Linguistic variation in the Governació d'Oriola

Es tracta d’un estudi que intenta aproximar-se a algunes de les regles variables que existien en el català de la Governació d’Oriola en els segles xvi i xvii. La selecció de regles es concreta en quatre tipus: les que representen una conservació del català medieval, les que indiquen la persistència de trets del català oriental, les d’orientació castellanitzant i les de creació autòctona oriolana. Atesa la fragmentarietat de la documentació escrita antiga, no tots els trets escollits es poden estudiar quantitativament, tal com requereix la lingüística variacionista, però s’hi apunten tendències que, amb un major volum de documentació, podrien donar resultats satisfactoris per a la recerca. Ara bé, altres trets, com l’articulació [ʃ] o [jʃ] de mots com peix i l’increment [-ʃtɾ-] en verbs com coneixtre, sí que permeten un estudi de covariació.This study explores some of the variable rules that existed in the Catalan language of the Governació d’Oriola region (an area approximately covering the current autonomous communities of Alicante and Murcia) in the 16th and 17th centuries. The rules analysed are grouped into four different types: those that preserve medieval Catalan; those that indicate the persistence of features of eastern Catalan; those that tend to incorporate Spanish language structures; and others that emerged locally within the region of Oriola. Given the fragmentary nature of written documentation from the era, not all the selected features can be studied quantitatively, as required by variationist linguistics. Nevertheless, a number of trends could provide adequate results for research, if more documentation were available. All the same, other features, such as the articulation of [ʃ] or [jʃ] in words such as peix (‘fish’) and the infix [-ʃtɾ-] in verbs such as coneixtre (‘to know’), allow for a study of covariance

La transmissió lingüística del català: estat de la qüestió i avaluació analítica

Aquest article consta de tres parts. En la introducció exposem la conveniència d'analitzar la transmissió, que inclou la interrupció i la revernacularització, com un procés imprescindible per a conèixermillor la realitat sociolingüística d'una llengua.Aquesta anàlisi es basa en els fonaments teòrics de la psicologia social, la sociologia i la sociolingüística. En segon lloc, femun breu repàs de l'estat de la qüestió dels estudis realitzats fins ara en català, tant des de l'òptica quantitativa com qualitativa. Finalment, en les conclusions comentem una sèrie de suggeriments i propostes que van des de la necessitat de comptar amb un marc teoricometodològic propi, de disposar d'una terminologia específica, de la importància de comptar amb aquest tipus d'anàlisi, que conjumine l'aspecte quantitatiu i qualitatiu, i de la possibilitat de reorientar la planificació també cap a la recuperació de la llengua en l'àmbit familiar.The linguistic transmission of Catalan: the current state of affairs and analytical assessment. This article is set out in three parts. Firstly, an introduction deals with the need to regard transmission, which includes interruption and revernacularisation, as a process that is essential for understanding the sociolinguistic reality of a language. The analysis is based on the theoretical principles of social psychology, sociology and sociolinguistics. Secondly, there is a brief summary of the status of the studies which have been carried out so far in Catalan on this topic, both from a quantitative and qualitative point of view. Finally, the conclusion outlines some suggestions and proposals including the need for a specific theoretical-methodological framework and specific terminology, the importance of using this type of analysis, combined with quantitative and qualitative aspects and the possibility of redirecting planning towards the recovery of the Catalan language within the family sphere

Sustainable Decentralization: Power, Extraconstitutional Influence, and Subnational Symmetry in the United States and Spain

In the Madisonian tradition of constitutional design, the foundation of a sustainable federalism is thought to be a scientifically precise balancing of national and subnational power. Experience shows, however, that national and subnational actors in highly diverse systems are capable of developing a rich array of extraconstitutional methods of mutual influence, so that the formal, constitutionalized balance of power rarely settles the question of the actual balance of power between levels of government. A more important factor in ensuring the long-term sustainability of a meaningfully federal system is the degree of symmetry across subnational units in their relation to the central state. A comparison of the U.S. and Spain suggests that federalism is most directly threatened when subnational units compete not collectively with the central state, thereby checking its power, but with each other, a condition that furnishes the central state with opportunities to exploit subnational rivalries in ways that risk genuine, long-term destabilization

La Variació lingüística a la Governació d'Oriola

Es tracta d'un estudi que intenta aproximar-se a algunes de les regles variables que existien en el català de la Governació d'Oriola en els segles XVI i XVII. La selecció de regles es concreta en quatre tipus: les que representen una conservació del català medieval, les que indiquen la persistència de trets del català oriental, les d'orientació castellanitzant i les de creació autòctona oriolana. Atesa la fragmentarietat de la documentació escrita antiga, no tots els trets escollits es poden estudiar quantitativament, tal com requereix la lingüística variacionista, però s'hi apunten tendències que, amb un major volum de documentació, podrien donar resultats satisfactoris per a la recerca. Ara bé, altres trets, com l'articulació [ʃ] o [jʃ] de mots com peix i l'increment [-ʃtɾ-] en verbs com coneixtre, sí que permeten un estudi de covariació.This study explores some of the variable rules that existed in the Catalan language of the Governació d’Oriola region (an area approximately covering the current autonomous communities of Alicante and Murcia) in the 16th and 17th centuries. The rules analysed are grouped into four different types: those that preserve medieval Catalan; those that indicate the persistence of features of eastern Catalan; those that tend to incorporate Spanish language structures; and others that emerged locally within the region of Oriola. Given the fragmentary nature of written documentation from the era, not all the selected features can be studied quantitatively, as required by variationist linguistics. Nevertheless, a number of trends could provide adequate results for research, if more documentation were available. All the same, other features, such as the articulation of [ʃ] or [jʃ] in words such as peix (‘fish’) and the infix [-ʃtɾ-] in verbs such as coneixtre (‘to know’), allow for a study of covariance

Patrons de comportament de la vocal neutra àtona en textos catalans orientals del segle XV

El treball, que s’inscriu dins la sociolingüística històrica, s’ocupa d’analitzar una regla variable en el català del segle XV a partir de dues còpies manuscrites d’un capítol de l’obra Històries i contemplacions. Estudiem la vocal neutra àtona del català oriental, que sorgeix devers el segle XI, però encara en el segle XV no és acceptada dins la normativa. Per això, els escrivans orientals del XV intenten mantenir-se dins la tradició ortogràfica, que diferencia les grafies a i e que representen posició àtona, però no sempre ho aconsegueixen. Així, en els textos que redacten s’observa una variabilitat en aquestes lletres que dóna la pauta del nostre estudi.Aquest treball s’ha beneficiat del projecte d’investigació Edición crítica digital de textos hagiográficos de la literatura catalana de los siglos XV y XVI (Ref. FFI2009-11594) del Ministeri de Ciència i Tecnologia

Distinctive Identity Claims in Federal Systems: Judicial Policing of Subnational Variance

It is characteristic of federal states that the scope of subnational power and autonomy are subjects of frequent dispute, and that disagreements over the reach of national and subnational power may be contested in a wide and diverse array of settings. Subnational units determined to challenge nationally-imposed limits on their power typically have at their disposal many tools with which to press against formal boundaries. Federal systems, moreover, frequently display a surprising degree of tolerance for subnational obstruction, disobedience, and other behaviors intended to expand subnational authority and influence, even over national objection. This tolerance, however, has limits. In this paper, we examine a set of rulings by national constitutional courts invalidating formalized claims by subnational units to a distinctive subnational identity. The emphatically negative reactions of these courts contrast instructively with the tolerance often displayed by other state actors toward similar identity claims when they are asserted in political and sub-constitutional settings, suggesting that the legal formalization of distinctive identity claims is perceived by courts to pose an unusually acute threat to the state

Magma mingling in kimberlites: evidence from the groundmass cocrystallization of two spinel-group minerals

We present the results of a detailed petrographic study of fresh coherent samples of the Menominee kimberlite sampled at site 73, located in Menominee County, MI, USA. Our objective is to account for its unusual and complex paragenetic sequence. Several generations of olivine, ilmenite, and spinel-group minerals are described. Early olivine and ilmenite are xenocrystic and were replaced or overgrown by primary minerals. Zoned microcrysts of olivine have a xenocrystic core mantled by a first rim in which rutile, geikielite, and spinel s.s. (spinel sensu stricto) cocrystallized. The in situ U-Pb dating of a microcryst of primary rutile yielded 168.9 ± 4.4 Ma, which was interpreted as the age of emplacement. The groundmass consists of olivine, spinel s.s., a magnesian ulvöspinel-ulvöspinel-magnetite (MUM) spinel, calcite, and dolomite. An extremely low activity of Si is suggested by the crystallization of spinel s.s. instead of phlogopite in the groundmass. The presence of djerfisherite microcrysts indicates high activities of Cl and S during the late stages of melt crystallization. The occurrence of two distinct spinel-group minerals (spinel s.s. and qandilite-rich MUM) in the groundmass is interpreted as clear evidence of the mingling of a magnesiocarbonatitic melt with a dominant kimberlitic melt