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Spanish as a Contact Language

An Ecological History

Israel Sanz-Sanchez

$230

Hardback

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English
Edinburgh University Press
13 May 2025
Languages do not exist beyond their speakers, but the history of individual languages has often been told as if they had a life of their own, emerging from other languages, growing and sometimes dying. When applied to Spanish, this story line commonly begins in spoken Latin, with the language taking shape in medieval Spain before spreading beyond Europe in the colonial period. This book proposes a new take on this narrative. Instead of seeing Spanish as a linguistic entity with linear development, what would its history look like if we think of it as a centuries-long constellation of contact events? A History of Spanish as a Contact Language revisits the evolution of Spanish from the perspective of the ecology of language, centring speakers as the only historical agents of language transmission and change. Taking the speakers' vantage point opens up exciting possibilities to rethink what Spanish is, how it has changed, and who has played a role in this process.
By:  
Imprint:   Edinburgh University Press
Country of Publication:   United Kingdom
Dimensions:   Height: 234mm,  Width: 156mm, 
ISBN:   9781474429092
ISBN 10:   1474429092
Series:   Edinburgh Historical Linguistics
Pages:   272
Publication Date:  
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Undergraduate
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active

Israel Sanz-Sanchez is Professor of Spanish and Linguistics at West Chester University

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