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Este es extra para un ejemplo de la mezcla de lenguas y culturas americanos

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¿Cuál de los siguientes no es un aspecto de "spanglish"?

A)      Tiene calcos de inglés

B)      Hay extensiones semánticas de cognados falsos

C)      La alternancia de código alterna entre palabras inglesas y españolas dentro de frases

D)      La alternancia de código solo alterna entre frases dentro de oraciónes

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Este sitio web tiene gran información sobre el español en los Estados Unidos. Hay 7 hechos diferentes que parecen un poco al azar, pero son todos muy interesantes y incluyen información sobre las diversas formas en que el español ha impactado a los Estados Unidos. Hay buenas lecciones en la historia, la cultura pop y la variación dialéctica del español dentro de los Estados Unidos.

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Did you know that the U.S. has no official language?

That's right-not even English!

America may not lead the world in bilingual education-only 25 percent of Americans can hold a conversation in a second language. But that doesn't change the fact that America is a very linguistically diverse country. A 2015 report found at least 350 distinct languages spoken within U.S. borders.

And there's a good chance the first one you're thinking of is Spanish.

Spanish has a long and important history in the U.S. In fact, Spanish speakers' language and heritage have been impacting U.S. history and culture since before the U.S. was even a country.

This relationship can even impact your own Spanish language studies.

Ever get sick of staring at your textbook? Frustrated you can't just pick up, move to Madrid and finally learn Spanish once and for all? Getting acquainted with the exciting (and growing!) Spanish culture and dialects right in your own backyard can light a new fire under your language studies.

Read on for some fascinating and little-known facts about the past, present and future of Spanish in the U.S.

A Tip for Spanish Culture and Language Lovers

Before we dive into our facts, we've got a tip for the Spanish culture and language lovers out there.

If discovering Spanish culture is your kind of thing, you'll also enjoy studying the language through authentic Spanish resources. FluentU is a fun, personalized option where you'll discover real-world Spanish videos -like TV shows, music videos, inspiring talks and much more.

Each video is organized by level and comes with interactive captions, flashcards and exercises. It's an entertaining but effective way to build your skills, all while absorbing native speech and learning about many different regions of the Spanish-speaking world.

1. Spanish was the first European language spoken on modern U.S. territory.

During the 2016 presidential campaign, vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine stirred up controversy when he stated that Spanish was the first European language spoken on U.S. territory.

But, Kaine's facts are correct.

The Spanish language first came to the U.S. in 1513, when the explorer Juan Ponce de León came ashore in present-day Florida. He returned in 1520 for a second voyage.

In fact, the Spanish were also responsible for the first settlement on what's now the U.S.: the city of St. Augustine, Florida, which was founded in 1565. This settlement predated the British lost colony of Roanoake by decades.

English may now predominate in most parts of the U.S., but Spanish has been around for much longer.

2. California's first constitution was published in English and Spanish.

Until the Mexican-American war, a large part of California was Mexican territory. This means that well into the 19th century there was a huge population of Spanish speakers in the territory.

So, when California drafted its first constitution in 1849, they wrote it in both English and Spanish. They even designated an "official translator" for the job: William Edward Petty Hartnell. In fact, the constitution included an article requiring all official state documents to be published in both English and Spanish.

However, the state's official bilingualism was short-lived.

In 1855, English became the official language of primary school education. And in 1879, despite spirited debate, the renewed constitution didn't uphold Spanish language rights.

Today, nearly 30 percent of California residents speak Spanish at home and there's still debate within the state about bilingual rights.

3. Six U.S. state names have Spanish-language origins.

Given the long history of Spanish speakers in U.S. territory, it's not surprising that several U.S. states adopted names derived from Spanish. A Mental Floss article identifies six states that have Spanish-derived names:

Arizona: Scholars aren't clear on exactly where the name Arizona comes from. Some maintain that it's from the Basque aritz onak ("good oak"). Others believe that it came from the Spanish word Arizonac, which itself comes from a native American word meaning "having a little spring."

Still others claim that it comes from the Spanish zona árida (arid zone).

California: California is the name of a fictional paradise created by Spanish author Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo in his novel "Las Sergas de Esplandián" ("The Adventures of Esplandián").

Colorado: Colorado is a Spanish false friend. Although it looks like the English word "colored," it actually means "bright red."

Florida: When Juan Ponce de León landed on the shores of Florida, he noticed the area's abundant plant life. Thus, he gave the territory the name Florida (Flowery).

Montana: This state name comes from the Spanish montaña (mountain) due to the state's many mountain ranges. However, the origin of its usage is unknown.

Nevada: The Spanish word nevada means "snowfall." It was first used as a name for the Sierra Nevada (literally, "snow-covered mountain range") and later was applied to the whole state.

Spanish explorers named the Río Colorado (Colorado River) after its red waters. Later, the name Colorado was adopted for the entire territory.

Bonus: the name Utah may have come from the word ute, which the Spanish used to refer to the region's indigenous population. And the name Texas is a hispanicization of the indigenous word teysha, a greeting used by many indigenous communities before the arrival of the Spanish.

4. Linguists have identified many different Spanish dialects throughout the U.S.

If you've lived or traveled in the U.S., you've surely noticed the many different English dialects that exist within the country. Northeastern English, for example, has totally different slang than the English in the Deep South or the Midwest.

But did you know that the same is true of Spanish in the U.S.?

The Spanish spoken across the country varies widely by region. And although recent immigration has something to do with this (for example, the prevalence of Cuban Spanish in Miami), some of these regional variations can be traced to 16th and 17th century migration patterns.

For instance, the Spanish spoken in Colorado contains certain elements that are related to the colonial-era Spanish spoken in the region.

5. In 2017, "Despacito" became the first Spanish-language song to top the Billboard Hot 100 since the "Macarena" in 1996.

Unless you're living under a rock, you've undoubtedly heard the wildly popular song "Despacito," by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee. "Despacito" became the most-streamed song of all time and a remix featuring Justin Bieber generated popularity in the U.S.

In May 2017, "Despacito" reached the number-one spot on the Billboard Hot 100, making it the first Spanish-language song to do so in over a decade.

According to some commentators, the popularity of "Despacito" is part of-and has contributed to-a more general trend of Latin-inspired music booming in the U.S.

6. A majority of second-generation Latinos in the U.S. speak Spanglish "some" or "most" of the time.

"Spanglish" refers to the mixing of English and Spanish by bilingual people. Spanglish takes many forms, such as the insertion of Spanish phrases into English speech or the use of Anglicisms or English loan-words in Spanish speech.

According to a study by the Pew Research Center, nearly 60 percent of young second-generation Hispanic Americans speak Spanglish "some of the time," and more than 25 percent speak it "most of the time."

Although some academics might see Spanglish as a "corruption" of proper Spanish, many young Latinos are proud of Spanglish and embrace it as part of their bilingual, multicultural identity.

The New York Times published an ode to Puerto Rican Spanglish, and Latinx-run sites like Remezcla have produced content aimed specifically at Spanglish-speakers.

7. Around 2050, the U.S. may become the largest Spanish-speaking nation on earth.

The Spanish-speaking population in the U.S. is on the rise.

This is partially due to an influx of Spanish-speaking immigrants from central and south America, and partially due to the prevalence of Spanish-language education in U.S. primary and secondary schools.

As of 2015, the U.S. had 41 million native Spanish speakers, plus 11.6 million bilingual Spanish speakers. Currently, the only country with a larger Spanish-speaking population is Mexico, at 121 million.
Experience Spanish immersion online!
A report from the U.S. Census office predicted that by 2050 the U.S. would have 138 million Spanish speakers, the largest population anywhere on the planet.

If you're learning Spanish in the U.S., you're clearly in good company! The Spanish language has a long history here and it's certainly not going away anytime soon. As Spanish music and culture become more prevalent in the U.S., and as the number of Spanish-speakers continues to grow, the language will become an even greater asset.

If you liked this post, something tells me that you'll love FluentU, the best way to learn Spanish with real-world videos.

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Spanish Learning Motivation in Your Backyard: 7 Intriguing Facts About Spanish in the USA

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Did you know that the U.S. has no official language?That's right-not even English!America may not lead the world in bilingual education-only 25 percent of Americans can hold a conversation in a second language. But that doesn't change the fact that America is a very linguistically diverse co

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Este artículo proporciona una buena definición de spanglish y una buena explicación de la mecánica de la misma.  Hay una descripción de los 4 modos principals en que el inglés está incorporado en el español de los nativos y los hablantes de herencia.  Hay ejemplos y un poco de história para referencia también.

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Most Americans have heard of the term "Spanglish," whether by the film bearing the same title from 2004, or the experience of hearing someone mix Spanish and English in a sentence. But what is Spanglish? Is it another language? And who is speaking it, and in what settings? What is the prevalence of Spanglish in the United States, and what role will it have for a country whose largest minority is Latinos (16.3 percent based on the most recent census)? (Ennis, Ríos-Vargas, & Albert, 2011)

Before anything else, we need to define what Spanglish is. The term "Spanglish" is a popular term, not a linguistic one, and generally refers to Spanish speakers whose Spanish demonstrates different forms of influence from English (Murray). However, this is not the only definition, as Spanish speakers who also speak fluent English will often insert Spanish into English phrases. Even among linguists and other scholars, there is disagreement on how to categorize Spanglish, although many agree that it is not a new language nor is it standard in every part of the country (Otheguy & Stern, 2010).

Setting aside the categorizing of this hybrid, it is fascinating to see how Spanglish commonly works. Linguists have outlined four common ways in which Spanish speakers incorporate English into their speaking. The first are known as "calques" (French for "copy"), in which English words or phrases are transliterated into Spanish with no grammatical structure change. A common example is the English phrase, "to call back," whose Spanish equivalent is "volver a llamar." The calque version is "llamar p'atrás," which makes sense to a bilingual speaker, but not to others.

The second way is labeled "semantic extensions," in which Spanish words are given new meanings for being "false friends" with English words (two words that look similar, but differ in meaning). For example, "actualmente" normally translates to "currently," but some Spanish speakers are using it to mean "actually," which in standard Spanish would be communicated by saying "en realidad."

The third way is the importation and adaptation of English words. Some will add endings to English verbs to use them in Spanish. So, to say "to park" is "parquear" instead of the Spanish "estacionar." Another example is to call the "roof" of a home the "rufo" instead of the Spanish "techo."

The fourth most common form is called code-switching. This is when a speaker interchanges Spanish and English phrases in conversation. Here is an example:

Leaving a recorded message.

"Hi, Marta. This is Pablo. ¿Cómo va todo? Oye, te quería preguntar, are you free this evening a eso de las ocho? There's a movie on campus que me parece que va a ser muy interesante. If you can join me, me das una llamadita. Call me mejor on my cell phone, que voy a estar afuera. Hope to hear from you. No me dejes de llamar." (Murray).

Notice how the Spanish and English are present together in sentences, but always are found in chunks and not mixed like saying "Hay a película en campus," a phrase alternating every word between the two languages. There are many ways in which English is influencing Spanish and the way people informally communicate.

In light of all this, how is Spanglish perceived by Latinos? There are some in academia who are greatly opposed to the term, and see Spanglish as a form of communicating that corrupts proper Spanish. One paper rejects the use of the term because "it expresses an ideology of exceptionalism and scorn that actually deprives the North American Latino community of a major resource in this globalized world: mastery of a world language."4 Others who speak Spanglish are very proud of it, and see it as a representation of their American and Hispanic heritage, and a way of showing solidarity among bilingual Americans.

Based on data collected by the Pew Research Center, Spanglish is used by many young Latinos in America. Their survey found that 57 percent of second-generation, young Hispanic Americans speak Spanglish "some of the time," and 26 percent speak it "most of the time."5 Considering Latinos are the fastest growing population in the United States, Spanglish will be more and more present around the country. In fact, Spanglish can now be found in television, radio, and even billboard advertisements in states such as California*.

Even with its widespread use, Spanglish is not a homogeneous hybrid. The Spanglish of Mexican-American communities in Los Angeles varies from the Puerto Rican neighborhoods of New York City and the Cuban-Americans living in Miami. It will be interesting to see how the many forms of Spanglish continue to grow and change in the coming years, especially with the influence of social media. In the meantime, keep tranquilo y habla Spanglish if you can!

Cited Sources

Ennis, S. R., Ríos-Vargas, M., & Albert, N. G. (2011, May). The Hispanic Population: 2010. Retrieved October 13, 2016, from http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-04.pdf

Murray, G. (2016, October 17). Spanglish: Popular Myths and Linguistic Reality. Lecture presented at Lecture in University of Florida, Miami www.clas.ufl.edu/users/murray/courses/...and.../Spanglish.ppt

Suarez, R. (n.d.). Spanglish. Retrieved October 13, 2016, from http://www.pbs.org/speak/seatosea/americanvarieties/spanglish/book/

Otheguy, R., & Stern, N. (2010). On so-called Spanglish. International Journal of Bilingualism, 15(1), 85-100. doi:10.1177/1367006910379298

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¿Estás ready?: A look at "Spanglish" in the United States

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Most Americans have heard of the term "Spanglish," whether by the film bearing the same title from 2004, or the experience of hearing someone mix Spanish and English in a sentence. But what is Spanglish? Is it another language? And who is speaking it, and in what settings?

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Recordatorios Importantes Para Disipar los Mitos

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Recordatorios Importantes Para Disipar los Mitos

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Este artículo detalla la historia del español en los Estados Unidos desde una perspectiva lingüística.  Proporciona una explicación buena del estado actual de español estadounidense y algunas tendencias que actualmente vemos. Esta relación de la historia al presente es enmarcada como la disipación de algunos mitos comunes sobre español en los Estados Unidos.

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Do You Speak American . Sea to Shining Sea . American Varieties . Spanglish . USA | PBS

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This geographic co-optation, in conjunction with the general American policy of westward expansion - fueled by the ideological notion of "manifest destiny," facilitated the spread of English across much of North America, as well as the demise of Spanish as the first language of most of the area's future inhabitants.

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Esto es una descripción de un discurso de otra profesora de la lingüística quién enmarca su información alrededor de algunos errores comunes sobre spanglish y español en los Estados Unidos más generalmente.  Aboga por ese los profesores se abrazan spanglish como parte del desarrollo de cultura en vez de lo consideran no corecto o gramatical.

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Kim Potowski, professor of Hispanic linguistics in the Hispanic and Italian studies department at the University of Illinois at Chicago, inspired laughter in of a crowd of Spanish-language students and linguists as she captured their attention with her myth-busting talk on Spanish in the United States.

"We're going to chismear," she began her lecture. "Let's get some gossip going."

In addition to her research on Spanish in the United States, Potowski studies heritage language development, language and identity, and dual immersion education. She also has written Spanish language textbooks.

Presenting five statements about Spanish in the United States, she asked the audience: "¿ chisme o verdad?" True or false?

The statements were: the U.S. is the fifth largest Spanish-speaking nation in the world; "U.S. Spanish" is not recognized in the Diccionario de la Real Academia Española; some things that people say in U.S. Spanish are ungrammatical; "Spanglish" is a random mishmash of Spanish and English and is damaging to Spanish; and finally Spanish teachers should aim to eliminate Spanglish and have students pass for monolingual Spanish speakers.

"I hope to convince you that all five are chismes, false, and that they have important implications for working in classrooms with U.S.-raised Spanish speakers," she said.

Beginning with the first myth, that the United States is the fifth largest Spanish-speaking nation in the world, she asked the audience to name countries with the largest Spanish-speaking population. People yelled out Mexico, Colombia, Spain, and Argentina. Potowski displayed a graph showing the highest rates.

The United States was number five on the list, with 34.8 million Spanish speakers. This number is wrong, Potowski said.

"This 34.8 million does not include 11 million undocumented Latin Americans residing in the U.S., nor does this include the 2.8 million non-Latinos, like me, who speak Spanish," she said.

Adding those numbers together, she calculated that there are actually 48.6 million Spanish speakers in the United States.

"Where does this put us? Numero dos. The United States is the second largest population of Spanish speakers on the planet," she said, adding, "probably the whole galaxy."

Potowski pointed out that the U.S. Latino population is very diverse with dialectical variations.

"It's also growing at a substantial rate," Potowski said, displaying a map of the United States in which the Latino population saw higher growth rates along the East Coast than along the West. She attributed this to the meat processing industries and agricultural work in the east.

"One out of four kids is of Latino origin," Potowski added, noting that the majority of Latinos are born in the United States.

She also drew attention to high dropout rates among Hispanic students.

"This is an abysmal state of affairs," she said, noting that some scholars have rejected the term "dropout," which connotes a voluntary action, in favor of "push out."

Moving onto the second myth, Potowski said that in 2012, la Real Academia Española, the official royal institution responsible for overseeing the Spanish language, accepted the word "estadounidismo" to refer to Spanish words that are used differently in the United States For example, the word "parada," which, to a non-U.S. Spanish speaker's ear means "stop," means "parade" in the United States.

Other examples include "departamento," "aplicar," and "elegible."

"These are all estadounidismos," Potowski said. "We have to get to used to the fact that in the U.S., tambien, we have dialect variation."

She further noted that every Spanish-speaking country has its own academia, including the United States.

She reminded the audience that all languages and varieties of languages have the same intrinsic value.

"It's society that says, this one's better than that one. Certain varieties have more prestige than others. We see this with all languages," she said.

Drawing an analogy with British English, which she said some people perceive to have a higher status than English from the United States, Jamaica, or Ghana, Potowski considered the question of why some varieties of a language have higher status than others.

She proposed linking prestige to the number of speakers in a country or a country's economic impact, only to reject those theories. For instance, she explained, U.S. Spanish as an example of a low-status variety in a rich, populated country.

A better explanation of varying prestige, Potowski proposed, is whether the language is spoken in its country or origin or in a country where it is spoken as a result of colonization.

"It's based on race and ethnicity," she said, asking the audience if it is valid to ask U.S. Spanish speakers to abandon their ways of speaking in order to be better understood elsewhere and at what point we can stop caring what other nations say about our Spanish in the United States.

"My response is, don't worry," she said. If you go to Spain, you will quickly pick up on the variety of Spanish spoken there.

"And how many U.S. Spanish speakers are going to be hanging out in Spain?" she added.

To bust the third myth, that U.S. Spanish is ungrammatical, Potowski contrasted three different definitions of grammar.

"Some people say U.S. Spanish is ungrammatical. What does that mean?" she asked.

Under one view, grammar is an internal, automatic system. Everyone who acquires a spoken or signed language naturally and subconsciously develops an internal grammar, or blueprint, of how their language works.

She uses Steven Pinker's "taxicab maxim" to illustrate this idea.

"If you are driving a taxi, it is impossible to violate laws of physics," she said. "If you are speaking a language in a way that you acquired naturally within a community of speakers, it is impossible to violate the laws of grammar."

She explained that, under this definition of grammar, it would be inaccurate to say that a speaker of a certain language "does not have grammar."

Under another view, grammar is explicit knowledge of terminology and rules. She noted that most native speakers do not have a good grasp of this explicit grammar.

The latter definition of grammar is prescriptivist, outlining what is preferred versus what should be avoided.

"You can't violate the laws of physics, but you can violate the laws of a particular region," she said, using the example of a person driving on the right side of the road in England.

Extending the analogy, Potowski argued that teachers must decide what constitutes valid traffic violations as opposed to rules that are basically irrelevant, such as the proscription of splitting an infinitive in English.

Keeping in mind that U.S. Spanish speakers are not ungrammatical when they use their community's grammatical system, she moved on to discuss the fourth myth, that Spanglish is a damaging, random mishmash of Spanish and English.

"We see by now that this is false because they are all rule-governed and valid," she said.

She went on to discuss four phenomena of Spanglish: code switching (alternating between languages), borrowings (words imported from English and integrated into Spanish), extensions (using "aplicar" and "pretender" to mean "apply" and "pretend"), and calques (word-for-word translation).

"I want my students in the U.S. to take pride in the way they speak Spanish," she said. "To study and teach the rule-governed nature of U.S. Spanish is respectful."

Potowski said that she does not like the word "Spanglish" because it suggests that this use of the language is not actually Spanish. She sees code-switching as a marker of the speaker's bilingual identity.

"Many youth decide to abandon Spanish altogether rather than suffer from criticism of it," she said. "If you make fun of them, they might stop speaking it."

But there isn't anything wrong with speaking a language influence by English, according to Potowski.

U.S. Spanish speakers, who don't learn in the classroom, use informal Spanish. In the classrooms, students learn formal Spanish.

"I want you to question the concept of 'incorrect' Spanish," she said. "Instead, talk about formal versus informal."

She suggested using examples from English. Most students know not to write "ain't" or "cuz" in an essay because they learned a different type of English in school.

"As someone who has only been learning formal Spanish, it's interesting to see that what I've been learning in class isn't the only way to speak the language," Morgan Smith '21 said.

Sponsored by the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, the talk, "Spanish in the United States: Myths and Realities," took place on May 8 at 4:30 p.m. in McCormick 101.

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Potowski debunks myths surrounding Spanish in US

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Kim Potowski, professor of Hispanic linguistics in the Hispanic and Italian studies department at the University of Illinois at Chicago, inspired laughter in of a crowd of Spanish-language students and linguists as she captured their attention with her myth-busting talk on Spanish in the United States. "We're going to chismear," she began her lecture.

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Una Explicación de Cómo los Dialectos Se Desarrollan

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Una Explicación de Cómo los Dialectos Se Desarrollan

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Este es un vídeo de un profesor de las lingüísticas que explica cómo las lenguas se combinan, desarrollan e influyen el uno en el otro.  Habla específicamente sobre la influencia del español cubano en inglés en Miami, pero se refiere a ejemplos de cómo este es un fenómeno que se ocurré en todas partes del mundo y en todas las lenguas próximas.

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FIU sociolinguist debunks "Miami English" misconceptions

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Una Entrevista Sobre un Estudio Específico

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Una Entrevista Sobre un Estudio Específico

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Este sitio web es un gran recurso para entender un estudio sociolingüístico específico y cómo estudios similares nos dan perspicacia y perspectiva de la lingüística y la humanidad generalmente.  Proporciona información interesante sobre el estudio específico de las variaciónes dialécticas de Colombia, y explica cómo esa información específica es importante en un contexto más general.

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He is completing graduate studies at NC State, studying English and Hispanic Linguistics. Gutierrez teaches both Spanish and English at NC State, and has plans to achieve proficiency in his third and fourth languages, French and Portuguese.

His passion for languages has led him to research the differences in regional Spanish dialects in Colombia, providing emergent insight in an area without much existing data.

Gutierrez presented findings from his research at the NC State Graduate Student Research Symposium. In this Q&A, he explains how performing linguistic research has given him a deeper insight into the languages he studies.
Q: How did you decide to perform an acoustic analysis of Colombian Spanish?
A: It is interesting to see how languages - but more specifically, dialects - work. Colombian Spanish has lots of dialects and I wanted to see how the varieties from Bogota and Armenia differed from one another in terms of the intervocalic /s/ voicing. In addition to that, I also wanted to contribute some knowledge to the linguistics field due to the fact that there is not a lot of research carried out with speakers of these particular regions. These reports aim to enrich the sociolinguistic field by complementing the vast amount of research that describes the diversity of Spanish dialects in the Americas, Europe, and other continents where Spanish is spoken.
Q: How did you collect your data? What were you analyzing from it?
A: As usual, the data collection process was quite challenging. I carried out six sociolinguistic interviews and I took six more from "El Corpus del Espanol de Raleigh, NC." After that, I manually coded the /s/ realizations with a scientific computer software package, and then I ran a statistical analysis with Rbrul to see which significant linguistic and social factors influenced the pronunciation of /s/ in both dialects.
Q: What have been your most interesting findings from your research?
A: In general terms, there is not consistent evidence of intervocalic /s/ voicing in both dialects. One of the most interesting findings is that some of the participants did voice their /s/ but that depended on individual style. In other words, individual variation is one of the most relevant factors that favor /s/ voicing regardless of the speaker's gender, age or social class.
Q: What impact will your research have?
A: Colombian Spanish varieties had not been studied before in our program, which adds more research experience on top of the magnificent studies that both undergraduate and graduate students are developing in our program. Professors and students in the Hispanic linguistic area may find an effective methodology in my research to help them determine the degree of intervocalic /s/ voicing in other dialects, since it is supported by reliable statistical packages to facilitate the explanation of this particular feature in the Spanish language. Thus, they can use it as a referent to develop other studies.
Q: What kind of future research might follow your study?
A: For future research, researchers may also include other age groups (i.e. younger speakers 15-25 years old) to determine and compare the influences of age/gender in the intervocalic /s/ voicing and provide more sociolinguistic evidence on language variation. It is always interesting to consider different social factors that influence the way people use a given language!
Q: How has your research enriched your graduate studies?
A: Research on sociolinguistics has helped me to learn and understand the complexities and variations of the Spanish language. I had no idea that languages could be analyzed from social points of view using actual scientific approaches and methodologies. Dr. Jim Michnowicz's mentoring and teachings have been crucial for me to achieve these research skills.
Q: What do you intend to do after you complete your graduate studies?
A: Considering that I have been teaching languages since 2007, I think I want to continue my teaching career. I want to get some extra international experience and maybe get a Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics. I also want to become proficient in French and Portuguese by taking language courses in France and Brazil.
Q: What advice would you give to students starting research for the first time?
A: People are usually scared of dealing with statistics and numbers in general terms, but there is nothing to be afraid of! The program has awesome faculty who will guide you as much as they can to help you succeed in the area. I personally believe that your learning in the target language becomes stronger when you actually collect, analyze and discuss linguistic data yourself.

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Study Breaks New Ground in Analyzing Colombian Spanish

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He is completing graduate studies at NC State, studying English and Hispanic Linguistics. Gutierrez teaches both Spanish and English at NC State, and has plans to achieve proficiency in his third and fourth languages, French and Portuguese.

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Un Gran Artículo Sobre la Sociolingüística Española Ahora y Mirando al Futuro

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Un Gran Artículo Sobre la Sociolingüística Española Ahora y Mirando al Futuro

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Este artículo es una explicación muy breve pero muy completa de la variación lingüística, por qué ocurre, y cómo, dentro del mundo de hispanohablantes pero también en general.  Contesta a muchas preguntas sobre sociolingüísticas español, pero también hace muchas preguntas sobre cómo cambiarán del futuro con el desarrollo de la tecnología moderna.

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In the modern and advanced world of the 21st century, a world that knows not only globalisation, but incredible advances in science, technology and media, in an era when everything is as easy as pressing a single button, we cannot help but ask ourselves: What would the effects of these developments be on interpersonal relations, and in language and linguistic variation within these languages?

In order to begin to answer this question, the concept of linguistic variation needs to be clarified. Variation supposes the existence of differences between languages, or variants within the same language. Just as mathematical equations have variables that can have a number of different values, language too has variables. Linguistic variables (words, expressions, any linguistic element), too, can have a certain number of variants. Thus, speakers of a language choose one of these variants when expressing a concept.

Human beings have the need to establish and maintain social relationships with others. Starting at infancy, a person's personality, manner of being, thinking and behaving, develop as a result of social contact. In other words, language (both verbal and non-verbal) is the key element in our development as human beings. In other words, society would not survive without language. However, for a person who lives in the 21st century and can travel with ease, experience other cultures, and get along with different peoples, this involves using not only one language, but many, or even using different variants of the same language, and according to the context (using formal and informal registers, different dialects, etc.).

Spanish is the second most spoken language in the world, spread across the entire planet. And, as you can imagine, when speaking of such a geographically diverse language as Spanish, it is natural that there are differences between the variants of Spanish used in each country. The same thing is often expressed in different ways in the north of Spain, in Argentina, and in Puerto Rico. That is to say, as with many other languages, Spanish has various linguistic norms. We can speak of the norms of Peninsular Spanish and different Latin American norms that oppose those of Peninsular Spanish. Also, as with many other languages, Spanish has diatopical (or geographical), diastratic (or social), and diaphasic (or contextual) variations.

In order to understand it better, imagine that you are a Spanish-speaker, and are travelling. You want to write to your friends to tell them what you've done over the last few days. What do you send them? An 'e-mail' or a 'correo electrónico'? What do you use to write your message? A 'computadora' or an 'ordenador'? A 'mouse' or a 'ratón'? Let's suppose that after sending the message you want to rent a car. What will you ask for? A 'carro' or a 'coche'? The answer is very simple: it depends on the region you are in. Such differences could also exist within the same country. For example, take the Canary Islands (a territory that belongs to Spain), where they say 'papa' for potato (just as in Latin America) while in (continental) Spain, it is called 'patata'.

But is it simply that one word is correct and the other incorrect? Or is it that both variants are correct in their own speech contexts? For example, in colloquial speech in Spain, if you want to say something is extremely good, you use the expression "de puta madre". On the other hand, if you are in Peru, the equivalent expression would be "de la pitri mitri". Things get even more complicated when you note that variation can exist not only in words and expressions, but also in grammar. For example, in Spain, a number of tenses are used to express something in the past, including the present perfect tense ( he hecho, has hablado). However, in the Canary Islands, this tense is rarely used, and the simple past tense is preferred ( hice, hablaste). So, how do we identify the right context for the use of one variant or the other? What is the primary tool we can use? A dictionary, of course! (Or a conversation guide, a language learning book.) But thence emerges the question, what does a dictionary (or a book on grammar, or something similar) do? Does it dictates the correct way of speaking? Or does it describe the actual way people speak?

As is already known, there is a difference between what we call linguistic norms (the correct way of speaking, the model of correction of a language) and the way language is actually used. Nobody is a walking dictionary, nobody knows all the words that exist in their mother tongue, and every one of us makes errors now and then. It is true that some make more errors than others; in such a case, we would say that her idiolect (that is to say, her way of speaking, the way in which she expresses herself) deviates farther from the standard. In fact, linguistic norm or standard often appears to be an abstract concept, closer to an ideal than to reality.

It is nevertheless rather evident that there is a very clear distinction between the correct and incorrect way of speaking in the mind of a native speaker. Nobody can deny that a degree of standardisation is necessary for a better and more balanced diffusion of the language and information; but at the same time, we need to ask ourselves whether the imposition of such a standard influences the acceptance and survival of regional norms with their own peculiarities. Moreover, does standardisation brings with it a tendency towards invariability? If that is indeed true, in what situations is it relevant to speak about language variants or about variation in general? How would we define the linguistic variables within a language and in what situations would they appear? (Here, linguistic variable refers to a unit of the language that can vary, or have various realisations within a language. This could be a word that is written or pronounced differently, a verb form, an expression, or even something as subtle as a prefix.)

The concept of linguistic norms has existed since antiquity, or at least, since the appearance of written language which resulted in the necessity to standardise language in order that it be understood and transmitted in a more uniform manner. The standardisation of linguistic norms has facilitated both language teaching as well as the diffusion of language through media, making it an indispensable factor for its survival.

The standard variety of a language constitutes the medium of communication that is considered more correct than other local varieties. It has a conventional character and is what is taught in schools and spread through media, given that it has a certain prestige within that community of speakers. In this way, speakers would have to try to approach, as far as possible, this standard variety in order to speak in a way that is considered "correct".

Linguists and researchers have often asked themselves why some linguistic variants become accepted as the standard norm while others do not. In order to understand this, consider the following: if a particular phenomenon (a word, a turn of phrase, a verbal form) is heard more frequently in urban nuclei that have prestige from a social and cultural point of view, will that not often lead to the extension of that feature or phenomenon to more social classes, including the upper class, which will facilitate the inclusion of said feature into the standard variant?

The idea of a prestigious cultural centre is not a new one. In fact, during the colonial era, there was one single prestigious and powerful linguistic centre for the Spanish language: the colonial power that dictated linguistic norms of the colonised territories. The Spanish colonies slowly adopted the norms imposed by the prestigious nucleus, putting their own existing language varieties in second place. This phenomenon could appear complicated at first sight, but it is simple if you consider it logically. First, you have this linguistic centre that offers a standard Spanish variant with a certain social prestige. Is it not logical that each territory would imitate this model in order to benefit from the same prestige? But the problem is that each region already had its own way of speaking Spanish and its own linguistic rules for its variety of Spanish. As the inhabitants of these regions then began to attempt to imitate the standard, these two linguistic varieties (the one that was already present and the one that was being imitated) then began to mix, resulting in linguistic interference between the two.

With the passage of time, we arrive at the present situation, where there is no longer a single prestigious centre and there is no longer a coloniser, but many independent republics and regions, each of them with their own linguistic centre, and each of them with their own prestige. Many speakers are influenced by the prestige that mass media (e.g. radio, television, press, cinema) benefits from. Such media outlets usually have their headquarters in the cities-the urban nuclei that possess certain social, linguistic, and cultural prestige. Consequently, these centres also influence the diffusion of language, imposing its urban linguistic norms.

When it comes to comparing language variants to standard norms, it is difficult to establish the generally accepted limits of one or the other, given that there always has been, and always will be, a problematic conflict between the two concepts. Every language is in a process of constant change. Languages are alive; they do not stop reinventing themselves, they do not stop creating new alternatives for things that already existed in their vocabulary, and they do not stop finding new ways to express the same thing.

Spanish, too, is subjected to constant changes, not least because of the large number of speakers spread out across the world, with very varied historical antecedents and social and cultural experiences. The variation we see in Spanish today is a representation of this cultural and geographic diversity of the Spanish language and the Hispanic cultures, and is therefore something we should do everything we can to preserve.

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Linguistic variation in the Spanish-speaking world | Unravel Magazine

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In the modern and advanced world of the 21st century, a world that knows not only globalisation, but incredible advances in science, technology and media, in an era when everything is as easy as pressing a single button, we cannot help but ask ourselves: What would the effects of these developments be on interpersonal relations, and in language and linguistic variation within these languages?

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Una Variedad de Referéncias en un Recurso

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Una Variedad de Referéncias en un Recurso

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Este es un sitio web muy interesante con varias referencias directamente relacionadas con los que estamos estudiando actualmente.  Hay referencias a la cultura y académicos y este variedad es ideal para una comprensión completa de cualquier tema.  Algunos de estos son graves o polémicos, y algunos son más divertidos y oscura, lo cual es un buen equilibrio.

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The song Danza Kuduro is an example of the effect globalization has had on language. It is sung in both Portuguese and Spanish, with the music video also utilizing English, by Don Omar, a Latin American pop star, and Lucenzo, a French-Portuguese artist.

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Una Introducción y un Resumen de la Pragmática en General

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Una Introducción y un Resumen de la Pragmática en General

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Este es un video de un professor famoso dando una explicación de pragmática muy buena pero en muy poco tiempo. Es como un resumen y una introducción con muy buenos ejemplos de por qué la pragmática es un tema tan interesante e importante para estudiar y entender cómo todos podemos comunicar.

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Este video es muy interesante porque explica muchos aspectos de la pragmática en el contexto de la lógica.  El maestro utiliza la analogía divertida de los hablantes como detectives quien utilizan muchos métodos lógicos para determinar el significado de una frase, y también muestra que algunas determinaciones pragmáticas utilizan más que simplemente lógica.

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Una Explicación Muy Útil De Los Homófonos

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Una Explicación Muy Útil De Los Homófonos

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Este artículo es una explicación muy bueno de los detalles sobre los homófonos en español.  Describe las diferéncias sutiles entre sonidos similares por mucho del mundo hispanohablante.  Hay recomendaciones buenas sobre cómo entender las diferencias sutiles entre los homófonos en español, incluyendo la importancia pragmática de entender el contexto.

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Most world languages have some pesky homophones-words that sound the same but mean different things.

Some languages do this more than others, of course.
Spanish is a pretty big offender, even mixing up its native speakers with trickier sounds!
As though we needed more obstacles thrown in our path when trying to learn Spanish.

But, c'mon, you're an English speaker.

English is infamous for its homophone usage-their, there and they're, anyone?-so count yourself lucky that you don't have to learn those from scratch.

Why Learn Spanish Homophones?

As big a pain as it is to learn and recognize the homophones, it's a deed that must be done.

Much like mastering gender or the plural in Spanish, it's a step you must take to reach fluency. If you can't learn to recognize homophones in oral communication, you'll be tripped up in conversation time and time again. (Remember to brush up on those listening skills, and stay on top of your false friends!)

Your conversation partner might tire of your confused looks, so it's best you learn to embrace the homophones. With time, you'll learn to focus on contextual clues. But when first starting out, it's important to have a mental list going of the homophones of a language.

And now for the good news: Spanish has far fewer homophones than English. In this respect, it's a really easy language to study.

The phonetics, or sound system, of Spanish is relatively uncomplicated. Each letter is assigned one sound, with only very few exceptions. Compare this with English, where a simple "e" can take on a multitude of different sounds, and Spanish suddenly seems like a piece of cake.

Let's start by identifying the type of Spanish homophones that are out there.

Spanish Homophones: Common Mix-ups and How to Identify Them

1. The Accents Pitfall

Some words not only sound the same, but are written exactly the same. Well, almost. The Spanish language helps us out by throwing on accent marks where it deems necessary.

Take, for example, el and él. Same exact letters. The only difference is in the symbols. Normally, Spanish accent marks (called tildes, not acentos - here's the complete guide) are used to show where the stress should fall. In the case of él and el, however, the accent is simply used to differentiate meaning-with the accent, él means 'he," and without the accent, el is the definite article "the."

Another instance of this is de and dé. Again, the accent here doesn't mean "pronounce the e with a little more force." It's simply used to distinguish the two words, since they're spelled and pronounced exactly the same. Without the accent, de is the preposition "of." With the accent, it's the command or subjunctive form of the verb dar, meaning "to give."

2. The B/V Pitfall

If Spanish is completely phonetic, why can't they do away with either the B or the V? It's a question that keeps me up at night but, alas, both B and V make a light b sound. Not quite as forceful as the English b, but with the lips a bit more relaxed (a voiced bilabial fricative, if you want to get technical). Therein lies the reason Spanish speakers have difficulty hearing the difference between "berry" and "very" or "vest" and "best," but I digress.

An example of the B/ V pitfall would be hierba (weed) and hierva (he/she boils [water]). Also: iba (I/he/she was going) and IVA, an acronym that stands for "sales tax." See? Not the same meanings at all, but these sounds make it easy to get tripped up if you can't understand the context.
hierba, hierva:
https://www.fluentu.com/blog/spanish/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/12/Hierba-hierva.mp3

https://www.fluentu.com/blog/spanish/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/12/Iba-IVA.mp3

3. The Silent H Pitfall

I mean no disrespect to Spanish here, but its H is useless. The letter is a remnant of Latin, Spanish's predecessor, but it serves no purpose in pronunciation today (except to trip learners up). Therein lies the problem with homophones such as Asia and hacia, the first one being the continent, the second being the preposition "towards." So you can move " hacia Asia," but you should know the difference between the two.

The silent H pitfall doesn't just occur with the vowel a. Some examples with other vowels:

With o we can use the simple example of hola (hello) and ola (wave). These are pronounced exactly the same.

An example with e is echo, the first-person conjugation of echar, a verb which has about 20 meanings but we'll go with "to throw away" here. Then you have hecho, with a silent h, meaning both "fact" and also the participle form of hacer (to do or make).

See what a headache these homophones can be?

https://www.fluentu.com/blog/spanish/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/12/Hacia-Asia.mp3

https://www.fluentu.com/blog/spanish/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/12/Hacia-Asia-slow.mp3

https://www.fluentu.com/blog/spanish/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/12/Hacia-Asia-faster.mp3

https://www.fluentu.com/blog/spanish/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/12/Hola-ola.mp3

https://www.fluentu.com/blog/spanish/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/12/Echo-hecho.mp3

https://www.fluentu.com/blog/spanish/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/12/Hechar.mp3

4. The Y/LL Pitfall

These sounds are pronounced slightly differently. To the untrained, non-native ear, the difference is hardly discernible. If you travel to Argentina, however, you're in luck. There, the double L is pronounced similarly to the English "sh," so it's clearly distinguishable. Elsewhere, however, the problem of homophones rears its ugly head once again.

Examples:

Arroyo - a small stream or river
Arrollo - the first-person conjugation of arrollar, which means "to run over, to knock down"

https://www.fluentu.com/blog/spanish/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/12/Arrollo-arroyo.mp3

Rayar - to draw lines, to scribble
Rallar - to grate (cheese, for example)

https://www.fluentu.com/blog/spanish/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/12/Rallar-rayar.mp3

5. The C/Z/S pitfall

Here we have not just two but three sounds to look out for. With the C/Z/S pitfall, it's important that we separate Castillian Spanish (from Spain) from the rest of the pack.

In Spain, the S makes an English "S" sound, but the C and the Z make an English "th" sounds. That's what people are talking about when they affectionately (or mockingly) refer to the Spanish "lisp" (the real term is ceceo, said, of course, with two lisped C's). And due to Spanish phonology, C and Z can never appear in the same letter "slot" of a word, so there's really no C/ Z/ S pitfall in (most parts of) Spain.

In Central and South America, and the Canary Islands of Spain, however, we do see the C/ Z/ S homophones. The C, Z and S all sound alike - like the English "s" sound. So you can never quite tell if your conversation partner is talking about his house - casa - or hunting, caza. Another example is ciento (one hundred) versus siento (I feel).

https://www.fluentu.com/blog/spanish/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/12/Casa-caza-LATAM.mp3

https://www.fluentu.com/blog/spanish/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/12/Caza-Spain.mp3

https://www.fluentu.com/blog/spanish/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/12/Ciento-siento.mp3

How to Tackle Spanish Homophones

Now we've identified the types of Spanish homophones. They may seem tricky, but don't despair. There are ways to tackle them that don't have you bowing down in defeat.

It seems like a no-brainer, but if you know that both the words casa and caza exist, you can begin to see which one fits better in context (and I'm willing to bet it's casa 90% of the time).

Step #2. Context is your best friend.

As you begin to get fluent in the language, you'll use contextual clues to fill in vocabulary you're not familiar with. This will also help you to choose which vocabulary makes the most sense. In the beginning, when you're just starting out, you can probably know that people are greeting you with hola, not ola. But if the homophone in question is more complicated, or the two words share the same part of speech - two high-level verbs like rayar and rallar, for instance - context becomes hugely important to ascertaining meaning.

Step #3. Focus on the nuances of the Spanish sound system.

Like I said, to the untrained ear, the above pitfalls make these pairs sound like true homophones. But in reality, certain accents and speakers do pronounce some of the letters slightly differently. Focus on whether you can hear a tiny, minuscule difference between the B and the V. Is one softer than the other? Is one sound produced by using the teeth a bit, and not just both lips?

The nuances of the Spanish sound system also extend to the accents and the geographic areas in which you're learning or speaking Spanish. If you're in Spain, the "lisp" should give you a big clue. If you're in Argentina, no need to fear the Y/ LL pitfall. It's good to familiarize yourself with the basic rules of Spanish everywhere, but if you plan on moving to Ecuador, for example, read up on Ecuador's specific accents and sound system.

Oh, and One More Thing...

If you liked learning all this incredibly useful Spanish, then you'll love FluentU.

FluentU takes real-world videos-like music videos, commercials, news and inspiring talks-and turns them into Spanish learning experiences. Other sites use scripted content. FluentU uses an immersion approach that helps you ease into Spanish language and culture over time. You'll learn Spanish as it's actually spoken by real people, so you'll be exposed to Spanish homophones in their natural habitat.

FluentU has a wide variety of videos, covering loads of topics like soccer, TV shows, business, movies and even magical realism, as you can see here:

FluentU brings native videos within reach with interactive transcripts. You can tap on any word to look it up instantly. Every definition has examples that have been written to help you understand how the word is used. If you see an interesting word you don't know, you can add it to a vocab list.

Learn all the vocabulary in any video with FluentU's Learn Mode. Swipe left or right to see more examples of the word you're on. Then play some fun, interactive learning games like word matches and fill-in-the-blank.

The best part is that FluentU keeps track of the vocabulary that you're learning, and it recommends you examples and videos based on the words you've already learned. Every learner has a truly personalized experience, even if they're learning the same video.

Start using FluentU for free on the website with your computer or tablet or, better yet, download the FluentU app from the iTunes or Google Play store for iOS and Android devices.

If you liked this post, something tells me that you'll love FluentU, the best way to learn Spanish with real-world videos.
Experience Spanish immersion online!

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Spanish Homophones: 5 Common Mix-ups and How to Tackle Them

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Most world languages have some pesky homophones-words that sound the same but mean different things.Some languages do this more than others, of course.Spanish is a pretty big offender, even mixing up its native speakers with trickier sounds!As though we needed more obstacles thrown in ou

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Los Chistes Más Divertidos Son Los Más Profundos

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Los Chistes Más Divertidos Son Los Más Profundos

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Este es sobre un “meme” que primero presenta una pregunta sobre los sinónimos ingleses "complete" y "finished". Es una pregunta lingüística legítima, e incluso para un hablante nativo de inglés puede ser difícil describir la diferencia entre los dos sinónimos. Se explicada la diferencia hilaramente con un chiste sobre el matrimonio, incluso si no lo puede explicar la diferencia entre las palabras, se puede entender el chiste.

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Here's another fun post that has been circulating the web. I'm not sure of the original source since it's all over the place, but enjoy reading it here until I am forced to take this blog down for improper citing!

"No English dictionary has been able to adequately explain the difference between COMPLETE and FINISHED. However, in a recent linguistic conference held in London, England, and attended by some of the best linguists in the world, Samsundar Balgobin, a Guyanese, was the clear winner.

His final challenge was this: Some say there is no difference between COMPLETE and FINISHED. Please explain the difference between COMPLETE and FINISHED in a way that is easy to understand.

Here is his astute answer: "When you marry the right woman, you are COMPLETE. But, when you marry the wrong woman, you are FINISHED, and when the right one catches you with the wrong one, you are COMPLETELY FINISHED!"His answer was received with a standing ovation lasting over 5 minutes and it entitled him to receive an invitation to dine with the Queen. He won a trip to travel around the world and a case of 25 year old Eldorado rum for his answer."

(Just for fun, I entered complete and finished into dictionary.com, and here are the results:

complete: finished, ended, concluded

finished: ended or completed

Looks like Samsundar Balgobin really did deserve such high praise.)

About The Author

Jenny Marshall studied Language, Culture, and Society at the University of California Santa Barbara, and now teaches English in Spain. Here she writes about the intersection of language and culture, and lives a life translated by travel.

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Some Fun with Semantics - A Thing For Wor(l)ds

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Here's another fun post that has been circulating the web. I'm not sure of the original source since it's all over the place, but enjoy reading it here until I am forced to take this blog down for improper citing! "No English dictionary has been able to adequately explain the difference between COMPLETE and FINISHED.

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Este video es muy interesante.  El título y el tono del narrador son un poco irrespetuosos en mi opinion, pero el contenido del video es infomación nueva, interesante, y muy bien presentado.  Los temas son sobre la historia del mundo de hispanohablantes y cómo el lenguaje y la cultura varían y evolucionan con un enfoque en el caso particularmente único de Paraguay.

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Paraguayans: The World's Weirdest Latinos

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Influencias en Español con Ejemplos Específicos

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Influencias en Español con Ejemplos Específicos

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Este vídeo es otra explicación bien de los puntos históricos principales y otros hechos relevantes sobre español moderno. Este vídeo usa ejemplos específicos de la influencia árabe en español y ejemplos interesantes de las semejanzas entre español, todas otras lenguas romances e inglés con un análisis de la yuxtaposición de algunas oraciones españolas simples y su traducción inglesa.

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The Spanish Language and What Makes it The Coolest

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Otra Versión de la Historia de las Lenguas Romances

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Otra Versión de la Historia de las Lenguas Romances

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Este artículo es otra lección interesante en la historia de lenguas romances y proporciona un poco de información sobre la formación de naciones europeas modernas que no conocía antes. No creo que este artículo sea el mejor artículo escrito porque la tesis sobre todos los hablantes de lenguas romances comprendiendo mutuamente no está muy bien explicada, pero presenta una nueva idea que realmente me gusta con la cita de que "un idioma es un dialecto con un ejército y una armada. "

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Speaking recently to a French acquaintance led me to realize how communication between Romance language speakers is persistently fluid. During a business meeting, he managed to understand the Portuguese, Spanish and Italian spoken by his business partners while expressing himself in French. While the occasional sentence failed to cross linguistic boundaries, a clear and articulated speech managed to convey meaning from language to language with great ease.

He holds no magic powers and has no cochlear implant serving as an interpretive aid. While everyone in the room assumed the languages were different, they were one and the same: Latin. But how did Latin morph into numerous dialects or languages?

The Origins Of Latin

The original Latin was the language of Latium, a west-central region of the Italian peninsula in the southern part of modern Lazio. It spread with the growth of the Roman Empire and conquered other competing languages, such as Etruscan and Oscan. Latin was stamped with class from early on: the Latin of Cicero and highly educated Romans was not the common Latin spoken in the streets, called vernacular. With the expansion of the Roman Empire, Latin became the unifying language, especially in the West, since Greek survived in a lot of areas, particularly in the eastern half of the Empire. Dialects were spoken throughout the territory, but if you wanted to cross the empire and be understood, Latin (and sometimes Greek) was required.

The funny thing about Latin was that cultured Romans were particularly fond of Greek. It was considered the language of literature, art and philosophy, its cultural prestige surpassing that of Latin, which meant that they both shared the status of official languages of the Empire.

The Roman Empire reached its peak during the second century AD, while its collapse is usually considered to have happened in 476 AD, the year of the overthrow of the last Roman Emperor. From that moment on we enter what historians consider to be the middle ages - and with this we witness the continued development of all the dialects that have spun off from Latin. For instance, contemporary French is vulgar Latin influenced by a number of Gallic dialects. What we now call Italy was awash for centuries in a number of dialects mostly descendant from Latin (and many of these are dying as we speak). Portuguese, Galician, Castilian and Catalan are all direct descendants of "bad Latin" spoken by the uneducated and Romanian is so honest about its origins, it even includes the name of the empire that gave birth to it in its first five letters.

To prove all these languages are bedfellows, let's take the word "city" in English and translate it into Latin and a few romance languages:

Did you notice that classical Latin has a different word for city? This term was also used in Romance languages as a reference to the city with the word "urban."

But how have we learned about these differences? Vulgar Latin ( sermo vulgaris, literally "common speech") has been found in graffiti and inscriptions. And there are many other examples of similar discrepancies: from "field" ( agro in Classical Latin and campus in Vernacular Latin) - to "horse" ( cabbalo in Vernacular and equus in Classical Latin).

The Consolidation Of Nations

How did these dialects acquire the status of languages? Perhaps the linguist Max Weinreich put it best, when he stated that, " a language is a dialect with an army and a navy."

The 19th century saw the birth of many new countries: Italy became a unified nation with Germany following suit, Hungary was granted autonomy, as well as Norway, Bulgaria and Albania. Composers from Chopin to Wagner were inspired not only by folk music but by historical myths and narratives. The bellic undertow of national pride would eventually culminate in the first half of the 20th century, leading to conflict and war.

Let's take Italy as an example. There were several languages descendant from Latin before unification in the 19th century, but once Standard Italian, a descendant of the Florentine dialect spoken in Tuscany, was chosen as the official language of the nation (at the time spoken by only around 10% of the population), it was forced upon the millions inhabiting the Italian peninsula, with the remaining languages downgraded to "dialects." The political dimension of this act has had reverberations to this day, and something similar happened to France after the Revolution. Estimates show that in 1789 only half of the population of France could speak French. The creation of an educational system and the adoption of French as the official language of the Republic gradually standardized the situation, but even as late as 1871 only a quarter of the population of France spoke French as their native language. (Some of the other languages spoken were Occitan and Breton, which manage to survive to this day in minority groups.)

And what about Spain? Can you imagine what would've happened if the Basques had conquered the entire Iberian Peninsula? We would be uttering words and sentences preceding Indo-European tongues with nothing in common with the Romance languages. Instead, the Iberian Peninsula developed its own versions of vernacular Latin, the most demographically successful being Castilian, Catalan, Galician and Portuguese.

Romanian, The Eastern European Cousin

Romanian is geographically separate from other Romance languages, so why did it persist in an area surrounded by Slavic and Germanic tongues? There are different competing theories around this subject, but we can outline a basic narrative.

Romania has a history connected to the Dacians. They occupied the territory we now call Romania up until the 6th century, when the Romans conquered it and the Dacian language was replaced by Latin, leading to its extinction. After the Roman Empire collapsed, the territory was taken over by several Slavic and Germanic tribes. During these turbulent centuries, the language morphed gradually into what we now recognize as Romanian, but it was written in Cyrillic up until the 19th century, when Western-inspired nationalist movements latinized the script, bringing it once again closer to its origins.

Languages Continue To Change

Does this mean languages stopped influencing each other from behind the cultural protectionism of national borders?

Not at all! For instance, the R in Portuguese was historically pronounced in the exact same way as in Spanish or Italian, with a sound named alveolar flap [r], a trill of the tongue. But in the 19th century it became chic to "french it up" - French was the language of culture and diplomacy during the 18th and 19th centuries, something it only lost to English in the 20th century - and the classist snobbery of the guttural R [ʁ], a fricative produced with the throat and not with the tongue, became socially desirable. Soon enough it spread all over the country, and now it is the most common sound heard in European Portuguese, with the alveolar flap typical of Spanish and Italian relegated to a regional variant - ironically! Also ironic is the fact I grew up thinking the alveolar flap was in fact sophisticated and the guttural sound I grew up using in my family was basic and common. (It does sound less lyrical, but personal sensibility is not historical accuracy!)

Latin dialects turned official national languages also spread throughout the world, from Latin America to Africa and Asia. Portuguese, for instance, traveled the Atlantic but kept evolving in Europe beyond its South American legacy, to the point where Brazilian Portuguese might give us a more accurate rendition of European Portuguese in the 16th century than contemporary European Portuguese can.

Death Of Dialects Or A Future Of Borders?

Recent research shows the death of dialects and languages all over the world continues at a speedy rate. For some, it is the inevitable consequence of migratory fluxes and the cultural dominance of English triggered by political and economic power.

Whatever point of view you take, there is a visible and audible growing backlash about this dominance. It's mirrored in independence movements (Catalonia and Scotland, for instance), but also present in some mainstream politics that glorify difference and are suspicious of linguistic and cultural standardization. How this will play out in the 21st century makes ours an interesting time to be alive!

We can see this in many situations as the continuing story of Latin and its offspring. Languages with the same birthplace don't always bring people together. Speakers of Catalan and Castilian (Spanish) do understand each other quite easily - they both speak evolved vernacular Latin - but they have little desire to live under the same national umbrella.

Being able to understand someone is somewhat different from agreeing with them, and conflicts have continued to persist in many of the regions once occupied by the Roman Empire. It's really nothing new and language doesn't seem to provide any clear answers for it.

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Why Do Romance Language Speakers Understand Each Other So Easily? (Or Do They?)

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Speaking recently to a French acquaintance led me to realize how communication between Romance language speakers is persistently fluid. During a business meeting, he managed to understand the Portuguese, Spanish and Italian spoken by his business partners while expressing himself in French.

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Un Artículo Muy Completo y Bien Escrito 

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Un Artículo Muy Completo y Bien Escrito 

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Este artículo es como un resúmen de toda la historia de las lenguas del Península Ibérica.  Explíca en inglés muy fácil que entender como español y portugués formado y evolucionado juntos para convertirse en dos idiomas similares pero distintas y cómo pueden continuar evolucionando en el futuro.  Es muy minucioso para un artículo tan corto.

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"They look similar!" I can already hear you saying. "Look, just change this, and constituci ón becomes constituição. Todo is tudu and bien is bem. Lengua is lingua, and is idioma. They're just dialects of the same language."

Yes and no.

Now, no. Portuguese and Spanish are currently quite different. You can't learn one and expect to function effortlessly in the other. Portuguese sounds are quite different from Spanish ones, as are the two languages' vocabularies. And which variety of present-day Portuguese and Spanish are we talking about, specifically? There's Argentine Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese, for starters, and Canary Islands Spanish and Guinean Portuguese, not to mention the regional differences between Portuguese and Spanish dialects within Portugal and Spain themselves.

But once upon a time, yes. Portuguese and Spanish were, basically, dialects of the same language. That language was Latin, the language of the Roman Empire, from which all Romance languages spring.

Hundreds of years later, how have Portuguese and Spanish grown apart, and why? And will they always be different?

Iberian siblings

Spain and Portugal presently occupy almost the entirety of the Iberian Peninsula, the spit of land that sticks out of Western Europe just below France. (Almost, but not quite: the tiny Principality of Andorra sits snug along the border of Spain and France, ensconced in the embrace of the Eastern Pyrenees.) The Iberian Peninsula is where Portuguese and Spanish were 'born' (if languages can be born) and it is also the main reason why Portuguese and Spanish are much closer to each other than to the other major Romance languages: it has allowed them to develop in relative isolation. Indeed, this is plain to see on a map: the oceans surround the western, southern and eastern edges of the Peninsula, while to the north, the Pyrenees form a natural border with France. It is for this reason also that Portuguese and Spanish are usually known as the Iberian or Iberoamerican languages.

But Portuguese and Spanish were not the first languages on the Peninsula, nor are they those first languages' descendants. They come from a very different place.

All roads lead from Rome

The story of Portuguese and Spanish, as with all Romance languages, actually begins in Italy. Or, more specifically, with the Roman Empire, which spoke Latin and spread the language across the lands that it conquered and governed.

At their height, the Romans controlled almost all the areas immediately surrounding the Mediterranean, including modern-day Italy, Croatia, the Levant (the area around modern-day Israel, Lebanon and Syria), the Maghreb (modern-day Morocco), and the Iberian peninsula (which the Romans called 'Hispania'). Latin, as the language of the Roman Empire, was thus brought into all these places, and it gradually began to supersede the use of many other languages on the Peninsula.

Aquitanian, Tartessian, Lusitanian, Celtiberian: these are some of the languages believed to have existed on the peninsula before the arrival of the Romans in 218 BCE. All have now been lost to history (except perhaps Aquitanian, which may have survived in its possible daughter language, Basque, and which you can read about here) because Latin superseded them all in the new Roman province of Hispania. At this time, there was no Spain or Portugal to speak of; there was only Hispania, initially divided into two sections, Hispania Ulterior and Citerior, which became three from 27 BCE: Lusitania (the south-west), Baetica (the south), and Tarraconensis (the rest); and then five from 284 CE, with swathes of Tarraconensis becoming the new provinces of Galicia (the north-west) and Cartaginense (the south-east).

Thus, for the next 600 years, Latin continued to reign supreme on the Iberian Peninsula, as it did in most of the other areas of the Roman Empire.

Latin, however, was itself changing. Just as there are formal and informal versions of Arabic and Tamil today, spoken in different contexts, so too were there different varieties of Latin emerging in the Empire. There was a standardised, 'higher' version of Latin, which we call Classical Latin, spoken in more formal contexts like matters of administration and, later, in churches; and then there was the more informal Latin that everyday people spoke, which gradually came to be called colloquial or Vulgar Latin.

Vulgar Latin developed differently in different parts of the Empire. Not all the reasons for the differences are known, but one main factor could be that different parts of the Empire had different indigenous languages that came into contact with Latin, and thus different parts of the Empire had different loanwords (and eventually vocabularies) in their versions of Vulgar Latin. For example, the Vulgar Latin spoken in Spain and Portugal might have included loanwords from Celtiberian, whereas the Vulgar Latin spoken in France might have loanwords from other indigenous languages instead such as Gaulish.

Of course, Vulgar Latin was frowned upon by authorities and those from the higher echelons of society, and Classical Latin remained their language of choice; they maintained it as a unifying language that was used for administration in all parts of the Roman Empire. Thus, as long as the Empire stayed intact, so too did Latin.

Gothic and Arabic

Like all great empires, however, the Roman Empire was destined to fall. As its influence and control over the territories on its periphery began to weaken significantly, territories like Hispania began in the 5 th century CE to experience several waves of invasions by Germanic peoples like the Vandals, the Alans, and the Visigoths. Eventually, Hispania came under control of this last group, the Visigoths, who were invited to rule the province for Rome by Emperor Honorius in 415 CE, and who gradually took complete control of it, especially after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE.

The new kings were native speakers of Gothic, a distant but now extinct relative of today's German and English. Gothic never really caught on in Hispania, and remained the language of the upper classes, while the majority of the population continued to use Vulgar Latin for everyday communication and interaction. However, with Classical Latin no longer readily available for 'reference' as the standard to aspire to, Vulgar Latin in Hispania likely began to change further, incorporating several new features from Gothic.

Then, beginning in 711 CE, Visigothic Hispania was almost entirely conquered by the Moors of the Umayyad Caliphate, becoming the new Muslim kingdom of Al-Andalus. In a series of swift, lightning-fast conquests, the Umayyads took almost the entire Iberian Peninsula, and replaced Gothic with Arabic as the language of the elite.

However, the Vulgar Latin dialects continued to survive in large part because most of the population remained Christian despite now being subject to heavy Arabic influence. For this reason, the Vulgar Latin of this time is known as Mozarabic. As had been the case under the Visigoth kings, Mozarabic was spoken by a large majority of the population, while Arabic was only used by the upper echelons of society.

Whence Portuguese and Spanish, then? At last, with the Muslim conquest of Spain, they were beginning to appear.

Beloved Homeland

In the northwest corner of Spain, the tiny kingdom of Asturias successfully resisted the Moors, and was able to recover and grow in strength throughout the 9 th and 10 th centuries CE. This one remaining Christian bulwark on the peninsula thus served as the nucleus of the movement known as the Reconquista or the Christian reconquering of Spain, and also as the nucleus from which Portuguese and Spanish as we know them today were eventually born.

At its inception, Asturias was composed of the modern-day regions of Asturias and Galicia, which were never fully under the control of the Moors. Indeed, Galicia especially had remained fiercely distinctive since the 4 th century. In 409 CE, slightly earlier than the rest of the peninsula, it had become a separate Roman vassal state under the Suebi, a separate Germanic race from the Visigoths, and remained an independent Suebi kingdom until 585 CE, when Visigoth King Leovigild absorbed it into the rest of Visigoth Hispania. Galician dialects of Vulgar Latin were thus already rather more divergent compared to Vulgar Latin and Mozarabic dialects on the rest of the peninsula, and even compared to their Asturian brethren.

Enter a Galician nobleman named Vimara Peres, who at the end of the 9 th century CE, led an Asturian force to conquer a sizeable chunk of Andalusian territory between the Minho and Douro rivers. Asturian King Alfonso III awarded the entire region to Peres as a County, and Peres resettled the area with Galician colonists. He also named it after the largest port city in the region, Portus Cale -taken today as the origin of the name Portugal. From this point on, Portugal began to develop its own regional identity, and indeed, its own distinct Vulgar Latin dialects, separate from the Asturian ones.

Portuguese and Spanish

Eventually, Asturias splintered into several successor states as various kings and heirs fought for control over the area. Two of these successor states were the Kingdom of Leon, and the County of Portugal, the latter of which declared its independence as a separate Kingdom from Leon in 1143 under King Afonso Henrique, and by which time had expanded to fill out most of the western coast of the Iberian Peninsula. Portuguese was also by this time a markedly different dialect from the other Vulgar Latin daughter dialects, and Portugal's separation from Leon ensured that this would continue to be so.

Meanwhile, Leon, later the Kingdom of Leon and Castile, gradually began to assert itself as the dominant force in the central area of the Peninsula. It eventually defeated the Moorish kingdoms, and expanded to control the territory of modern-day Spain by the end of the 15 th century CE. The Vulgar Latin daughter dialect that eventually became the language that we know today as Spanish was the Castilian dialect that originated with Leon and Castile, and which became standardised in written form in the 13 th century around the city of Toledo through the work of the Toledo School of Translators. Under the official patronage of King Alfonso X, this group worked to translate a large body of various Arabic and Hebrew texts into Latin and, for the first time, Castilian, giving Castilian a sizeable body of "official" written language, and in doing so laying the foundations for Castilian's eventual dominance over the other daughter dialects of Vulgar Latin.

Differences today

Today, both Standard Castilian Spanish and Standard Continental Portuguese reflect this rich tapestry of linguistic and cultural history, with a sizeable number of loanwords from Arabic, Gothic and (in the case of Spanish) Basque. Both languages retain similar grammatical features and syntax, and also share many cognates, or root word forms, as a result of their common descent from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the peninsula.

However, Portuguese and Spanish differ mainly because of their different origins during the period following the Muslim conquest of Iberia and the advent of the Reconquista. Modern-day Portugal was conquered and consolidated as a stable kingdom much earlier than Spain, and thus the process of the standardisation of Portuguese began earlier than that of Spanish, resulting in Portuguese retaining more recognisable features of Vulgar Latin than Spanish, whose original core dialects evolved and became standardised much later. Geography, both natural and political, has also played a part-had Portugal not remained an independent kingdom and state, it is conceivable that Portuguese might have deteriorated, much as the other Vulgar Latin dialects have today. (The reverse with Castilian Spanish is possible too, though much more unlikely, due to the relative size of the two polities).

Other Vulgar Latin dialects?

What happened to those, I hear you ask? After all, there were other successor states to Asturias, like Aragon, and Navarre. Surely they had their own unique dialects. And what happened to Leonese and Galician?

The answer is that with the process of standardisation, other dialects that have not been chosen as the standard often become marginalised and are left to simply fade away. In many cases, this is exactly what happened with the other dialects up until recent times: Aragonese, Leonese, and Navarrese are all still spoken, but by relatively few people, as Castilian Spanish became the sole language of use in almost all domains of public life after the 15 th century. Nonetheless, Galicia has managed to maintain its strong distinctive regional identity, and Galician has survived quite well into the present day as a strong marker of that identity. Galician and Portuguese continue to be rather more mutually intelligible than Portuguese and Spanish as a result of Portuguese's evolution from the Galician Vulgar Latin dialects; indeed, most linguists agree that Galician and Portuguese form a sort of continuum of intelligibility. Two other languages that have experienced a resurgence on the peninsula are Catalan, which after almost near-extinction has reemerged as one of the primary drivers of the Catalan independence movement, and Basque, very probably the last survivor of the languages originally spoken on the peninsula before the coming of the Romans.

The New World

Now that you know how Portuguese and Spanish came to be, the question is, where are they going?

In the 14 th and 15 th centuries, Portuguese and Spanish explorers were an integral part of the European Age of Exploration, which saw the colonisation and domination of Africa, the Americas, and much of Asia by European colonists. Portuguese and Spanish came to override indigenous languages in much the same way Latin did, and with almost identical end results: Spanish is now the dominant language in most of Central and South America at the expense of many native languages, while Brazilian Portuguese has far outstripped Continental Portuguese in terms of number of speakers and influence. Both languages have also left their mark on daughter languages as far flung as Tagalog in the Philippines, Kristang in Malaysia, and Guinean Creole in Guinea-Bissau.

With the collapse of the Portuguese and Spanish overseas empires in the 18 th and 19 th centuries, all these varieties and offshoots of Portuguese and Spanish have been largely left to develop on their own, much as the various dialects of Vulgar Latin were left to their own devices after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. And already we are seeing marked differences: Brazilian Portuguese speakers, for example, often pronounce initial 'd' sounds with a sound rather like the English 'j', an innovation unknown to Continental Portuguese, while Argentinian Spanish speakers are famous for their almost lyrical intonation patterns, a feature not found in Castilian Spanish. Chilean Spanish is full of loans from Quechua, while informal Angolan Portuguese is filled with loans from Kimbundu.

It seems possible that both languages might go the way of their once dominant Roman parent. Already we sometimes speak not of Portuguese and Spanish, but Portugueses and Spanishes; in a hundred years, perhaps we might even speak of an Iberian language family. As the Spanish saying goes, no hay dos sin tres -never two without three.

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Iberia's children: A short history of why Portuguese and Spanish are different | Unravel Magazine

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Once upon a time, Portuguese and Spanish were, basically, dialects of the same language: Latin, the language of the Roman Empire. Hundreds of years later, how have Portuguese and Spanish grown apart, and why? And will they always be different?

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¿Cuál es la mejor manera de describir las reglas de la sintaxis española?

A)      No hay reglas concretas, solo directrices

B)      Hay reglas pero con excepciones y matices

C)      Hay reglas concretas

D)      No hay reglas o directrices, siempre depende de la forma en que la gente habla

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https://www.italki.com/article/678/A-Deeper-Look-At-Spanish-Grammar-In-The-Context-Of-Poetry
Esto es un otro lección básico de español, con explicaciónes de verbos, pronombres, modos y tipos de oraciónes.  La diferencia con este sitio web es que presenta las lecciones en el contexto de la poesía española con bellos ejemplos de gramática uso en poemas españoles famosos.  Creo que la poesía es la forma más alta de expresión en cualquier idioma y es una manera maravillosa de explorar los aspectos del lenguaje más de solo la gramática y el vocabulario.

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Esto es un dibujo animado inexpresivo con el valor de producción muy bajo.  Pero también es una buena lección sobre los tipos de verbos, el uso del verbo, y particularmente verbos “al revés” como gustar.  A veces la mejor manera de aprender o repasar una lección es con humor tonto.

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Este es una lección de Youtube con un hombre (con camisa hermosa) quien está explicando los detalles de la colocación de sustantivos y adjetivos en español.  Compara la sintaxis del español al inglés y describe las diferentes maneras que la colocación de sustantivos y adjetivos afecta el significado en español, proporcionando muchos ejemplos para mostrar muchos matices.

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Spanish Sentence Structure Series 1: Nouns and Adjective Placement

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¡Dice avanzado, pero es básico para nosotros!

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¡Dice avanzado, pero es básico para nosotros!

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Esto es un buen resumen de los tipos de lecciones hemos aprendimos en este capítulo.  No es muy detallada o tan complejo como algunas partes de nuestra lección, pero es una buena introducción y una buena revisión de la sintaxis del español con muchos ejemplos que son fáciles de entender.

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One aspect of syntax is the order in which words appear in a sentence. Spanish word order is fairly flexible; however, it is best to use the more common patterns of putting words together to form sentences, as given below. These patterns, for the most part, are simply illustrations of a few generalizations:

Normal word order in a Spanish declarative sentence: [declarative- referring to a statement, as opposed to a question]

SUBJECT ("doer") + PREDICATE ("action") + OBJECT ("recipient")

The subject comes first, if expressed; often it is incorporated into or at least suggested by the verb ending.

The predicate is the next primary element. This is composed of at least one verb, often accompanied by object pronouns and by a negative or other adverbial expressions.

Complements follow the verb; these include predicate nouns (after ser ), or direct and indirect object nouns or noun phrases.

subject   neg.    verb       direct object
Juan      nunca   levanta    la mano.

As regards direct and indirect object pronouns: They are normally attached to the end of:
1) affirmative commands:

2) infinitives:

después de bañarme... - after taking a bath...

3) gerunds ( -ndo forms):

levantándose... - getting up...

They normally precede conjugated verb forms. If the verb is a combination of a conjugated form and an infinitive or gerund, the object pronouns may be placed in either the pre- or post-position.

¡No me lo des! [negative command]

Lo hacemos a menudo. [conjugated verb]

Estoy diciéndotelo. OR [conjugated verb plus an -ndo form]

Te lo estoy diciendo.

Voy a hablarles. OR [conjugated verb plus an infinitive]

Les voy a hablar.

Indirect object pronouns precede direct object pronouns.

Normally in a Spanish interrogative sentence the order of the subject and verb is reversed: [interrogative- referring to a question, as opposed to a statement]

Usted habla italiano.
You speak Italian. [declarative]

¿Habla usted italiano?
Do you speak Italian? [interrogative]

When an interrogative word or expression (e.g., cómo, cuándo, dónde, adónde, por qué, quién, cuál, cuánto) appears in a question it normally occurs at the beginning:

¿Por qué hablan los colombianos tan rápido?
Why do Colombians speak so rapidly?

¿Cuándo viene Margarita a verme?
When is Margarita coming to see me?

Specific patterns of word order

Linking verb (e.g., ser & estar ):

Declarative sentences:

subject      (neg.)     linking verb   predicate noun/predicate adj.


(Nosotros)   (no)       somos          estudiantes de español.
(Ella)       (no)       está           cansada.

Interrogative sentences:

(neg.)     verb     subject     predicate noun or adjective

¿(No)      es       usted       el señor Montalbán?
¿(No)      estás    (tú)        lista?

Intransitive verb (no direct object):
Declarative sentences:

subject     (neg.)     intransitive verb     (adverb)

(Yo)        (no)       hablo                 (bien).

Interrogative sentences:

(neg.)     intransitive verb      subject      (adverb)

¿(No)      leen                   (ustedes)    (rápidamente)?

Transitive verb, no object pronouns:
Declarative sentences:

subject      (neg.)      transitive verb     direct object   (adverb)


(Yo)         (no)        hablo               español         (bien).

Interrogative sentences (transitive verb, no object pronouns):

(neg.)   transitive verb   subject   direct object

¿(No)    traen            (ustedes)  la cerveza?

Transitive verb, with object pronouns:

Declarative sentences:

subject (neg.) (IO pronoun) (DO pronoun) verb (DO phrase) (IO phrase)

(Usted) (nunca)  le           da un     regalo      (a Juan).
(Usted) se       lo           da                    (a él).

Interrogative sentences:

(neg.) IO pronoun DO pronoun  verb  subject (DO phrase) (IO phrase)

¿(Nunca)             le        da    (usted)  un regalo  (a Juan)?
¿Se                  lo        dan   (ustedes)           (a él)?

Interrogative sentences:

In general, in interrogative sentences -questions- the order of subject and verb reversed (compared to their order in a declarative sentence).
Yes/no questions (that is, questions which expect the reply "yes"or "no") have already been given in the previous sections.

linking verb subject predicate noun or adjective

¿Es               usted       protestante?
¿Estamos         (nosotros)   listos?

Information questions expect some information to be given in the answer, not a simple "yes" or "no". Ordinarily these sentences begin with an interrogative expression such as cómo (how), cuándo (when), dónde, (where) adónde (where to), por qué (why), quién (who), cuál (which), or cuánto (how much, how many).

¿Por qué hablan los colombianos tan rápido?
Why do Colombians speak so rapidly?

¿Cuándo viene Margarita a verme?
When is Margarita coming to see me?

interrogative     (neg)     verb     subject     object

¿Quién            (nunca)   trae                 la cerveza?
¿Qué                        quiere   ella?
¿Por qué                    dicen    ellos        eso?

Commands:

In commands the verb usually comes first, followed by the subject (if expressed). If the subject is tú or vosotros, it is included only for contrast or emphasis. Usted and ustedes are frequently included for reasons of courtesy and clarity.

Yo me siento aquí. Siéntate tú allí. [contrast]

Venga usted mañana a las siete.

Object pronouns are attached to the end of affirmative commands, and precede the verb in negative ones.

Special case #1: Verbs like gustar.

In standard declarative word order, subjects come before the verb and indirect object phrases are placed after it. The order of these two elements is normally switched with the verb gustar (to please, used -with subject and indirect object switched- in the sense of "to like"). Similar verbs include:

importar      - to matter, be important
parecer       - to seem, appear
encantar      - to enchant, delight, to like very much
interesar     - to interest, to be interested
resultar      - to result, turn out
faltar        - to be lacking, to lack
hacer falta   - to be necessary, to need
molestar      - to bother, irritate, to be irritated
(des) agradar - to please/displease,to like/not like
doler         - to hurt, ache
quedar        - to remain, to have left

ind. object phrase

ind. object  pronoun  verb     subject

A mí         me       gustan   las manzanas.
  =  I like apples.
A ellas      les      encanta  el regalo.
  =  They love the gift.
Nos                   falta    la paciencia.
  =  We lack (the) patience.

Special case #2: Direct object preceding the verb

Sometimes for emphasis or special effect the direct object noun or noun phrase is given before the governing verb. When this happens, a direct object pronoun is used with the verb, and the subject, if expressed, is often placed after the verb. In other words, the order of the subject and direct object is switched, and a direct object pronoun is added, one which agrees in gender and number with the direct object.

Carlos compró mis libros. [normal word order]

Mis libros los compró Carlos. [preceding direct object]

(Both sentences mean: Carlos bought my books.)

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One aspect of syntax is the order in which words appear in a sentence. Spanish word order is fairly flexible; however, it is best to use the more common patterns of putting words together to form sentences, as given below.

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Los Simpson es uno de mis programas favoritos y es un ícono cultural americano. Es bueno ver el programa traducido a cualquier idioma, y el ejemplo aquí muestra la "traducción" del inglés "Pig Latin" a su homólogo español, un tipo de juego de palabras llamado jerigonza, relacionado con la palabra "jerga". Es bueno ver similitudes culturales cruzadas en la traducción.

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"The Simpsons" gibberish / pig latin [English/Spanish]

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Este sitio combina el aprendizaje y jugando con un juego en el que el jugador construye palabras en español combinando los morfemas que componen las palabras. Incorpora los diferentes aspectos de la morfología, incluidos los distintos tipos de morfemas además de los procesos de formación de palabras. Esta es una forma diferente a la práctica lo que hemos aprendido sobre morfemas.

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Este sitio web es una revisión buena de diminutivos, aumentativos, y otros prefijos, sufijos y terminaciones que son usados en español. Hay explicaciones y los ejemplos de cómo estos morfemas diferentes funcionan. Hay muchas notas útiles y enlaces a otros sitios web relacionados por tanto esto es un recurso bueno para nuestras lecciones actuales.

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Spanish Diminutives, Augmentatives, and More - Spanish411

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Diminutives are much more common in Spanish than they are in English. Different regions have their own unique ways of creating diminutives, but the most common one is a form of "-ito." To create a diminutive, drop the "-o" or "-a" from just about any noun and add "-ito" or "-ita."

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Aspectos de la linguística española, incluso a la morfología 

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Aspectos de la linguística española, incluso a la morfología 

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Este sitio web es un buen resumen y explicación de muchos de los temas que hemos estudiado hasta ahora. Describe categorías linguísticas y cómo se aplican en ambos inglés y español, incluyendo el uso intensivo de los morfemas en español. También hay un bonito vídeo lección sobre expresando amor en español.

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Ask a linguist what kind of a language Spanish is, and the answer you get may depend on that linguist's specialty. To some, Spanish is primarily a language derived from Latin. Another may tell you that Spanish is primarily an SVO language, whatever that is, while others may refer to it as a fusional language.

Spanish is classified as either an Indo-European or Romance language based on its origins.

Spanish is classified as a mostly SVO language because of its commonly used word order.

Spanish is classified as somewhat inflectional because of the extensive use of word endings used to indicate attributes such as gender, number, and tense.

All these classifications, and others, are important in linguistics, the study of language. As these examples show, linguists can classify languages according to their history, as well as according to the language's structure and according to how words are formed. Here are three common classifications that linguists use and how Spanish fits in with them:

Genetic Classification of Spanish

The genetic classification of languages is closely related to etymology, the study of the origins of words. Most of the world's languages can be divided into about a dozen major families (depending on what is considered major) based on their origins. Spanish, like English, is part of the Indo-European family of languages, which includes the languages spoken by around half the world's population. It includes most of the past and current languages of Europe (the Basque language being a major exception) as well as the traditional languages of Iran, Afghanistan, and the northern part of the Indian subcontinent. Some of the most common Indo-European languages today include French, German, Hindi, Bengali, Swedish, Russian, Italian, Persian, Kurdish and Serbo-Croatian.

Among Indo-European languages, Spanish can be further classified as a Romance language, meaning that it is descended from Latin. Other major Romance languages include French, Portuguese, and Italian, all of which have strong similarities in vocabulary and grammar.

Classification of Spanish by Word Order

One common way of classifying languages is by the order of the basic sentence components, namely the subject, object, and verb. In this regard, Spanish can be thought of as a flexible subject-verb-object or SVO language, as is English. A simple sentence will typically follow that order, as in this example: Juanita lee el libro, where Juanita is the subject, lee (reads) is the verb and el libro (the book) is the object of the verb.

It should be noted, however, that this structure is far from the only one possible, so Spanish can't be thought of as a strict SVO language. In Spanish, it is often possible to leave out the subject entirely if it can be understood from the context, and it also is common to change the word order to emphasize a different part of the sentence.

Also, when pronouns are used as objects, the SOV order (subject-object-verb) is the norm in Spanish: Juanita lo lee. (Juanita reads it.)

Classification of Spanish by Word Formation

In terms of how words are formed, languages can be classified in at least three ways:

As isolating or analytical, meaning that words or word roots don't change based on how they are used in a sentence, and that the relationship of words to each other are conveyed primarily by the use of word order or by words known as particles to indicate the relationship among them.

As inflectional or fusional, meaning that the forms of the words themselves change to indicate how they relate to the other words in a sentence.

As agglutinating or agglutinative, meaning that words are frequently formed by combining various combinations of morphemes, wordlike units with distinct meanings.

Spanish is generally viewed as a somewhat inflectional language, although all three typologies exist to some extent. English is more isolating than Spanish, although English too has inflectional aspects.

In Spanish, verbs are nearly always inflected, a process known as conjugation. In particular, each verb has a "root" (such as habl-) to which endings are attached to indicate who is performing the action and the time period in which it occurs. Thus, hablé and hablaron both have the same root, with the endings used to provide more information. By themselves, the verb endings have no meaning.

Spanish also uses inflection for adjectives to indicate number and gender.

As an example of the isolating aspect of Spanish, most nouns are inflected only to indicate whether they are plural or singular. In contrast, in some languages, such as Russian, a noun can be inflected to indicate, for example, that it is a direct object rather than a subject. Even names of people can be inflected. In Spanish, however, word order and prepositions are typically used to indicate the function of a noun in a sentence. In a sentence such as " Pedro ama a Adriana" (Pedro loves Adriana), the preposition a is used to indicate which person is the subject and which is the object. (In the English sentence, word order is used to inidicate who loves whom.)

An example of an agglutinative aspect of Spanish (and of English) can be seen in its use of various prefixes and suffixes. For example, the difference between hacer (to do) and deshacer (to undo) is in its use of the morpheme (a unit of meaning) des-.

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3 Ways Linguists Classify the Spanish Language

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Ask a linguist what kind of a language Spanish is, and the answer you get may depend on that linguist's specialty. To some, Spanish is primarily a language derived from Latin. Another may tell you that Spanish is primarily an SVO language, whatever that is, while others may refer to it as a fusional language.

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Un recurso más completo de la fonética en todo el mundo

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Un recurso más completo de la fonética en todo el mundo

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Este sitio web es como una biblioteca de la fonética mundial.  Es una colección de recursos para entender la fonética de todos los principales idiomas del mundo, incluyendo explicaciones para la variación del dialecto.  Está diseñado para la terapia del habla, pero todavía es muy útil para aprender la fonética.

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Languages across the world have unique phonemic systems. For individuals learning English as a second language, it is common for the phonemic system of their first language to influence the production of sounds in English.

Resources listed below are intended to contribute to foundational awareness of potential cultural and linguistic influences. There are variations within cultures, and regional and dialectal variances exist in all languages. Therefore, a single chart/page on cultural and/or linguistic features is not meant to provide a comprehensive overview. Clinical judgment, client/patient/student and caregiver input, and additional research are needed to ensure culturally responsive services.

How Can I Use This Information?

Speech-language pathologists can use this information to:

Identify sounds in a client's phonological system for languages other than English.

Determine phonemic influences of a client's native language on English.

Identify sounds from the client's first language that may not exist in English or identify sounds in English that do not exist in someone's native language.

Recognize that even if there are similar sounds across two languages, they may not be used the same way. For example, in some languages a sound may only be used at the ends of words and not as a word-initial sound.

Audiologists can use this information to:

Correlate the client's audiogram and the sounds of the client's language(s).

Recognize and respond to amplification needs.

Identify the effect of the individual's phonemic system on speech audiometry assessment.

Modify materials and procedures during speech audiometry assessment.

Phonemic Inventories and Cultural and Linguistic Information

ASHA has compiled resources on the phonemic systems for the following languages:

Amharic

Arabic

Bosnian

Burmese

Chinese

English

English Phonemic Inventory [PDF]
Dialect
Haitian Creole

Hindi/Urdu

Hmong

Japanese

Korean

Navajo

Pashto and Persian

Polish

Russian

Spanish

Somali

Somali (Portland State University)

Tagalog

Vietnamese

Refugee Profiles/Information
ASHA's policy documents state that SLPs and audiologists must consider the sound systems of all the languages used by a client in order to provide appropriate assessment and treatment services.
Websites with Phonemic Inventories

If you have any questions, please contact ASHA's Office of Multicultural Affairs at multicultural@asha.org.

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Phonemic Inventories and Cultural and Linguistic Information Across Languages

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A list of phonemic inventories across multiple languages

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Realmente no entiendo cómo funciona Pinterest, pero esta página proporciona una variedad de ejemplos divertidos de aplicaciones fonéticas.  Hay muchas selecciones diferentes que incluyen todos los temas que hemos discutido en el capítulo 2.  Algunos están diseñados para ayudar a los niños a aprender, pero también pueden ser útiles para los adultos.

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Este elemento es un gran recurso para entender el material del capítulo dos. El enlace es sólo para la introducción, pero si hace clic en la tabla de contenido a la izquierda de la página se puede ver explicaciones muy detalladas de la fonética con ejemplos en inglés y español.

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How Language Works: the Cognitive Science of Linguistics. Edition 3.0. An introductory course in linguistics. Freely available for downloading and mirroring. Author: Michael Gasser, Indiana University.

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Una explicación básica con ejemplos multilingues

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Una explicación básica con ejemplos multilingues

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Este sitio web tiene una explicación buena y básica de cuales las fonemas y alófonos son. El hombre explica verbalmente y también hay el texto escrito que ayuda a clarificar lo que dice. Me ayuda a entender mejor el tema para escucharlo explicado en inglés, y es divertido escuchar los ejemplos que da de idiomas diferentes.

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Like all languages, English has lots of sounds that only show up as allophones. A lot of allophones are just small differences in the way you produce a given phoneme (but noticeable ones, depending on how close you're looking). But sometimes, one phoneme can have allophones that are pronounced really differently.

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Un artículo sobre el bilinguismo en los niños

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Un artículo sobre el bilinguismo en los niños

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Este artículo está relacionado con lo que hemos aprendido en la clase sobre el desarrollo linguístico en niños pequeños. Hemos aprendido lo mucho mejor que los niños aprenden idiomas cuando son jóvenes. Este artículo describe los beneficios de enseñar a los niños más de un idioma y ofrece algunos consejos sobre cómo enseñar a los niños a ser bilingues.

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Join the Bilingual Bandwagon

When Louise Sanders adopted her daughter, Camille, from Panama, she thought it was important to teach her about her heritage. So just before Camille turned 3, Louise enrolled her in a Spanish-language school in their Tucson, Arizona, community. Now, at 3 1/2, Camille loves to sing Spanish songs, and sometimes she even answers questions more quickly when her teachers ask her in Spanish rather than in English.

"Kids this age are developing language skills rapidly, and they quickly absorb whatever they hear," says Erika Levy, Ph.D., assistant professor of speech and language pathology at Columbia University Teachers College, in New York City. "They can learn to understand new words in two different languages at an incredibly fast rate." And you don't need to enroll your child in formal language classes to hear her repeat words and songs in a new tongue -- just listen in when she's watching television shows like Dora the Explorer, Go, Diego, Go! and Sesame Street, which teach basic Spanish words to the preschool set. Lots of parents are also supplementing this elementary knowledge with bilingual books, toys, and CDs.

Why are so many families jumping on the bilingual bandwagon? "In our increasingly global world, parents realize that their kids will benefit from knowing more than one language," says Nancy Rhodes, director of foreign-language education at the Center for Applied Linguistics, in Washington, D.C. "There's definitely been a grassroots push for more bilingual education in preschools." Exposing your child to a second language will help him learn about other cultures. Research has shown that bilinguals tend to be more creative thinkers than those who speak one language, and one study suggests that their brain functions may stay sharper as they age.

Here's how to get your little linguist to begin learning.

Start now. Two- and 3-year-olds are not only increasing their vocabularies, they're starting to recognize the speech patterns they've been hearing since birth. The earlier you introduce a second language, the easier it will be for your child to pick up its unique sounds. The ability to hear different phonetic pronunciations is sharpest before age 3, and we lose the capacity to hear and produce certain sounds if we aren't exposed to them early on, according to Fran?ois Thibaut, director of the Language Workshop for Children, in New York City. So just hearing a television show, listening to music, or learning a few words in a second language will give your child essential tools for appreciating it now and learning to speak it later.

Create a casual learning environment. The best way for a child to learn to understand a new language is for him to hear people speaking it fluently, says Thibaut. If he's exposed to conversations, he'll begin to pick up the sounds and the natural accent. Choose a language that is spoken in your neighborhood, on a television show your child can watch regularly, or one that is offered in classes or playgroups in your area. "If you have a bilingual babysitter, encourage her to speak her native language to your child exclusively," says Rhodes. Two- and 3-year-olds love to mimic what they hear, and soon they'll begin to understand the meanings of short words and phrases.

Teach a word at a time. If you don't want to do formal lessons, you can introduce bilingual basics by pointing out to your child that objects can have two names -- one in each language. "When my 2-year-old son, Constantinos, sees a spider, he'll say 'spider' to me in English and then say it in Greek to my husband," says Cassandra Attard, of Nottingham, New Hampshire. "He knows they mean the same thing." As your child learns new words, tell him what they're called in a second language too.

Have reasonable expectations. Of course, a child won't learn to speak another language fluently from hearing words, watching videos, or singing songs. But simply being exposed to a language will help her understand phrases when she hears them. So even though you probably won't be having a French conversation with your child very soon, if you say "bonne nuit" every night at bedtime, she'll figure out what you mean.

When Mom or Dad Is Bilingual

The only way a child can truly master a second language is if she is frequently around someone who speaks it fluently. Here are some things to remember in a bilingual household.

Try "one person, one language." It's helpful to have one adult speak only the second language to your child so she doesn't get just pieces of it, says Dr. Erika Levy.

Expect minor mix-ups. It's natural for a child to confuse the word order or use words from both languages in the same sentence. He'll quickly learn to separate the languages.

Don't underestimate her progress. Even though many people think learning two languages causes speech delays, that is not the case. Your little one might say fewer English words than other kids her age, but if you add in the words she knows in her second language, her total number of words will probably be more than that of her peers.

Play and Learn

When you shop for bilingual toys, games, and CDs, make sure the words are spoken clearly and by a native speaker with a proper accent. Your child will have a fiesta learning a new language with these.

1. Chicco Talking Farm ($30) Help your little one learn animal names, sounds, colors, and numbers in English and Spanish.

2. Language Littles Dolls ($35) They speak in both English and a second language -- there are ten languages to choose from.

3. Leapfrog Learn and Groove Counting Maracas ($15) These musical maracas introduce Spanish numbers, colors, and vocabulary.

4. Sing & Learn Italian With Professor Toto ($30) This line of books, CDs, and DVDs also offers versions in Spanish, French, and German.

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Bilingual Babes: Teach Your Child A Second Language

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The best time to teach your child a second language is the same time she's learning her first one. So vamonos! (Let's go!)

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Este es un recurso interesante porque enumera muchas organizaciones de todo el mundo que tratan de regular el lenguaje y prescribir reglas linguísticas. A menudo se les llama academias de idiomas.  También es interesante que la Real Academia Española, que aprendimos en clase, esté categorizada bajo castilla, no en español.

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This is a list of bodies that regulate standard languages, often called language academies. Language academies are motivated by, or closely associated with, linguistic purism and prestige, and typically publish prescriptive dictionaries, which purport to officiate and prescribe the meaning of words and pronunciations.

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Este es un gran ejemplo de los elementos prescriptivos versus descriptivos del lenguaje en general y del español en particular.  Es una discusión en línea sobre las reglas gramaticas del español en comparación con su uso real por los modernos hablantes de español.  Que la discusión existe demuestra la fluidez del lenguaje.

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I'm doing a lesson on descriptive grammar, which is grammar that native speakers accept as correct even though prescriptive grammar books say it is not. For example, Spanish textbooks say that 2:40 should always be "son las tres menos veinte" even though most people would agree there is nothing wrong with saying "son las dos y cuarenta" or even "son las dos cuarenta". I'm looking for similar examples.

Edit Thanks everyone for the great replies. I think some people may have missed the point of my lesson though. My stance is that it's perfectly fine to say things different from that standard in your dialect. I'm fighting against standard prescriptive grammar rules here.

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r/Spanish - what are things that are technically "ungrammatical" in Spanish, but you say them anyway?

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I'm doing a lesson on descriptive grammar, which is grammar that native speakers accept as correct even though prescriptive grammar books say it is not. For example, Spanish textbooks say that 2:40 should always be "son las tres menos veinte" even though most people would agree there is nothing wrong with saying "son las dos y cuarenta" or even "son las dos cuarenta".

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Este video está relacionado con lecciones sobre linguística y desarrollo humano.  Hay una joven chica latina que pronuncia las mismas palabras en Español mexicano y también como “otras personas lo dicen.” Demuestra cuánta mayor capacidad tienen los niños para comprender y pronunciar diferentes idiomas cuando los aprenden antes de que sus cerebros estén plenamente desarrollados.

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How Do Mexican People Say It? Super Adorable & Funny