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These past decades have seen an emergence of studies on speech acts. Condolences, however, are among the least addressed out of them. Bibliography on this subject is scarce if compared to that of petitions, promises, offers, and so on, more so in Spanish, where papers on this subject are few and far between. This gap is especially notable in diachronic studies. This paper aims to offer a first approach to strategies for delivering condolences in 18th and 19th century letters written in the Canary Islands, Spain. Its goal is to describe which are the most common semantic formulas used to give condolences, and how much they resemble those described by different authors regarding this speech act in modern languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Languages have undergone a wide variety of evaluations, which have triggered many value-judgements about their worth, i.e. about the better or worse nature of some languages as opposed to others. Currently, this situation still persists, in such a way that the thesis of linguistic egalitarianism is being challenged by several proposals. This paper critically discusses the task of evaluating languages, and it argues that any scientific attempt to rate languages from a linguistic approach should fulfill the basic condition of bringing objective criteria to the fore. However, the paper contends that this condition is not met, and it analyzes four different problems language evaluation is endowed with. The problems convert the proposals of rating languages according to their different worth into arbitrary and decontextualized. We conclude that to construct language rankings (through very different parameters) based on the different worth of languages adds nothing to the scientific knowledge of languages, and, in most cases, it expresses or promotes linguistic prejudice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I discuss the possibility of considering periphrastic passive constructions as syntactic Latinisms. To do so, I start from the definition of Latinism and present a gradual conception of it that enables the differentiation of strong and weak syntactic Latinisms. In this sense, I question the characterisation of the periphrastic passive as an inherited form, a problem that requires reflection on the types of linguistic change and the processes of linguistic elaboration that contribute to multiplying the possibilities of variation in languages subjected to scripturalisation processes since the Middle Ages. In the case of the periphrastic passive, this paper presents a brief state of the art and insists on the point of view of translation, which frequently proves how forms with active diathesis have a special prominence as opposed to those with passive diathesis. I also present a general overview of the diachronic research focused on the phenomenon. The examples selected for this paper include fragments of medieval and Renaissance works in which it is possible to discern various Latinising, Anti-Latinising and Hyper-Latinising tendencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the concepts of modality and subjectivity, according to different bibliographic studies. The main purpose of the review is to note the defining flaws of both domains, which cause confusion when it comes to being explained in the uses of different linguistic units (from verbs to adverbs and discursive particles). The approximation carried out shows that the description of both concepts is intertwined from the beginning of the theorizing about it, but, above all, that its descriptive features are eminently semantic, although the grammatical (and functional) categories that mainly manifest these phenomena operate at the pragmatic level. Thus, here we propose new definitions of modality and subjectivity that they are not mutually exclusive nor overshadow either of the two domains. For this purpose, it is proposed a conception of the studied terms based in some definition of last year's cognitive-functional theories (Nuyts and Van der Auwera 2016, Abraham 2020). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to inquire a corpus of columns of the language (CDL) of the Argentine magazine El Hogar: the section entitled "La paja en el ojo ajeno..." signed by Pescatore di Perle (Francisco Ortiga Anckermann). This CDL was published weekly for almost fifty years (between 1914 and 1963). I will analyze the columns of 1927, the year in which new debates on the national language appeared, especially in the newspaper Crítica. In the context of the institutionalization of philological disciplines in Argentina, the professionalization of the disciplone and the appearance of porteño dialects and colloquial expressions in the media, Pescatore di Perle's columns were a proposal on the use of language for the society that the magazine represented. The hypothesis that we want to demonstrate is that in them, through a strategy of prize and reward, the readership is encouraged to appropriate common sense about the "appropriate" uses of the language. The selection and awarding of the hunt for typos and the comments on the matter functioned as actions typical of «language surveillance», according to the perspective of Laienlinguistik, through which a specific linguistic citizenship was proposed. On the other hand, these CDL promoted linguistic correctness while using, without questioning, certain colloquial expressions as well as lexicon of cocoliche and lunfardo. This functioned, apparently, as objects of ridicule but in the same act, they were given body and representation for their use and domination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the controversy over the creation of the Canarian Academy of Language. I adopt a glottopolitical perspective that considers institutional linguistic descriptions as interventions in the public space of language in order to maintain power and organize specific social orders. I examine the antecedents of the study of Atlantic Spanish and Spanish in the Canary Islands from the fifties to the nineties at the Universidad de La Laguna, and I observe a break in the language discourses that construct Canarian Spanish as a symbol of identity, a result of the dynamics of quasi–nationalism in the state of the autonomies. The need for the Canarian Academy of Language functioned as part of the rhetoric of the abandonment of the state and was established in terms of repairing a sociolinguistic trauma that would be solved with the action of philologists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lexical verbs are crucial in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) due to their undeniable contribution to major EAP functions such as discussing, hypothesising, comparing, or reviewing literature. The present paper intends to provide a comparative corpus-based analysis of how lexical English academic verbs (EAVs) are used in linguistics research articles (RAs), by both native (N) and non-native (NN) English scholars, as well as different linguistic classifications to categorise them in a meaningful manner. The N and NN corpora of study have been exploited with WordSmith Tools, the results showing that, although no significant differences can be appreciated between Ns and NNs, the former tend to use a (slightly) wider range and larger number of EAVs. Results also shed light on usage preferences and differences as regards verb forms1 and classes, as well as on frequency patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1894, the chilean José Toribio Medina publishes, in Sevilla, a copy of the work of the priest Luis de Valdivia SJ on allentiac language (1607), which, until then, was thought to be missing. This work set the ground for a series of publications on the subject of allentiac, by the main argentinian referents in modern americanism. Samuel Lafone Quevedo writes, from september to october in the newspaper La Nación, the "Arte y vocabulario de la lengua Allentiac (Guarpe)". Bartolomé Mitre publishes, also in 1894, in the journal Revista del museo de La Plata a review of Valdivia's work, "American languages. A bibliographical and linguistic study of the works of P. Luis de Valdivia on araucanian and allentiak, with a reasoned vocabulary of allentiak". In this article, we intend to reveal a manner of working that is consolidated in the decade of 1890 among some of the (sud)american linguistics main actors. We will analyze the background of these publications with personal (and unpublished) exchanges held by these two particular thinkers, in which they construct and reconstruct data and representations on indigenous languages. The study of some of each's papers, plus other material published in different media, will allow us to uncover the flow of information and the collective construction of linguistic knowledge in Argentina. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lexicographical corpus of the Mapuzugun produced in the period 1880-1930 has not yet been subject to studies that place it in relation to its specific historical and linguistic context. This paper presents a first analysis of the bilingual lexicographical repertoires produced in the aforementioned period, which marks the end of the Mapuche resistance and the beginning of the state occupation of the territories in the south of the current republics of Argentina and Chile. In relation to this historical context we analyze how these linguistic instruments (Auroux 1992) configure discourses on language that mobilize certain linguistic ideologies about the Mapuzugun. From a glottopolitical perspective (Del Valle 2017) that considers the principles of critical studies of lexicographic discourse (Chen 2019), it is characterized the interaction between diverse discourses on language in the period as well as the incidence of political and military processes in the language space. Based on some characteristics of the works reviewed, general categories are proposed that allow locating and describing the corpus according to the discourses on the Mapuche language that are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the diatopic variation of the periphrasis andar + ger, comparing its use in Mexican and Peninsular Spanish. To this end, the relative frequency of the construction is analyzed in several corpora, as well as its most distinctive semantic and syntactic features. Our quantitative analysis shows, on the one hand, the high frequency of andar + ger in Mexican Spanish as compared to Peninsular Spanish. On the other hand, it reveals that the periphrasis occurs, above all, in informal language modalities. Semantically, the present study corroborates that, in periphrases with a gerund, the verb andar ('to walk'), has progressively lost its lexical meaning of physical movement and has come to transmit pragmatic values, particularly of determination and insistence. In addition, unlike Peninsular Spanish, in Mexican Spanish the periphrasis is less subject to selectional restrictions with respect to the gerund, a relatively recent change that points to a strong grammaticalization. Syntactically, the grammaticalization process is reflected in the adjacency of the auxiliary and the gerund, the fixed internal order of the two components of the periphrasis, clitic climbing and a drop in the frequency of coordinated gerunds. The case of andar + ger demonstrates that grammaticalization of the same construction can take place in different ways depending on the specific dialectal environment. Likewise, and at a more general level, it stresses the importance of a diatopic approach in studies on verbal periphrases and grammaticalization processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a diachronic study of the inchoative periphrases comenzar a and empezar a + infinitive drawing upon grammaticalization theory, in an attempt to contribute to the history of Spanish and, particularly, to the studies focused on verbal periphrases. Based on the results of an analysis of a large number of documented occurrences between the 11th and 21st centuries, we propose that the lexical meaning of words to be relevant in the construction of grammatical pieces; therefore synonymy seems to play an important role in shaping the grammar of a language. As we will see, alternation of the studied forms shows that both coexist nowadays, and that their use is conditioned both by contextual and chronological factors, because both express the same semantic values. Since the use of empezar a + infinitive increases around the 19th century, we reflect on other change processes linked to verbal periphrases during this period, and on their importance in the syntactic periodization of Spanish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a broad overview, seen from the perspective of Diachronic Construction Grammar, of the readings and values developed in Latin by the construction so/eo+iNF. The evidence provided and the analysis of the various factors involved in the interpretation of this periphrasis show that its original and basic value is not the expression of habitual aspect, as traditional models maintain, but a typifying meaning that should be considered in the framework of the continuous aspect. On the other hand, the structural possibilities and the behavior of so/eo+iNF in Latin allow to set an interesting reference framework to explain some particular uses of so/er+ INF in the earliest stages of the Spanish language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the main results of the allophonic variation of the consonantal group /tr/ in a variety of Chilean Spanish -that of speakers that have not completed secondary education- obtained from eight cities (Iquique, La Serena, Valparaíso, Santiago, Concepción, Temuco, Coyhaique and Punta Arenas), using two elicitation tasks -semi-spontaneous interview and reading-aloud- completed by male and female speakers. The results showed that the sequence of plosive followed by a tap, that is /tr/, was more frequent. In addition, the independent variables geographic origin, elicitation task and gender were shown to have a statistically significant effect on the phonetic realizations of /tr/. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the description of the verb soleo, the Latin cognate of the Spanish auxiliary soler, with the aim of contributing to the explanation of the Spanish lexical periphrasis soler + INF, when considering it from a diachronic perspective. Soleo is an especial verb whose singularity is manifested in its etymology and its grammatical particularities. Concerning its etymology, two hypotheses have been considered which start from two different Aktionsart stems: one makes it derive from a Proto-Indo-European iterative stem, the other from a stative one. From this second etymological hypothesis, soleo could be included among Latin denominative stative *e-presents with the basic meaning of 'to be of oneself, to have as one's own, to be normal, to be custom'. Regarding its morphosyntactic features, the semi-deponent soleo has a morphologically passive perfect stem, solitus sum, whose use with aoristic value comes into contradiction with the morphological restriction of the Spanish auxiliary soler and with the aspectual categorization of habitual auxiliary attributed to it. Together with the function as an auxiliary verb constituting a periphrasis with an infinitive, it also presents a use as a full lexical verb in which the prototypical semantic value of its etymology emerges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the first results on the PRECAVES XXI project on linguistic attitudes in Medellín, Colombia. In this phase of the project the interview was carried out with two groups of undergraduate students from the first and last semesters of University of Antioquia's Hispanic Philology and Teaching of Spanish Programs. The results are focused on three main topics: the most prestigious variety, the perception of their own variety, and the identification and valuation of other Spanish varieties. This analysis concluded that, for this population from Antioquia, the Colombian way of speaking is the most prestigious, and specifically, the diatopic variety; they value and recognize their own speech from cognitive aspects, considering it as urban and clear, which shows a positive attitude, linguistic pride and sense of belonging towards their variety, as a result of local identity. Finally, the survival of a normative linguistic tradition and a limited general knowledge of Hispanic diversity were evinced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the analysis of the Prontuario de Ortografía Práctica (1865), written by José Bernrdo Suárez, student of the first course of the Normal School of Teachers, inspector of primary schools and pupil of D. F. Sanniento. The research is part of the mid-nineteenth century Chilean context, which created a climate of important debates about language and education ideas, and which carried out the Chilean spelling reform that tried to change the paradigm imposed by the academic orthography. This research is based on the subdiscipline of ethnorthography. Here we analyze how the pedagogical and linguistic ideas proposed by Suarez are related to the political and social context, in which was developed the process of linguistic standardization in our country. The analysis reveals that the normative discourse contained in the spelling manual, actually is a double speech that simultaneously articulated both linguistic and social-political discourses, through pedagogical practices adopted by Suarez in his manual. Therefore, they reflect the ideologies of the nineteenth century Chilean context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper, which falls within the field of Spanish noun subordination, intends to propose a unified account of clause structures that crosslinguistically have been described as complement of a verb, or complement clause. First, I deal with the four types of complement clauses that code an argument of the main verbal predicate in Spanish, namely, subject, direct object, nominal predicate and prepositional government. In order to explain the subordinate structural alternation in relation to the verbal finite or infinitive inflexion, in all four cases, I analyze the participants' coreference between the complement clause and the main one, trying to demonstrate that the mentioned coreference is not only established between the subject of the complement clause and the subject of its main clause. Second, taking into consideration that in Spanish the complement clause usually follows its main clause, I analyze the information structure of its semantic content to come to the conclusion that its position following the main clause is due to its high communicative value, assuming that Spanish syntax organizes its constituents according to the old/ known information-new information order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the analysis of the Prontuario de Ortografía Práctica (1865), written by José Bernardo Suárez, student of the first course of the Normal School of Teachers, inspector of primary schools and pupil of D. F. Sarmiento. The research is part of the mid-nineteenth century Chilean context, which created a climate of important debates about language and education ideas, and which carried out the Chilean spelling reform that tried to change the paradigm imposed by the academic orthography. This research is based on the subdiscipline of ethnorthography. Here we analyze how the pedagogical and linguistic ideas proposed by Suarez are related to the political and social context, in which was developed the process of linguistic standardization in our country. The analysis reveals that the normative discourse contained in the spelling manual, actually is a double speech that simultaneously articulated both linguistic and social-political discourses, through pedagogical practices adopted by Suarez in his manual. Therefore, they reflect the ideologies of the nineteenth century Chilean context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Castilian grammar became a teaching discipline in Spain and Latin America in 1813, when its study was generalized; before that, Latin grammar was mandatory. This paper aims at making a structural and content analysis of the text Brevísimas nociones de Analogía Castellana (1891) taking into account the context of the teaching of this discipline in Cuba. The book was edited in Santiago de Cuba in 1891 by Julio Severiano Hernández y García, "Full Professor of incomplete teaching" and Director of the private college San Severiano; the book follows the peculiarities of the manuals of that time, but it also stands out, unlike others, by the use of example belonging to the colloquial level in the language of the region at the time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]