Introduction: Selected Proceedings of the First Workshop on Spanish Sociolinguistics

This introduction to the Selected Proceedings of the First Workshop on Spanish Sociolinguistics includes the background for the conference, descriptions of the papers chosen for the volume, acknowledgments, and references

Bargaining in Two Languages: Conversational Functions of Transactional Code-Switching

Studies on the pragmatic functions of code-switching, in opposition to its macro sociolinguistic significance or syntactic structure, have been largely influenced by Gumperz\u27s pioneering classification presented in the chapter he dedicated to this topic in his 1982 book, Discourse strategies. Many other taxonomies followed Gumperz\u27s initial proposal (Appel and Muysken 1987, Poplack 1988, Romaine 1989, Heller 1992) in spite of the usually claimed difficulty in interpreting and predicting the exact functions of code-switching in any given bilingual context. Their purpose has been to identify the sociopragmatic motivation for the occurrence of a particular code-switched utterance and ultimately classify it under a fixed category such as quotation, elaboration, and reiteration, among many others 1• However, few studies have looked at the impact of code-switching on the progress of the entire conversation together with the possible set of functions it may convey

Phonological adaptation of Spanish loanwords in Northern Moroccan Arabic

In recent years, loanword phonology has attracted continuously growing attention as an area able to shed additional light on universal phonological patterns. The contexts and processes of loanword adaptation present a dy namic interaction between two distinct systems allowing for different theo retical interpretations (Paradis, 1996). Optimality Theory (Prince and Smolensky, 1993) has been suggested as a possible framework to analyze these processes (Yip, 1993; Katayama, 1998; Jacobs and Gussenhoven, 2000). The fact that OT recognizes the difference between languages as a difference in the ranking of the same universal constraints could explain the changes that loanwords may or may not suffer depending on the compatibil ity of the donor and the recipient languages\u27 inventories and structures. The strategies of loanword adaptation through oral process in a contact situation, such as the one between Spanish and colloquial Arabic in North Africa, con sist in the recipient language harmonizing the borrowed item to satisfy its own constraint hierarchy. Because loanwords already show higher lexical contrast with the rest of the words in the recipient language, given that they satisfy the source language\u27s faithfulness constraints, then we might expect that markedness constraints can easily dominate the faithfulness ones in the process of adaptation since by belonging to another grammar these words already show higher level of lexical contrast with the rest of the recipient grammar

The Spanish Language Presence in Tangier, Morocco: A Sociolinguistic Perspective

While research on the presence of the Spanish language outside Spain and the Americas has made considerable advances in recent years, it has concerned itself primarily with the Philippines (Quilis 1992, Lipski 2001), Equatorial Guinea (Granda 1991, Lipski 1985), and less frequently with other regions where Spanish is acquiring importance as a foreign language (Quilis 2000). North Africa, on the other hand, has failed to attract similar attention in spite of its close geographic and historical links with Spain and the uninterrupted presence of the Spanish language there since the 15\u27h century. Few references signal such presence (Heath 1989, Silva-Corvahin 1995, Quilis 2002) but detailed studies are still lacking. Moreno Fernandez\u27s 1992 article on Spanish in Oran and later his brief review El espanol en el mosaico lingiiistico del Magreb , represent two of the few contemporary contributions on the topic. Another contribution is Tarkki\u27s 1995 analysis of Spanish as it is spoken by the Saharawi refugees in Tinduf (Algeria). As for Northern Morocco, current research is often in the form of unpublished doctoral dissertations (Amzid 1997, Ghailani 1997, El Harrak 1998) or other unedited projects produced mainly at L\u27Universite Abdelmalek Saadi (Tetouan) where the only department of Spanish in former Spanish Morocco is located. Much of this investigation, however, is often limited to the identification of Spanish lexical and semantic borrowings into local varieties of Moroccan Arabic. Hence, the object of this article is to explore the presence of Spanish in Northern Morocco from a distinct angle by analyzing the case of Tangier, a city where this language is still an important part of the local linguistic market (Bourdieu 1991). Through a sociolinguistic survey, I will describe the different levels of competence, the structural variation in Tangerine Spanish, and the speakers\u27 attitude towards its use. In the conclusion, I will synthesize the findings and explore their implications for future research on Spanish in Northern Morocco and North Africa as a whole

Code-switching and language change in Tunisia

This article quantitatively studies the patterns of Tunisian Arabic/French code-switching and the possible implications for contact-induced change in the Tunisian dialect. The purpose is to account for the extent of the occurrence of code-switching across gender lines and levels of education and assess its role in the interference from French into Arabic, both at the lexical and structural levels. Recorded semi-directed sociolinguistic interviews with twelve speakers are examined for type and frequency of code-switching and use of French borrowings. Results show that education plays a role in distinguishing the group with a higher education from the group with only a high school education. The university-educated group shows a much higher frequency of code-switching that reflects a higher degree of competence in the French language. Gender, on the other hand, does not seem to be a factor in determining the frequency of code-switching. The article also shows that contact between the two languages has led to intensive lexical transfer from French into Tunisian Arabic and some instances of structural imposition that include phonological and morphosyntactic features

A moving target: literacy development in situations of diglossia and bilingualism

The present paper analyzes the challenges of literacy development in cases of classical diglossia and bilingualism. The main argument is that the diverse levels of proficiency in the varieties present in a given linguistic market have implications for and are shaped by processes of literacy development, feelings of linguistic insecurity, and the overall outlook for educational and socioeconomic success. With a special focus on Tunisia, where diglossia and bilingualism are part of the students’ linguistic reality, this paper argues that surmounting the initial marginalization of the native vernacular in favor of literacy in Standard Arabic does not seem to be enough of a guarantee for academic success since competence in French becomes indispensable as students move higher up the educational ladder. This results in a generalized feeling of linguistic insecurity and a shared skepticism about the proficiency levels achieved through the educational systems in the languages of instruction that adversely affect school success rates. The paper also shows that heritage speakers of Arabic face more challenges for language maintenance than heritage speakers of other languages that are not in a diglossic situation

Spanish in Contact with Arabic

Spanish and Arabic have been in contact for long periods and in different regions. While this is largely due to the geographical proximity of the Iberian Peninsula to western North Africa, a set of historical, political and social developments helped bring both languages into close contact. Of remarkable significance was the presence of Arabic in Iberia from 711 to 1492 and, at least, for several more decades after the Reconquista was completed. This fact, as is often mentioned, led to heavy lexical borrowing from Arabic into Spanish and other Ibero-Romance languages. Also important was the introduction of Spanish into North Africa in the late fifteenth century and its continuing presence in the region since then. This presence was the result of conquest, settlement of Sephardic Jews and Moriscos, and, more recently, colonialism and the effect of mass media. Furthermore, since the last quarter of the twentieth century, Maghrebi immigration to Spain, Moroccan in its majority, has re-introduced Arabic into the Peninsula as an immigrant language and brought about yet another context of Spanish in contact with Arabic. Similarly, in the Americas, Spanish has been in contact with Arabic through the arrival of Arabic-speaking immigrants to many Latin American countries, mainly in the late nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth centuries. All these different contexts make the contact between Spanish and Arabic an interesting case to explore. Indeed, Spanish has been in contact with Arabic since the early years of its development and for longer than any other non-Iberian linguistic variety. This enduring contact has had implications for both languages through cases of bilingualism and language variation, as we will see below. The next section of this chapter surveys the socio-historical background that has provided the context for the contact between these two languages across time. In Section 3, I will analyze current situations of Spanish/Arabic bilingualism with a special focus on North Africa. In Section 4, I will look into the linguistic features that distinguish the varieties of Spanish in contact with Arabic from other varieties of Spanish. Finally, in the conclusion, I will describe prospects for the future of the contact between Spanish and Arabic, its implications for the spread of Spanish in North Africa, and the status of Arabic as a heritage language in Spain and Latin America

Current Perspectives on Tunisian Sociolinguistics

Despite its small size (63,170 sq miles) and a rather small population with a stable growth rate,2 Tunisia represents a rich sociolinguistic laboratory with a long history of bilingualism and language contact. The delicate position of Berber, the diglossic situation of Arabic and the increasing efforts for Arabization, the regional and social variation in Tunisian Arabic, the presence of French, and the gradual spread of English, among other closely-related topics, constitute the core themes of research within Tunisian sociolinguistics. Since the publication of R. M. Payne’s Language in Tunisia in 1983, no attempt has been made to reassess the situation from all its angles, except for some overview articles now and then (Laroussi 1999; Daoud 2001; Walters 2003; among others). This special issue aims at introducing the readers to these different themes and how they play out in shaping the present and the future of the language situation in the country. In the wider sense, findings about the sociolinguistic situation of Tunisia can complement what we already know about the other countries in the Maghreb and open the door for comparative research on common issues for a more complete understanding of the linguistic situation in the region

Consonantal Variation of Spanish in Northern Morocco

In former Spanish Morocco, many educated speakers are able to draw upon various phonological systems such as French, Moroccan Arabic, and Modern Standard Arabic in order to pronounce Spanish sounds. However, although the speakers of this study are highly proficient in Spanish, there are still some segmental features that set them apart from a native Spanish speaker. These features include the failure to produce the fricative allophones of bilabial, dental, and velar stops the failure to distinguish between the simple and multiple vibrant trill, and difficulties in producing the palatal nasal. While the Spanish of these Northern Moroccans seems to vary from standard Peninsular Spanish, their Spanish also tends to vary among themselves as well as within the speech of the individual speakers. Data for this paper was drawn from sociolinguistic interviews carried out in Tangier with speakers of Spanish. Results show that, on the whole, three factors determine the different levels of phonetic variation present in the case of educated Northern Moroccans who acquire Spanish without formal instruction: their knowledge of Modern Standard Arabic and French, their intense exposure to Spanish television, and their awareness of the sociolinguistic markers active in the Peninsula and exhibited through mass media

Introduction: Selected Proceedings of the Second Workshop on Spanish Sociolinguistics

This introduction to the Selected Proceedings of the Second Workshop on Spanish Sociolinguistics includes descriptions of the papers chosen for the volume and acknowledgments