature bundles for person, number, gender, and Case, only if this set of features can be recovered about a null argument will the null argument be licensed. Pro, the null pronoun, is allowed in subject...

Language and education in Catalonia

Although Spanish--also called Castilian--is the official language of Spain and the first language spoken by the majority of those living in the territory of the Spanish state, three other languages exist side by side with it: namely, Catalan, Galician and Basque (or Euskera), each of which is the mother tongue of a substantial number of people and the medium of expression of a distinct culture. Catalan, the subject of this study, is the language peculiar to Catalonia, a territory of some 4o,ooo square kilometres, situated in the north-east of the Iberian peninsula, with a population of 9 million. Catalan is in fact spoken not only in Catalonia; it is also, with local variations, the indigenous language of Valencia (Valenciano) and of the Baleadc Islands, as well as being the language spoken in the RoussiUon area of France. This article, however, is concerned solely with Catalonia, and no reference will be made to the other Catalan-speaking territories where the use of the language in education raises a number of quite distinct issues.

Le champ lexical de nación dans le discours espagnol républicain (1876-1899)

THE LEXICAL FIELD OF NACIÓN IN THE REPUBLICAN LANGUAGE IN SPAIN (1876-1899) The analysis of this lexical field is carried out according to the two fundamental axis of the language: paradigmatu: and syntagmatic. Made up of words which refer to the political organisation of a community : nación, patria, pais and pueblo, this field is studied, for methodological reasons, during the period from 1876, the time of the restoration of the monarchy and the establishment of a parliamentary system, until the year following the 1898 disaster. The corpus under examination comes from partisan doctrinal texts, manifestos and political programs. Semantically, the terms considered are regrouped around the idea of «political community ». Some difficulties in the delimitation of this lexical whole arise in so far as the chosen terms are not entirely equivalent on account of linguistic and ideological factors, and in particular, affective ones. The semantic analysis of nación, which has a complex and sometimes ambiguous significance, underlines the differences between fédérales and unitarios within the Republican party. Moreover the comparison of this term with others sets off shades of meanings linked with political tendencies of different discourses and reveals partial or total identities between terms. Taking one word for another is not a commonplace problem of terminology.

The Oxford Companion to Spanish Literature

Covers the whole field of literature written in the languages of Spain from Roman times to the present, including the literatures of Latin America alongside those of peninsular Spain (Basque, Catalan, and Galician as well as Castilian).

The Current Status of Galician in Spain

Few modern languages have had a history as full of upheavals and have been so affected by changes in political fortune as the Galician language of Northwestern Spain. Two civil wars, one in the XVth century, another relatively recent, have influenced its destiny. Galician noblemen took the side of the King of Portugal against Isabella in the war of succession of Castile. After Isabella's victory, Castilian displaced Galician as the language used in official and religious functions. Galician survived only as the spoken language of the peasants and within the confines of domestic urban life.' Galician came to life as a literary language in the XIXth century with the appearance of a considerable number of poetic works of great quality. In the first half of the XXth century Galician literary prose was created and the field of Galician literature was broadened to the novel and the ideological, philosophical and sociological essay.2 Franco's victory in the Spanish Civil War erased all the gains obtained by Galician through many decades of constant struggle and achievements. The initial period of brutal repression and open hostility toward regional languages finally gave way to a somewhat more tolerant attitude. In 1951 public use of Galician was still considered an act of defiance against the Government.3 Yet that year marks the beginning of many significant accomplishments in defense of the Galician language. Galaxia, the most important publisher in galego today, began its activities in Vigo. The editorial productivity in Galician has increased tenfold since 1951 and Galaxia has been joined in the last twenty five years by many new publishing houses. Since 1963 when the centennial of Rosalia de Castro's Cantares Gallegos was commemorated, the Royal Galician Academy has been honoring a number of distinguished figures in Galician literature with lectures in their native towns and the publication of critical studies. Since October, 1965, a course in Galician language and literature has become a part of the curriculum at the University of Santiago de Compostela. The Institute of the Galician Language created by that University in 1971 has since published several Galician textbooks which have been used to teach thousands of students in elementary and secondary education.4 According to Prof. Constantino Garcia, courses in Galician are offered today in all high schools and there are nearly a thousand teachers of galego throughout the region.' Galician was finally recognized as a vernacular language to be used in masses in January, 1969.6 In the last few years these masses have come into the countryside and to the Galician emigrant centers in Europe and Latin America. Their number is still small7 but their existence is a clearly positive sign of official recognition. An alert minority has been instrumental in obtaining all these concessions and making good use of them. UNESCO's advocacy of the use of regional languages in elementary education in 1951 and the Second Vatican Council's support for Masses in the vernacular tongue in 1965 have been measures of beneficial importance. Another significant factor was the radicalization and political activism of the youth in many parts of the world during the sixties. Children of the Galician bourgeoisie began then and have continued until now to speak the language of the proletarian and peasant masses in an act of solidarity with the underdogs of their region.8 The change in the political wind in Spain has been, of course, a decisive and conducive element. The integration of Spain into the Western military alliance brought the first relaxation of the repressive policies of the government. The relative liberalization during the last five years of the Franco regime also resulted in a good degree of tolerance toward the non-official languages in Spain. Article 14 of the Education Law of 1970 states that Kindergarten instruction comprende juegos, actividades de lenguaje, incluida en su caso, la lengua nativa. Article 17 of the same law includes among the educational activities of Elementary Education el cultivo, en su caso, de la lengua nativa.9 Although the

An Evaluation of Studies in Spanish Philology

The bibliographical study of Spanish philology naturally falls into three parts: the standard language of Spain, Spanish dialects, and the language of Spanish America. This discussion will deal with the first part only, for I have not had access to a large collection of material on Spanish dialectology,' and an annotated bibliography of Spanish American Spanish already exists in A Bibliographical Guide to Materials on American Spanish by Madaline W. Nichols (Cambridge, 1941, 114 pp.). A volume is considered important enough for mention here if it is of great historical importance in its field, or comprehensive and accurate enough to render previous works of a similar nature obsolete and dated, or the only treatment of value in a given phase of philology. This explains the preponderance of twentiethcentury studies noted, especially in linguistic history, grammar, dictionaries, and loan-word studies. On the whole, works dealing with comparative linguistics and comparative Romance linguistics have been omitted, unless their treatment of some phase of the Spanish language is especially noteworthy.

Las Siete Partidas in full English Dress

AT last the Comparative Law Bureau of the Amer ican Bar Association is able to put forth a com plete English translation of the learned Alfonso's mediaeval code. For more than a century, English readers of it have been dependent upon the translation of Moreau Lislet and Carleton, which was never in tended to be complete1 and has long been out of print. Thanks to the patience and industry of Dr. S. P. Scott we have the entire work in English, and thanks to the generosity and vision of Mr. William Kix Miller and the Commerce Clearing House, of which he is the head, that work will soon be accessible to all readers of English. There is no task more thankless than that of the translator. A judicial experience of many years in countries where court interpreters were regularly em ployed, long since convinced the writer that no two translations into another language are exactly alike. The shades of meaning in all languages are so numer ous and varied that the most expert of linguists often differ among themselves. When to that source of diver gence is added the difficulty of translating from a mod ern language in a stage as remote from us as the Eng lish of Bracton's day, we can form some estimate of the obstacles encountered by Dr. Scott in this under taking. Only a scholar, versed in both law and lan guage of Spain and of America, is qualified to pass on his work; and it is hardly necessary to add that there are none too many such in the United States. Now that we have this famous work entirely in English, after so much labor and delay, we must see that it circulates and is read. It should promote that purpose to give the reader a general idea of it before asking him to plunge in medias res. Let us, therefore, by way of preliminary, try to visualize its background by inquiring briefly into its history, sources, authorship, character and place in the legal world and finally by taking a bird's eye view of its arrangement and contents.