Spanish-speaking World Research Articles

Geografías feministas de diversas latitudes. Orígenes, desarrollo y temáticas contemporáneas ed. by María Verónica Ibarra García and Irma Escamilla-Herrera

Reviewed by: Geografías feministas de diversas latitudes. Orígenes, desarrollo y temáticas contemporáneas ed. by María Verónica Ibarra García and Irma Escamilla-Herrera Miriam Gay-Antaki María Verónica Ibarra García & Irma Escamilla-Herrera, eds. Geografías feministas de diversas latitudes. Orígenes, desarrollo y temáticas contemporáneas. Mexico City: Instituto de Geografía, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 2016. 240 pp. Tables, figures, references, and index. MXN$230 paper (ISBN 978-607-02-8506-6), $0.00 ebook (ISBN: 978-607-02-8506-6). Feminist geography has meant different things to different people in different places. It has had most incidence within the Anglophone geographical discipline—which is not to say it is popular—where most feminist geographical work is read and produced. Many English-speaking geographers interested in feminist contributions to the discipline have only to search for “feminist geography” and then access these publications through their institutions. Unfortunately, this is not so for many feminist geographers outside of the English-speaking world. In addition, as Anna Ortiz and María Dolores García Ramón emphasize in their contribution to this volume, the demand to [End Page 223] publish in internationally recognized journals in English further widens the theoretical and empirical gap that exists around feminist geographies outside of the English-speaking world. This Anglophone dominance within feminist geography leaves us wondering about feminist geographies across the globe. This book, written in Spanish and published in Mexico, draws attention to the different international feminist geographies that are being developed in the academic field beyond the Anglophone world (here, including continental Europe and Latin America), which combine diverse perspectives while contributing to imagining women (and men and everyone in between) in different latitudes. The book consists of eight separate chapters, each dealing with the status of feminist geography in the authors’ respective countries. The book develops three key themes: bringing Anglophone feminist geographical contributions to the Spanish-speaking world, providing numerical data on feminist geographical work in their countries, and elucidating the barriers and opportunities that authors have faced while attempting to incorporate feminist perspectives into geography and in their home countries. Because this review is aimed at an Anglophone audience outside of Latin America, I will primarily focus on the third theme. Authors such as Claire Hancock, Amandine Chapuis, and Diana Lan guide the reader through the situated, specific, historical and geographical opportunities that have opened or closed doors to feminist perspectives within geography. For instance, the authors explain that resistance to feminist ideas in France and in Argentina can be attributed to the belief that feminist struggles take away attention from social or class struggles that many academics have deemed more important. In many parts of the world, feminism continues to be associated with American middle-class privilege, and thus is not radical enough; or, at the other end of the spectrum, it has militant connotations and is thus considered too radical. Lise Nelson, Carolin Schurr, Hancock, and Chapuis address the contradictions of western feminist geographical philosophy: while it attempts to push back against global hegemonic powers that maintain gender and heteronormative hierarchies, it has also served as a vehicle of continued dominance and oppression, for Anglophone feminist ideas are deeply attached to neocolonialism, racism, and other oppressive systems. For example, in Argentina, as in many Latin American countries, Lan reminds us that most international interventions have been accompanied by structural adjustment programs and neoliberal policies. These programs, which impose a neoliberal logic outside of western spaces, are usually accompanied by western notions of development having important implications on gender equality. A superficial incorporation of women from the Global South into development efforts homogenizes gender issues across the world, allowing for a continued exploitation of women’s labor in the Global South while increasing profits in the Global North. The need for the plural in feminism becomes apparent in chapter 7, on Italy, by Rachele Borghi, Monica Camuffo, and Cesare Di Feliciantonio. Despite feminism’s strong presence as a national social movement, independent from the English-speaking world, it [End Page 224] has encountered strong resistance within Italian geography. Hancock and Chapui stress...

Transnational Translation: Reflections on Translating from Judeo-Spanish and Spanglish

Judeo-Spanish and Spanglish are language varieties of minoritized communities at the geographic and cultural edges of the Spanish-speaking world. Literature is being published in both varieties as a way of carving out a space for the speakers of these varieties in societies (the US and Israel for the most part) that value linguistic homogeneity as a national unifying force. This paper grapples with two challenges that emerge when translating literature motivated by such political motivations into English: 1) translating hybridity and 2) orality. It then goes on to explore a few strategies that I have applied to some translations in an effort to address these challenges. The readers of American English translations have been taught to believe in nation-based categorizations of identity that, while they may be useful in many cases, do not accurately describe the “hybrid” contexts whence these source texts emerged. Similarly, orality is ever-present in language varieties that have been rarely written. Recognizing that a translation strategy for such literature must strive to respond to the cultural realities of both the source and target culture, this paper proposes two strategies that attempt to bring this hybridity and orality to an English reader.

Book Review: Blockchain in Education. On the limit between the real, the possible and the dreamed.

Book Review: Blockchain in Education. On the limit between the real, the possible and the dreamed.

Análisis del impacto de la producción científica de la revista Enfermería Nefrológica entre 1998 y 2017

Introducción: Enfermería Nefrológica es la publicación oficial de la Sociedad Española de Enfermería Nefrológica, que cumple su 20 aniversario. El análisis de los artículos de una revista permite determinar la evolución de una publicación. Objetivo: Analizar la producción científica publicada en la revista Enfermería Nefrológica durante el periodo 1998-2017. Metodología: Estudio bibliométrico descriptivo transversal de la revista Enfermería Nefrológica, del volumen 1 al 20, mediante el software “Publish or Perish” V6. Se analizaron las siguientes variables: número total de artículos y de citas; citas por artículo, por autor, por año; artículos por autor y autores por artículo; AWCR, índice g e índice h. Se realizaron análisis por periodos de 5 años (P1 1998-2002, P2 2003-2007, P3 2008-2011, P4 2012-2017). Resultados: Se analizaron 1198 artículos: P1 n=81 (6,76%), P2 n= 160 (13,35%), P3 n=164 (13,68%), P4 n=793 (66,19%); y 2167 citaciones: P1 n=47 (2,17%), P2 n= 759 (35%), P3 n=782 (36%), P4 n=579 (26,7%). Media de autores por artículo: P1: 1,96, P2: 2,66, P3: 2,82, P4: 3. AWCR: P1: 2.80 (sqrt=1.67) 1.58/autor, P2: 60.33 (sqrt=7.77) 26.58/autor, P3: 93.93 (sqrt=9.69), 35.21/autor, P4: 147.12 (sqrt=12.13), 57.31/autor. Índice h: P1: 4 (a=2.94, m=0.20, 35 citas=74.5% cobertura), P2: 16 (a=2.96, m=1.07, 433 citas=57.0% cobertura), P3: 9 (a=7.15, m=1.50, 116 citas=20.0% cobertura), P4: 11 (g/h=1.22, 133 citas=23.0% cobertura). Conclusiones: La revista Enfermería Nefrológica ha crecido de forma exponencial en los últimos 20 años, tanto en volumen de producción como en calidad y visibilidad, convirtiéndose en la publicación de referencia del cuidado renal en el ámbito hispano-hablante.

El español de Puerto Rico: percepciones dialectales y actitudes lingüísticas

En el artículo se analizan las percepciones dialectales y las actitudes lingüísticas de los hablantes puertorriqueños con respecto a su variedad de español. Desde los postulados teóricos de la dialectología perceptual y las actitudes lingüísticas como disciplinas, se profundiza en las percepciones, creencias, valoraciones y reacciones de los hablantes de esta variedad de español. Específicamente, la investigación se centra en el modo en que los puertorriqueños perciben su propia modalidad de lengua en el mundo hispanohablante, las similitudes y diferencias que establecen con respecto a otras variantes de español, los rasgos a través de los cuales se auto caracterizan lingüísticamente y las actitudes que manifiestan. Los datos se obtuvieron a partir de la aplicación de un cuestionario en el Área Metropolitana de Puerto Rico a una muestra de cincuenta y cuatro informantes, estratificada según las variables sociolingüísticas sexo, edad y nivel de instrucción.

Al atisbo de las analogías. La formación del método neobarroco en José Lezama Lima y Severo Sarduy

<p>En el año 1957, el escritor cubano José Lezama Lima pronuncia una serie de conferencias en el Centro de Altos Estudios del Instituto Nacional de Cuba que luego se recopilan y editan bajo el nombre de La expresión americana. Fundacionales respecto del fenómeno estético-político denominado ‘neobarroco’, cuyo canon Severo Sarduy se encargará de compendiar y conceptualizar , estimamos que esos ensayos esbozan una teoría de la lectura estrechamente ligada al mundo de habla hispana (por lo general, relegado del mundo filosófico) que aún se encuentra en ciernes. Es por eso que, a partir de su inspiración, el cometido de este artículo es sentar las bases de una hermenéutica neobarroca anclada en territorialidad americana. Para Lezama, ese territorio privilegiado es Cuba; pero también lo son las innumerables lecturas y las imágenes vivientes de una tradición que componen, por la fragua candente del propio Lezama, un concierto que las torna contemporáneas. La vivencia oblicua del objeto amado, casi siempre elidido o ausente, llevará al autor de Paradiso a esbozar un dispositivo de lectura y un método de composición mitopoético nacido de su propia imaginación creadora, con el cual trazar enlaces metafóricos impensados entre objetos culturales diversos, ya se trate de lienzos, leyendas orales, íconos o textos. Un método que cuaja en una territorialidad impura, proclive a las contaminaciones, pletórica de voces propias y prestadas, siempre susceptible a experimentar metamorfosis. No importa lo distantes en el tiempo en que se encuentren o las fronteras que separen a esos objetos: será la potencia de ciertas imágenes primordiales y el ingenio del sujeto metafórico, capaz de encontrar analogías que se hurtan al sentido común, las que aproximen lo distinto. Pero esa imaginación portentosa no es sin asidero, como pudiera parecer a primera vista. Las páginas que habremos de comentar revelan una lectura muy atenta de aquellos autores de amplia circulación entre los años 40 y 50, y que sirven para enmarcar una propuesta hermenéutica original y una teoría de la lectura que incluye la escritura como momento propio (de ahí la referencia a la composición mitopoética). Considerando a Lezama un precursor, e inspirado en premisas posestructuralistas en boga por los años 70, Sarduy retoma las premisas de ese método al que, no obstante, transforma. La marca del maestro subsiste pero el ímpetu de las analogías se renueva. En tal sentido, Barroco y neobarroco será el texto que condense las premisas del método sarduyiano, su propio dispositivo de lectura. Ese método recibe el nombre de retombée, en el que la analogía entre elementos distantes, base del comparatismo de Lezama, se retoma con nuevos bríos. Diseminado a lo largo de algunos de sus principales ensayos, las connotaciones estético-políticas del concepto de retombée proyecta el ímpetu de la contraconquista como expresión del barroco en América. Nos referiremos a esa proyección estético-política en nuestras conclusiones.</p>

The status of Andalusian in the Spanish-speaking world: is it currently possible for Andalusia to have its own linguistic standardization process?

ABSTRACTThis paper analyzes the status of the Andalusian variety within Spanish language pluricentricity. It offers an example of the rise of new systems of normative stratification in the traditional ‘linguistic peripheries’ and of how the different linguistic agents deal with the vindication of social and linguistic identities. This fact makes us treat Andalusian as one of the Spanish usage models, with norms that partially differ from those of the central-northern peninsular model - the basis for the configuration of the codified standard - and lack explicit normativization and institutionalization. The reason for this can be found in the actual nature of that hypothetical educated Andalusian around which any grounded proposal for linguistic standardization specific to Andalusia should revolve. Such an option seems highly implausible at present for three main reasons: (1) the building of discourse has hardly any differential morphological or syntactic features in Andalusian; (2) the available and most general lexis used by Andalusians is shared with the other peninsular Spanish areas and the most divergent pronunciation features tend to be softened in educated speakers, especially in formal speech situations; (3) speakers of Andalusian continue to grant the highest prestige to the central-northern peninsular model, the Castilian standard.

The Global Language of Human Rights: A Computational Linguistic Analysis

Abstract Human rights discourse has been likened to a global lingua franca, and in more ways than one, the analogy seems apt. Human rights discourse is a language that is used by all yet belongs uniquely to no particular place. It crosses not only the borders between nation-states, but also the divide between national law and international law: it appears in national constitutions and international treaties alike. But is it possible to conceive of human rights as a global language or lingua franca not just in a figurative or metaphorical sense, but in a literal or linguistic sense as a legal dialect defined by distinctive patterns of word choice and usage? Does there exist a global language of human rights that transcends not only national borders, but also the divide between domestic and international law? Empirical analysis suggests that the answer is yes, but this global language comes in at least two variants or dialects. New techniques for performing automated content analysis enable us to analyze the bulk of all national constitutions over the last two centuries, together with the world’s leading regional and international human rights instruments, for patterns of linguistic similarity and to evaluate how much language, if any, they share in common. Specifically, we employ a technique known as topic modeling that disassembles texts into recurring verbal patterns. The results highlight the existence of two species or dialects of rights talk—the universalist dialect and the positive-rights dialect—both of which are global in reach and rising in popularity. The universalist dialect is generic in content and draws heavily on the type of language found in international and regional human rights instruments. It appears in particularly large doses in the constitutions of transitional states, developing states, and states that have been heavily exposed to the influence of the international community. The positive-rights dialect, by contrast, is characterized by its substantive emphasis on positive rights of a social or economic variety, and by its prevalence in lengthier constitutions and constitutions from outside the common law world, especially those of the Spanish-speaking world. Both dialects of rights talk are truly transnational, in the sense that they appear simultaneously in national, regional, and international legal instruments and transcend the distinction between domestic and international law. Their existence attests to the blurring of the boundary between constitutional law and international law.

<em>(Inter-)Fonología del Español Contemporáneo</em> (I)FEC: Methodology of a research program for corpus phonology

The present contribution describes and discusses the methodology of the corpus phonological research program (Inter-)Fonología del Español Contemporáneo —(I)FEC—, which aims to document both the phonic variation in the Spanish-speaking world and the pronunciation of Spanish as an L2 and a foreign language in different learner groups. Partly based on the methodology of the French research program (Inter)Phonologie du Français Contemporain —(I)PFC—, (I)FEC includes, in addition to a word list with several (potential) minimal pairs and a reading task, also a discourse completion task (DCT) aiming to collect data for the analysis of different intonational tunes. The paper offers a detailed description of the individual tasks of the protocol, before discussing practical aspects of the data collection.

Validación de la Escala de Motivación Lectora en Estudiantes Chilenos de Enseñanza Básica

Few instruments have been suitably translated and validated for measuring motivational aspects linked to reading in the Spanish-speaking world. The present study was aimed at psychometrically validating the Gambrell, Palmer, Codling, and Mazzoni's Motivation to Read Survey (MTS; 1996), which comprises 2 subscales: reader's self-concept and value of reading. A convenience sampling process was used to recruit 698 Chilean 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders attending 4 subsidized and private schools in the Metropolitan Region of Chile; 53% of them were boys and 47% were girls. The scale was translated using the back translation method. Internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha), expert rater, and construct validity analyses were performed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Results show that the Spanish version of the MTS is a reliable and valid instrument that can be used for research and instructional purposes, allowing researchers and teachers to delve deeper into reading motivation in Spanishspeaking children.

Exemplary sound and hearing in sensory treatises from the early modern Spanish-speaking world

ABSTRACTThis essay considers sound in sensory treatises from the seventeenth-century Hispanic world: Jerónimo Becerra’s Estvdioso discvrso philosophica anathomia, y theatro ingenioso de los organos y sentidos interiores, y exteriores del hombre (Mexico, 1657); Tratado de los bienes del silencio y males de la lengua, attributed to rector of the Colegio de Manila Diego de S. I. Bobadilla (Manila, 1645) and Diego Calleja’s Talentos logrados, en el buen uso de los cinco sentidos (Madrid, 1700). My purpose is to draw out the authors’ engagement with aural discourses that intersect with other areas of early modern thought. Above all, I underscore the reconciliation of existing ideas about sound’s spiritual significance with developments in medicine and anatomy. The study is the first in-depth examination of each of the three treatises it considers. It advances our understanding of seventeenth-century sound culture and underscores the need for re-reading cultural production from this time period through an aural lens.

Reliability of the Spanish version of the wheelchair skills test 4.2 for manual wheelchair users with spinal cord injury

Study design: Cross-sectional.Objectives: The majority of people with a spinal cord injury (SCI) are dependent on wheelchair for their mobility. Approximately, 36% of wheelchair users reported that obstacles such as curbs, uneven terrain, flooring surfaces and thresholds were barriers to mobility. Several studies have shown that assessment and training of wheelchair skills leads to improvements in those skills. The purpose of our study was to translate the Wheelchair Skill Test (4.2) and its report form into Spanish and then determine the inter-rater reliability of the WST 4.2 for manual wheelchairs operated by their users.Setting: Rehabilitation Unit, FLENI Institute, Buenos Aires, Argentina.Methods: The translation was performed by a physical therapist with advanced English language skills and specialized in the treatment of SCI subjects. We administrated and video-recorded the WST 4.2 manual Spanish version in 11 SCI subjects. Two physical therapists received specific training for administering the test and scoring the record. The reliability of the total percentage WST score were statistically quantified by intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC).Results: ICC values for Interrater were 0.998 (p < .0001). 17 out of the 32 skills had a 100 percentage of agreement. Percentage of agreement in the three skills that presented less rating agreement was 73%, 81 % and 82 %, respectively.Conclusion: The results show that the Spanish version of WST 4.2 is a reliable assessment tool to evaluate the skills capacity of spinal cord manual wheelchair users.Implications for rehabilitationWheelchair users require a proficient management of various wheelchair skills to achieve maximum independence in daily life. Determining which wheelchair skills should be addressed during the rehabilitation process is of great importance for their correct training. The WST 4.2 is an appropriate assessment tool to determine the functional capacity of wheelchair users.Making available the WST 4.2 in the Spanish language and demonstrating its reliability in this language allows its use in the Spanish-speaking world. A reliable wheelchair skills test is needed in the Spanish language.

Hipótesis sobre el tema "escritura femenina e hispanidad"

Es éste un conjunto de propuestas de carácter teórico e histórico-literario sobre la controvertida categoría "escritura femenina" y su manifestación en la producción literaria de Hispanoamérica y España en los ochenta y noventa. El objeto de estudio no es cualquier clase de literatura hecha por mujeres, sino tan sólo aquélla capaz de expresar formas de experiencia y de marginalidad específicamente ligadas al rol genérico "femenino". La selección del corpus está determinada por la convicción de que las modalidades de representación y las estrategias discursivas de la "femineidad" -junto con los tipos de marginación que ellas denuncian- pueden modificarse con el tiempo tanto como los estilos literarios en general y que, en este preciso momento histórico, se están produciendo cambios acelerados y relativamente homogéneos en todo el mundo hispánico.

Validation of the Attitude Toward Living Liver Donation Questionnaire (PCID-DVH-Ríos) in Spanish-Speaking Populations: Characteristics and Psychometric Properties

IntroductionGiven the lack of a sufficient number of livers available for transplantation, living liver donation (LLD) is being developed in the Spanish-speaking world. Knowing the population's attitude toward this donation will help in designing more effective campaigns to increase the number of such donations. However, there are few validated questionnaires. ObjectiveTo analyze the psychometric characteristics of questionnaire PCID-DVH-Ríos [questionnaire of the International Collaborative Donor Project about Living Liver Donation (”Proyecto Colaborativo Internacional Donante sobre Donación de Vivo Hepático” in Spanish) developed by Dr. Ríos, in order to validate the questionnaire for the Spanish-speaking population. MethodsThe study population comprised native Spanish citizens. A sample of the population was obtained randomly and stratified by age and sex (N = 600) according to the following: 1. being older than 18 years; 2. being Spanish; and 3. living in Spain. Attitude was assessed using a validated questionnaire of attitude toward liver donation (PCID-DVH-Ríos). This questionnaire included items distributed into subscales or factors, an initial description of the data, an exploratory factor analysis, and an internal consistency analysis. ResultsThe questionnaire consists of a total of 11 items, distributed into 3 subscales: 1. factor 1 (6 items); 2. factor 2 (3 items); and 3. factor 3 (2 items), presenting a total explained variance of 63.995%. The factors have an explained variance of F1: 38.461%; F2: 14.228%; and F3: 11.306%, respectively. The analysis of items and internal consistency supported the 3 factors' composition. The internal consistency of each factor is as follows: α1 = 0.80; α2 = 0.70; and α3 = 0.55, respectively. ConclusionsThe dimensions analyzed in the PCID-DVH-Ríos questionnaire on attitudes toward living liver donation show a good fit in relation to their factorial validity and internal consistency values.

Transnational Iconography in the Spanish-Speaking World

The idea for a special issue of Symposium on transnational iconography stemmed from evolving ideas within the field of Spanish Peninsular studies that challenge traditional categories of study limi...

La propiedad de la lengua: norma y uso en la obra de Ricardo Monner Sans

The question of purity in language has been a common topic in the fields of language ideological debates in the Spanish-speaking world. In this paper, we propose an analysis of the various conceptualizations on linguistic correctness in the work of Ricardo Monner Sans in order to elucidate the links between his linguistic theory and his position on language policy. In that sense, we assume that these conceptualizations should be analyzed as a consequence of a more general consideration about linguistic usage and purity . This consideration seeks a regulatory intervention on the linguistic practices of society based on philological knowledge. Thus, the dimension of usage is divided into a common usage which corresponds to the widespread use in community, and correct usage , that which has been legislated by philological knowledge and which is, for this reason, the criteria for linguistic correction on which the ideal of a homogeneous linguistic community is based.

Introducción a la lingüística hispánica actual: Teoría y práctica by Javier Muñoz-Basols, et al.

Reviewed by: Introducción a la lingüística hispánica actual: Teoría y práctica by Javier Muñoz-Basols, et al. Manuel Díaz-Campos Muñoz-Basols, Javier, Nina Morena, Inma Taboada, y Manel Lacorte. Introducción a la lingüística hispánica actual: Teoría y práctica. London: Routledge, 2017. Pp. 546. ISBN 978-0-41563-157-0. Introducción a la lingüística hispánica actual: teoría y práctica is a book designed to introduce undergraduate students in Hispanic Linguistics to the theoretical and practical aspects of the analysis of language. The target audience of the book is undergraduate students in Hispanic Linguistics in the United States; however, the book can also be used to teach native speakers. Prior knowledge in the field of Linguistics is not necessary to fully understand the concepts presented in the text due to its introductory level. The book is organized in eight chapters plus an introduction and a bilingual glossary. Each chapter is supplemented with a section of exercises, suggestions for research projects, additional readings, and a list of concepts introduced in the chapters The introductory chapter covers basic content related to the introduction to language, communication, the comparison between animal communication and language, communicative functions, neurolinguistics, core evidence of linguistics, and current issues of contemporary linguistics. All these topics are meant to initiate students with the basic terminology of linguistics as well as the methodologies applied to the study of language. The authors offer a theoretical orientation towards generative approaches as one of the most representative frameworks in contemporary linguistics. The second chapter is concerned with the phonetics and phonology of Spanish. The chapter begins with a description of vowels and consonants in terms of their phonology, which means the structural relationships they have in Spanish. An inventory of phonemes and their description is presented. The chapter also includes a section on syllabification and phonological transcription. [End Page 335] The fourth section of the chapter is dedicated to an articulatory description of the sounds of Spanish. A practical section on phonetic transcription is also presented. The last section of the chapter is a short explanation of suprasegmentals with a focus on lexical accent and intonation. The third chapter is dedicated to the morphology of the Spanish language. The first section presents the basic concepts of the field distinguishing between different types of affixes (prefixes and suffixes) and types of words according to their structure. The authors then provide sections on derivational morphology, other procedures for the creation of new words, a description of grammatical categories, and inflectional morphology of nouns and verbs. Chapter 4 presents a general overview of Spanish syntax. The authors begin this chapter explaining four general principles which are descriptive of the creativity of language. Then, a description of the concept of grammatical phrases (syntagmas) is introduced. The chapter moves to describe the syntactic functions, the notion of argument and adjuncts, the x-bar theory, the distinction between compound sentences and simple sentences, and finally word order. In chapter 5, the authors provide an overview of semantics and pragmatics. The sections on semantics focus on the distinction between denotative and connotative meaning, semantic roles, lexical semantics, metaphors, and idiomatic expressions. The sections on pragmatics present an overview of deixis, speech acts, politeness research, and the study of irony and humor. The history of Spanish is described in chapter 6. A general introduction to diachronic linguistics is provided at the beginning of the chapter. The second section is concerned with the influences of pre-Romanic languages in the Iberian Peninsula. The third section focuses on the evolution of Latin until the first Spanish texts appear. The fourth section illustrates the particulars of two linguistic changes from Medieval Spanish to Contemporary Spanish. The two last sections provide examples of similarities between Romance languages as well as linguistic borrowing in Spanish. Chapter 7 is dedicated to dialectal variation in the Spanish-speaking world. The first section presents introduction to basic concepts of linguistic variability. The second section provides a description of three main dialectical areas of Peninsular Spanish (Castilian, Andalusian, and Canary). The third section offers a general perspective of dialectal (areas) of Latin America...

The Guadalajara International Book Fair: A Strong Contender for the Leading Position?

The landscape of book fairs is changing: as new events are appearing, especially in emerging economies, the world’s greatest book fairs are revising the way they organize themselves and are giving space to the new players in the industry, including technological enterprises. Book events are becoming less “literary” and more “technological.” The Guadalajara International Book Fair, or FIL (from its Spanish name: Feria Internacional del Libro de Guadalajara) is the second largest book fair in the world and is only surpassed by Frankfurt. It is the most significant event of its kind on the Spanish-speaking calendar and it is an opportunity for exhibitors and book-industry professionals to meet in a business friendly setting and for English, Spanish, and other language-speakers to meet authors and discover the most recent arrivals on the market. A number of questions arise: What is the importance of the Spanish-speaking world in the international book world as a publishing center? What are its links with Anglo-Saxon literature? How does it relate to other book markets around the world? How have business practices at fairs and festivals changed in the last decade and how are they likely to change further? What are the specificities of the South American market? What type of innovative business models does this community provide? Do book fairs still play the same role in the promotion of literature? What does FIL have to offer? What are the reasons for FIL’s sudden growth? The aim of this article is to consider these important questions and to map out the shifting balance of book fairs in the twenty-first century.

Questionable Tastes

This article analyses the social uses of romantic music among poor and working class women in Argentina. The analysis is based on fieldwork with a fan club of Ricardo Arjona, a Guatemalan singer-songwriter whose songs have topped the charts across the Spanish-speaking world for two decades. In a constant reworking of the debate on “good” versus “bad” music, Arjona’s musical production is the target of an aesthetic and ideological critique that defines it as poor quality music that fosters sexism. These value judgements are also applied to Arjona’s fans, making the women who enjoy his music into what we will call “cultural ditzes”. The article proposes to explain the connection between music and the configuration of contemporary femininities.

Language ideologies, intervarietal conflict and their repercussions on language and society: the case of the Hispanic dialect complex

Abstract In this paper, a phase of language divinisation is posited as the deeply-rooted origin of the standard language/variety ideology, which devalues the nonstandard dialects thus causing a permanent sociolinguistic conflict. Present linguistic standardisation is seen as the form divinisation has taken in the course of the history of humankind and it is justified by the search of stability and functionality for organised speech communities, which is not objectionable as such for some aspects of social life. The sociolinguistic conflict emerges because the first stage of the process requires the selection of usually one variety (or more than one in some cases) out of the dialectal complex of any natural language, generally responding to class-related interests allied to power and prestige. It is evidently, an ideological issue. Our approach to this problem is based on data from the Spanish-speaking world, analysed mainly on a minimal unitary phonetological approach (MUPA) in search of different dialectal dimensions and parameters. MUPA is justified and possible because of the great cohesiveness of Spanish varieties. When attention is paid to this extensive linguistic dominion, one finds that the notion of the inevitability of the weakening of regional varieties has to be revised.