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This paper aims at showing the areas of coincidence and dissidence between the Spanish and Italian languages and the possible consequences that the contrastive factor has on the possibility of intercomprehension and on the perspective of learning both as foreign languages. The topics of intercomprehension and the learning of foreign languages are associated not only with the concepts enunciated by Umberto Eco for Romance languages, but also with languages with less structural affinity. Our focus is the pragmatic distinctions beyond structural similarities and differences, arguing that the problem of the distance and proximity of two languages is centered on cultural heritage, rather than being strictly linguistic. To this end we provide didactic resources verified in university experience which can serve to channel and make explicit the intercultural experiences of future professionals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I describe focalizing syntactic structures in which the so-called que galicado (que used instead of the "canonical" relative pronouns or adverbs) is used. I also make reference to its origins, which several scholars of Spanish have attributed to the influence of other Romance languages. Empirical studies, however, show that que galicado seems to relate to a generalized linguistic tendency, even though the contact of Spanish with other languages, especially French, could favor its use. Several studies on the subject show that the occurrence of que galicado seems to be conditioned by dialectal regions (more frequent use in Spanish speaking Latin America than in Spain), speakers' socioeconomic status, and most of all, by the syntactic function of the focalized constituent, its grammatical category and number of syllables. Some recommendations about the use of que galicado are made in the final part of this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the meaning and uses of o así in the Spanish, and in the Spanish in contact with the Basque language. In the latter, some uses of o así attenuate the illocutionary force of the speech act, which is explained by grammaticalization. This process occurs taking into account a) the use of the Spanish o así as a reformulator for expressing attenuation; and b) the modality and evidentiality categories in the Basque conjunction edo, triggered by inferential and subjectification processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The alternation in Spanish of más with negative adverbs in sequences like nada más vs. *más nada, nunca más vs. *más nunca has been frequently noted by different authors as a characteristic of some dialects. In this paper, we use several corpus prepared with data collected from Twitter through its public API. Thanks to this method, complementary to traditional techniques in dialectology, data are strictly synchronic for all of the Spanish-speaking areas. We selected only georeferenced data and gathered it in a MySQL relational database. Therefore, our corpus contains geographical information. Using GIS techniques for spatial analysis and open source software such as QGIS, a linguistic atlas can easily be prepared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of the experiment of association of a number of items of color images -color names and locomotion images - locomotion names as a test to validate two hypotheses: a) if there is a ordering relationship between the cognitive domain (of images, concepts) and the semantic field of words in Spanish language (H1), and b) if a relationship exists, it is stronger in the cultural fields than in natural areas (H2). The results do not confirm that there is a close relationship between concepts and terms in Spanish language; seems to be some gradual in concepts and in terms in a cultural field such as locomotion field but this correlation is not given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at providing evidence of the increasing presence of English borrowings in current Spanish. It focuses on the analysis of 12 issues of the wellknown magazine Cahiers du Cinema published between 2008 and 2009. This study examines a sample of 985 anglicisms that are used in this publication. When comparing the findings of this research and other similar ones carried out in Spain (Botella, 2001; Guzmán, 2008), there seems to be an increasing tendency to use these borrowings in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The linguistic consequences of the Hispanic immigration in the United States demonstrate the importance that, in the last decades, there has acquired Spanish, fourth language most spoken about the planet. This paper analyzes the reality of the Hispanics (their history, their geographical origins, their favorite destinations, their socio-economic situation, the condition of the Hispanic companies, their political power …) and it puts it in relation with the role of the Spanish as element of communicative local and international cohesion and with economic usefulness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper lies in the category of research on sports terminology as a language for specific purposes. Hence, it is a study with a lexicological and lexicographical perspective, concerning the Spanish language and bilingual dictionaries. On this occasion, I will deal with meanings and sports terms in Laura Tam's Grande Dizionario di Spagnolo, distinguishing between terms of a specific nature, entries of a generic nature in the milieu of sports and, finally, non-descript terms. The study concludes with a comparison of terms in the Spanish-Italian section and those in the Italian- Spanish section, with an analysis of the differences. A selection of some of the most representative terms will be presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spanish linguistic identity is very solid, but native speakers do not always demonstrate uniformity in their way of denominating the language, "Spanish or Castilian?" Some show synonymy, generally preferring one of the two terms; others opt for the more modern and international term: Spanish. Through the preference of the term "Castilian" we can track the inheritance and influence of 19th century educational politics or a range of circumstantial sociopolitical attitudes which are far removed from the language. In environments in which non-native, second or foreign languages are taught, the language is unanimously denominated ,Spanish; however; above all there exist doubts among non-native teachers and in non-Hispanic countries as to what name should be used to refer to the language. This uncertainty is a reflection of the long-standing controversy abetted by the fact that the very maturity of the Spanish nation as a modern state occurred after its power and language had spread extensively; the terms for the language are therefore consequently controversial as well. This paper studies the constitutions of Hispanic countries in respect to whether or not a name is recognized for their official language (with special attention being given to the Spanish Constitution due to its complexity), and they are contrasted with a study of occurrences of the terms Spanish and Castilian in the Spanish Diachronic corpus (CORDE) and the Present corpus (CREA) of RAE, for all Hispanic countries. Additionally, results of the agreements between the worldwide Academies of the Spanish Language are presented as they are reflected in the definitions in the Diccionario de la Lengua Española (the most updated, electronic version) and the Diccionario Panhispánico de Dudas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]