Cover not available
Part of
Stability and Divergence in Language Contact: Factors and Mechanisms
Edited by Kurt Braunmüller, Steffen Höder and Karoline Kühl
[Studies in Language Variation 16] 2014
► pp. 207–238

Dialect stability and divergence in southern Spain

Social and personal motivations

ORCID logo | Universidad de Málaga
ORCID logo | Universidad de Málaga
The aim of this paper is to show how social stratification and small-scale variables such as social network and social history, interact in explaining why lowprestige dialect use persists in spite of the current urban middle-class trends of convergence towards either the national or the regional standard varieties (Villena-Ponsoda 2005). Even though Andalusian urban varieties show strong and relatively recent trends of convergence towards the national standard, and reveal patterns of phonemic merger reversion and reallocation (Villena & Vida 2004), rural and ‘rurban’ varieties maintain and even tend to reinforce vernacular dialect features that are leading to the formation of minority non-standard highly stigmatised inventories (Villena Ponsoda 2008).
Published online: 26 November 2014
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/silv.16.10vil
References (71)
Alarcos-Llorach, E. 1950. Fonología española [Spanish phonology], 4th edn. 1968. Madrid: Gredos.Google Scholar
Alonso, A. 1955–1969. De la pronunciación medieval a la moderna en español (I, II) [From medieval to modern pronunciation in Spanish], 2nd edn. 1967–1969. Madrid: Gredos.Google Scholar
Alvar, M. 1974. Sevilla, macrocosmos lingüístico[Sevilla, a linguistic macrocosm]. In L. Quiroga Torrealba, M. Torrealba & P. Dı́az Seijas (eds), Estudios Filológicos y Lingüísticos. Homenaje a Ángel Rosenblat, 13–42. Caracas: Instituto Pedagógico.Google Scholar
. 1993. Notas de asedio al habla de Málaga [Notes for the siege of the Malaga dialect]. Puerta Nueva. Revista de Educación, 17: 6–13. [URL] (August 1st 2013).Google Scholar
Alvar, M., Llorente, A. & Salvador, G. 1960–1973. Atlas Lingüístico y Etnográfico de Andalucía (alea) [Linguistic and Ethnographic Atlas of Andalusia], i–vi. Granada: Universidad.Google Scholar
Alvar Ezquerra, M. 2000. Tesoro léxico de las hablas andaluzas [Lexical thesaurus of the Andalusian varieties]. Madrid: Arco Libros.Google Scholar
Ariza, M. 1997. De la aspiración de /s/ [On /s/ aspiration]. Philologica Hispalensis 13: 49–60.Google Scholar
Auer, P. 1998. Dialect levelling and the standard varieties in Europe. Folia Linguistica 32: 1–9. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2005. Europe’s sociolinguistic unity, or: A typology of European dialect/standard constellations. InN. Delbecque, J. van der Auwera & D. Geeraerts (eds), Perspectives on Variation. Sociolinguistic, Historical, Comparative, 7–42. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Auer, P. & Hinskens, F. 1996. The convergence and divergence of dialects in Europe. New and not so new developments in an old area. Sociolinguistica 10: 1–30.Google Scholar
. 2005. The role of interpersonal accommodation in a theory of language change. In P. Auer, F. Hinskens & P. Kerswill, (2005), 335–357.Google Scholar
Auer, P., Hinskens, F. & Kerswill, P. (eds). 2005. Dialect Change. Convergence and Divergence in European Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Auer, P. & Schmidt, J.E. (eds). 2010. Language and Space. An International Handbook of Linguistic Variation. Theory and Methods, Vol I. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Ávila-Muñoz, A. 1994. Variación reticular e individual de s/z en el Vernáculo Urbano Malagueño: datos del barrio de Capuchinos [Network and individual variation of s/z in Malaga Urban Vernacular: Data from the local area of Capuchinos]. Analecta Malacitana 17: 343–367.Google Scholar
Bellmann, G. 1998. Between base dialect and standard language. Folia Linguistica 32: 23–34. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Berruto, G. 2005. Dialect/standard convergence, mixing, and models of language contact: The case of Italy. InP. Auer, F. Hinskens & P. Kerswill (2005), 81–95.
Bortoni-Ricardo, S.M. 1985. The urbanization of rural dialect speakers. A sociolinguistic study in Brazil. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Britain, D. 2002. Space and spatial diffusion. InJ.K. Chambers, P. Trudgill & N. Schilling-Estes (2002), 603–638.
. 2009. One foot on the grave? Dialect death, dialect contact, and dialect birth in England. InD. Britain, R. Vandekerckhove & W. Jongenburger (2009), 121–155.
Britain, D. & Cheshire, J. (eds). 2003. Social Dialectology. In Honour of Peter Trudgill. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Britain, D., Vandekerckhove, R. & Jongenburger, W. (eds). 2009. Dialect death in Europe? International Journal of the Sociology of Language 196/197. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Carbonero, P. 2003. Estudios de sociolingüística andaluza [Studies on Andalusian sociolinguistics]. Sevilla: Universidad.Google Scholar
Carbonero, P. Álvarez, J.L., Casas, J. & Gutiérrez, I.M. 1992. El habla de Jerez. Estudio sociolingüístico [The variety of Jerez. A sociolinguistic study]. Jerez: Ayuntamiento.Google Scholar
Chambers, J.K., Trudgill, P. & Schilling-Estes, N. (eds). 2002. The Handbook of Language Variation and Change. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Eckert, P. 2010. Who’s there. Language and space in social anthropology and interactional sociolinguistics. InP. Auer & J.E. Schmidt (2010), 163–178.
García-Amaya, L. 2008. Variable norms in the production of /θ/ in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain. In IUWPL7: Gender in Language: Classic Questions, New Contexts, J.F. Siegel et al. (eds), 49–71. Bloomington: IULC Publications.Google Scholar
Hernández-Campoy, J.M. & Villena-Ponsoda, J.A. 2010. Standardness and Non-Standardness in Spain: Dialect attrition and revitalization of regional dialects of Spanish. InD. Britain, R. Vandekerckhove & W. Jongenburger (2010), 181–214.
Hinskens, F. 1998. Dialect levelling: A two-dimensional process. Folia Linguistica 32: 35–51. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kaufmann, G. 2010. Non-convergence despite language contact. InP. Auer & J.E. Schmidt (2010), 478–493.
Kerswill, P. 2003. Dialect levelling and geographic diffusion in British English. InD. Britain & J. Cheshire (2003), 223–243.
Labov, W. 1966. The Social Stratification of English in New York City, 3rd edn. 1982. Washington: Center for Applied Linguistics.Google Scholar
. 2001. Principles of Linguistic Change. Social Factors. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
. 2003. Pursuing the cascade model. InD. Britain & J. Cheshire (2003), 9–22.
Labov, W. & Harris, W. 1986. The facto segregation of Black and White vernaculars. InD. Sankoff (ed.), Diversity and Diachrony, 1–24. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lasarte-Cervantes, M.C. 2010. Formación de dialectos en el contexto urbano. Convergencia y divergencia dialectal en Málaga. Contribución al Proyecto fordial [Dialect formation in urban contexts. Dialect converging and diverging in Malaga. Contribution to dialfor ­Project]. Ph.D. Thesis, Universidad, Malaga.Google Scholar
Lippi-Green, R.L. 1989. Social network integration and language change in progress in a rural Alpine village. Language in Society 18: 213–234. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Marshall, J. 2004. Language Change and Sociolinguistics: Rethinking Social Networks. New York: Palgrave MacMillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mattheier, K.J. 1996. Varietätenkonvergenz. Überlegungen zu einem Baustein einer Theorie der Sprachvariation [Convergence in varieties. Towards a theory of linguistic variation]. Sociolinguistica 10: 31–52.Google Scholar
Melguizo-Moreno, E. 2008. Convergencia y divergencia dialectal. A propósito del habla de Pinos Puente y sus contactos con Granada [Dialect convergence and divergence. Study on the Pinos Puente variety and its contacts with Granada town]. Ph.D. Granada: Universidad.Google Scholar
Menéndez-Pidal, R. 1962. Sevilla frente a Madrid. Algunas precisiones sobre el español de América [Sevilla against Madrid. Some remarks on American Spanish]. InD. Catalán (ed.), Miscelánea Homenaje a André Martinet. Estructuralismo e Historia, Vol. III, 99–165. La Laguna: Universidad.Google Scholar
Milroy, J. 1992. Language Variation and Change. On the Historical Sociolinguistics of English. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Milroy, L. 1980. Language and Social Networks, 2nd edn. 1987. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Milroy, L. & Margrain, S. 1980. Vernacular language loyalty and social networks. Language in Society 9: 43–70. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Milroy, L. & Milroy, J. 1992. Social network and social class: towards an integrated sociolinguistic model. Language in Society 21/1: 1–26. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Molina-Martos, I. 2008. The sociolinguistics of Castilian dialects. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 193/194: 57–78.Google Scholar
Moreno-Fernández, F. 2004. Cambios vivos en el plano fónico del español: variación dialectal y sociolingüística [Phonemic living changes in Spanish: Dialect and sociolinguistic variation]. In R. Cano (ed.), Historia de la lengua española, 973–1009. Barcelona: Ariel.Google Scholar
. (ed.). 2007. Spanish in Spain: The Sociolinguistics of Bilingual Areas. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 184. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
. (ed.). 2008. The Sociolinguistics of Spanish: Social History, Norm, Variation, and Change in Spain. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Morillo-Velarde, R. 2001. Sociolingüística en el alea. Variable generacional y cambio lingüístico [Sociolinguistics in the alea. Age group and linguistic change]. Estudios de Lingüística 15: 13–49.Google Scholar
Moya-Corral, J.A. 2000. Migration et changement linguistique à Grenade (Espagne). InK.J. ­Mattheier (ed.), Dialect and Migration in a Changing Europe, 25–41. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Moya-Corral, J.A. & García-Wiedemann, E. 1995. El habla de Granada y sus barrios [The dialect of Granada and its local areas]. Granada: Universidad.Google Scholar
Narbona, A., Cano, R. & Morillo, R. 2011. El español hablado en Andalucía [Andalusian spoken Spanish]. Sevilla: Universidad.Google Scholar
Pascual, J.M. 1998. El revolucionario conservadurismo del español norteño. A propósito de la evolución de /s/ implosiva [Northern Spanish revolutionary conservatism. On the evolution of syllable final /s/ ]. InI. Andrés-Suárez & L. López Molina (eds), Estudios de lingüística y filología española. Homenaje a Germán Colón, 387–400. Madrid: Gredos.Google Scholar
Penny, R. 2000. Variation and Change in Spanish. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Requena-Santos, F. & Ávila-Muñoz, A. 2002. Redes sociales y sociolingüística [Social networks and sociolinguistics]. Estudios de sociolingüística 3: 71–90.Google Scholar
Rodríguez Prieto, J.P. 2009. Distribución geográfica del jejeo en español y propuesta de reformulación y extension del término [Geographic distribution of jejeo in Spanish: A proposal of reformulation and extension of the term]. Revista Española de Lingüística 38/2: 129–144.Google Scholar
Røyneland, U. 2010. Vertical convergence of linguistic varieties in a language space. InP. Auer & J.E. Schmidt (2010), 259–274.
Ryan, E.B. 1979. Why do low-prestige language variants persist?InH. Giles & R. St. Clair (eds), Language and Social Psychology, 145–157. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
San Juan, E. & Almeida, M. 2005. Teoría sociolingüística y red social: datos del español canario [Sociolinguistic theory and social network: data from Canarian Spanish]. Revista Internacional de Lingüística Iberoamericana 3/ 1(5): 133–150.Google Scholar
Tuten, D.N. 2003. Koineization in Medieval Spanish. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Trudgill, P. 1986. Dialects in Contact. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
. 1996. Dialect typology: Isolation, social network and phonological structure. InG. Guy et al. (eds), Towards a Social Science of Language, Vol. I, 3–22. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2002. Linguistic and social typology. InJ.K. Chambers, P. Trudgill & N. Schilling-Estes (2002), 707–718.
Tsiplakou, S. et al. 2006. Koineization and their implications for dialectalism. InF. Hinskens (ed.), Language Variation. European Perspectives, 265–276. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Villena-Ponsoda, J.A. 1996. Convergence and divergence in a standard-dialect continuum: Networks and individuals in Malaga. Sociolinguistica 10: 112–137.Google Scholar
. 2001. La continuidad del cambio lingüístico. Tendencias conservadoras e innovadoras en la fonología del español a la luz de la investigación sociolingüística urbana [The continuity of linguistic change. Conservative and innovative trends in the phonology of Spanish in the light of urban sociolinguistic research]. Granada: Universidad.Google Scholar
. 2005. How similar are people who speak alike? An interpretive way of using social network in social dialectology research. InP. Auer, F. Hinskens & P. Kerswill (2005), 303–334.
. 2008. Sociolinguistic patterns of Andalusian Spanish. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 2008 (193–194): 139–160. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2010. Community-based investigations: From traditional dialect grammar to sociolinguistic studies. InP. Auer & J.E. Schmidt (2010), 613–631.
. 2013. Actos de identidad: ¿Por qué persiste el uso de los rasgos lingüísticos de bajo prestigio social? Divergencia geográfica y social en el español urbano de Andalucía [Acts of identity: Why do low-prestige speech features persist? Geographic and social divergence in urban Andalusian Spanish]. In Sociolingüística Andaluza 16. Estudios descriptivos y aplicados sobre el andaluz, R. Guillén & R. Millán (eds), 173–207. Sevilla: Universidad.Google Scholar
Villena-Ponsoda, J.A. & Vida-Castro, M. 2004. The effect of social prestige on reversing phonological changes: Universal constraints on speech variation in Southern Spanish. InB.­-L. ­Gunnarson et al. (eds), Language Variation in Europe. Papers from ICLaVE 2. Papers from the 2nd International Conference on Language Variation and Change in Europe, June 2003, 432–444. Uppsala: Uppsala University.Google Scholar
Cited by (6)

Cited by six other publications

Vida-Castro, Matilde & Antonio Manuel Ávila-Muñoz
2024. Introduction. In The Continuity of Linguistic Change [Studies in Language Variation, 31], ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Waluch de la Torre, Edyta
2023. Patrones sociolingüísticos de pronunciación en la ciudad de Granada: variación sociofonética del ceceo. Itinerarios. Revista de estudios lingüísticos, literarios, históricos y antropológicos :38 ► pp. 235 ff. DOI logo
Ávila Muñoz, Antonio Manuel
2023. Explicación multidimensional de la dinámica sociolingüística en Andalucía. Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada/Spanish Journal of Applied Linguistics 36:1 ► pp. 60 ff. DOI logo
Ávila-Muñoz, Antonio Manuel
2022. En los orígenes del estudio de la variación lingüística. Spanish in Context 19:2 ► pp. 189 ff. DOI logo
Regan, Brendan
2017. A study of ceceo variation in Western Andalusia (Huelva). Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 10:1 ► pp. 119 ff. DOI logo
[no author supplied]
2024. The Continuity of Linguistic Change [Studies in Language Variation, 31], DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 24 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.