Materials for the Sociolinguistic Description and Corpus-Based Study of Spanish in Barcelona: Toward a Documentation of Colloquial Spanish in Naturally Groups

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Pages:300
ISBN:0-7734-4871-3
978-0-7734-4871-1
Price:$199.95 + shipping
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Despite previous explicit calls for such publications, Spanish in Catalonia still remains largely unrecognized in Spanish dialectology. This monograph provides a linguistic record that both recognizes the legitimacy of this Spanish dialect and facilitates its linguistic description and analysis.

Reviews

“. . . will undoubtedly become one of the most important contributions to the study of the variety of Spanish spoken by Catalans. The volume has crucial value in Hispanic linguistics due to the relevance of its multiple topics of study, the genre of language that it documents, the advantages of its methodology, and the resulting uniqueness of the corpus it contains.” – Dra. Montserrat Casanovas Catalá, Universitat de Lleida

“. . . analyzes the language ideologies of academic discourse and their role in the inadequate recognition that the Spanish of Catalonia has received in traditional studies of Spanish dialectology.” – Prof. Carol A. Klee, University of Minnesota

“The detailed description of the techniques used in data collection and analysis, together with a transcript in ordinary spelling of a significant portion of the corpus, add to the volume's worth as a very useful language documentation in addition to its intrinsic value as a case study of field work methodology.” – Prof. Milton M. Azevedo, University of California, Berkeley

". . . this work has an outstanding scientific value and it is an important contribution to the study of Spanish in Barcelona." - Dialectologia

"To sum up, the book will certainly be of great value for the purposes it is aimed at. The transparent exposition and the logical structure make the book a very handy instrument for university teaching, particularly courses in Spanish linguistics and sociolinguistics. It is written in a very understandable language, and the author is making a great effort to define and clarify terminology and theoretical standpoints that could be an obstacle for student readers. For scholars interested in the Spanish spoken in Barcelona, the transcribed conversations will doubtlessly be a welcome study material." - Journal of Language Contact: Evolution of Languages, Contact and Discourse

"What is really innovative about Vann's book is the originality of the perspective he adopts to study his subject." - Journal of Sociolinguistics

"... a thorough overview of the state of research on Catalan Spanish and offers a unique selection of authentic conversational language excerpts from two Catalan speech communities, offering a valuable contribution to the study of Language ideologies, identities, and sociolinguistic variation in Catalan." -- Prof. Tammy Gales, University of California, Davis, Language in Society

"... from the perspective of a more adavanced undestanding of linguistics, there is no denying the interest of the volume provided by Vann and also its value as a first point of call on the road to appreciation of the much understudied field of the Spanish spoken in Catalonia." -- Prof. Lluïsa Astruc, University of Cambridge, Revista internacional de catalanísta

Table of Contents

Foreword by Montserrat Casanovas Catalá, Ph.D
Preface
Acknowledgements
Introduction

Part I Critical Introduction to the Vann Corpus

1. Brief History of the Political Economy of Language in Catalonia
1.0. Introduction
1.1. The Historical Formation of Catalan Habitus
1.1.1. Nationalism and the Development of Catalonia
1.1.2. Early history: Origins and Empire
1.1.3. Middle History: Decline and Incorporation into Spain
1.1.4. Modern History: Political Struggle and Economic Boom
1.1.5. War, Francoism, and Repression
1.1.6. The Post-Franco Years
1.2. Catalan Linguistic Habitus and Market in Modern-Day Catalonia
1.2.1. Language, Identity and Ideology
1.2.2. Ethnic Differentiation and Linguistic Expressions of Identity
1.2.3. Symbolic Capital, Symbolic Power, and Speaking Spanish
2. Language Ideologies in Academic Treatment of Catalan Spanish
2.0. Introduction
2.1. Academic Treatment of Catalan Spanish during the Franco Era
2.1.1. Symbolic Domination and the Power of Naming
2.1.2. Ideologies of Linguistic Correctness in Spanish Dialectology
2.2. Post-Francoist Academic Treatment of Catalan Spanish
2.2.1. Academic Discourse in Spain
2.2.1.1. The Spanish of Catalonia as Broken Castilian Spanish
2.2.1.2. The Spanish of Catalonia as a Regional Spanish
2.2.2. Academic Discourse Outside of Spain
3. Spoken Language Corpora of Spanish in Catalonia
3.0. Introduction
3.1. The Term Corpus in Linguistic Research
3.2. Published Corpora of Spanish Spoken near and in Catalonia
3.2.1. Corpora without Transcribed Spanish Discourse in Catalonia
3.2.1.1. Spoken Language Corpora of Peninsular Spanish
3.2.1.2. Spoken Language Corpora of Spanish in Valencia
3.2.2. Corpora with Transcribed Spanish Discourse in Catalonia
3.2.2.1. The Vila Corpus (2001)
3.2.2.2. The Sinner Corpus (2001)
3.3. Values, Uses, and Benefits of the Vann corpus
4. Corpus-Based Linguistic Descriptions of Catalan Spanish
4.0. Introduction
4.1. Pronunciation
4.2. Vocabulary
4.2.1. Borrowings
4.2.2. Calques
4.2.3. Semantic-Pragmatic Extensions
4.2.4. Preserved Archaisms and Words of Unusually High Frequency
4.2.5. Innovative Vocabulary Unrelated to Linguistic Transfer
4.3. Grammar
4.4. Ways of Using Spanish in Catalonia
5. Methods of Data Collection, Digitization, and Transcription
5.0. Introduction
5.1. Collecting Field Recordings for the Corpus
5.2. Digitizing the Field Recordings
5.2.1. Digitization Software
5.2.2. Digitization Hardware
5.3. Transcribing the Digital Audio Recordings
5.3.1. Transcription Methodology
5.3.2. Transcription Information Technology
5.4. Best Practice
6. Network Profiles and Select Speaker Data for the Vann Corpus
6.0. Introduction
6.1. Network Profiles
6.1.1. Central Individuals
6.1.2. Network Members
6.2. Select Speaker Data

Part II Selected Transcripts from the Vann Corpus

1. Colloquial Group Conversation from Mónica’s Personal Network
2. Colloquial Group Conversation from Silvia’s Personal Network
Bibliography
Index

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