{"id":874,"date":"2020-07-01T18:43:25","date_gmt":"2020-07-01T18:43:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/plainlii.com\/2020\/07\/01\/a-brief-history-of-the-spanish-language\/"},"modified":"2021-05-05T16:58:07","modified_gmt":"2021-05-05T16:58:07","slug":"a-brief-history-of-the-spanish-language","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/plainlii.com\/es\/2020\/07\/01\/a-brief-history-of-the-spanish-language\/","title":{"rendered":"A Brief History of the Spanish Language"},"content":{"rendered":"

(\u00bfLo quieres leer en espa\u00f1ol? Aqu\u00ed est\u00e1.<\/a>)<\/p>\n

The word \u201cgrammar\u201d refers both to the rules that govern language production and comprehension and to the study of those rules. As the set of rules and principles governing the use of language, grammar is as old as the oldest of languages!<\/p>\n

As the study of the rules, it has a long history. The oldest grammar studies come from ancient India, centuries before our common era, and deal with the rules of the Sanskrit language. The most recognized Sanskrit grammarian was Panini, whose ideas about grammar are still used today! In Europe, grammar emerged as a discipline in Greece, with authors like Aristarchus of Samothrace, who baptized it \u201cthe art of letters.\u201d In Ancient Rome, Latin grammar was developed based on Greek ideas, and became a pillar of the the art of eloquence, with rhetoric and dialectics (taught alongside the art of numbers).<\/p>\n

The Birth of Spanish<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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<\/div>\n
Nebrija\u2019s Grammar<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Throughout the Middle Ages, various factors contributed to the birth of Romance languages, including Spanish. Among these factors, the strict grammatical prescriptions of classical Latin drove a wedge between the language of scholars and the vulgar or popular Latin spoken by uneducated people. Also, the new geopolitical conditions of a fragmented empire furthered a linguistic fracture that gradually gave rise to heterogeneous (region-specific), although interrelated, vernacular languages.<\/p>\n

In Spain, a variety of Romance languages coexisted for centuries, including Galician, Castilian, Leonese, Catalan, and Asturian. At the end of the XI century, a process of linguistic reunification began thanks to the rise of Spanish as the language for the chansons de geste. These epic poems served as example, inspiration, and entertainment, much as the heroes and stories in today\u2019s Marvel movies. In the second half of the XIII century, during the reign of Alfonso X of Castile and Leon, Spanish acquired official status. The king had all official documents written directly in Castilian or translated into Castilian, rather than having them in Latin, as it had been the custom until then.<\/p>\n

The political rise of the new languages inspired the interest to study them in their own right. The Sevillian Antonio de Nebrija was the first scholar of Romance languages to understand the importance of writing down their rules. Thus, in 1492, he published in Salamanca his\u00a0Gram\u00e1tica de la lengua castellana<\/em>, which is not only the first book on the grammar of the Spanish language, but also the first book on any Romance language at all. In the prologue to Queen Elizabeth the Catholic, he states:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I think to myself, my enlightened queen: [\u2026] and I put before my eyes all that has been written for our memory and remembrance, one thing I find and I draw to a certain conclusion: that the [Latin] language was always a companion of the [Roman] empire; such was their association that together they rose, grew, and flourished, and later together they fell [\u2026] And because my thought and will have always been to magnify the achievements of our nation, and to give the men of my language books to make the best use of their leisure [\u2026], I decided before all other things to lay down the art of our Castilian language. Thereby, what is henceforth written in our language may remain in a style and endure the test of time, as has been done with Greek and Latin, for the study of their art has allowed them, through the many centuries of their existence, to endure in their uniformity.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

(My translation.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Spanish Sets Sail<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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<\/div>\n
Bilingual exchange between a native and a missionary<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

It may not escape the reader that that same year of 1492, Christopher Columbus was authorized by the Catholic Monarchs to seek new trade routes to the Indies across the Atlantic. Spain, like many previous kingdoms, sought to expand its power. During this expansion, the discovery and subsequent conquest of a new continent led to the spread of Castilian as a\u00a0lingua franca<\/em>.<\/p>\n

However, the process of Castilianization was much slower than the geopolitical and religious expansion. This expansion was accelerated by the papal concession of lands to the kingdoms of Spain and Portugal as vicars of the Catholic god. Spain claimed vast territories of the Americas as their own (aided by the Tordesilles Treaty that delineated the claiming rights of Spain and Portugal.) As a result of these territorial claims, the indigenous people already living in the Americas were deemed subjects of the crown: they had to be christened and taxed.<\/p>\n

The task of communicating with the natives fell mainly on the missionaries. In their quest to convert the natives to their faith, the missionaries also spoke up for native rights. To a great extent, the missionaries advocated for the use of native languages, and were devoted to developing teaching materials, such as grammars and bilingual glossaries. A famous sermon given before Christmas in 1511 by Antonio de Montesinos, exhorts:<\/p>\n

\u201cAre they not men? Do they not have rational souls? Are you not bound to love them as you love yourselves? How can you lie in such lethargic slumber? Rest assured that in your present state, you can no more be saved than the Moors or the Turks who have no want or fear for the faith of Jesus Christ.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

(My translation.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Montesino\u2019s sermon ignited a fierce debate over native rights and identity, and led Spaniards to initially adopt bilingualism for economic and religious gain. They had the help of an invaluable group of native speakers of aboriginal languages, who were often the product of slavery or miscegenation and became interpreters by necessity.<\/p>\n

However, communicating amidst the linguistic diversity of the New World\u2019s native languages proved quite difficult. The scarce number of Castilian-speakers and the difficulties of the terrain added to the diversity of native languages led the missionaries to favor Nahuatl over other languages. In 1570, to overcome the problems that linguistic variety posed while \u201crespecting\u201d the right to a native language, King Philip II decreed Nahuatl as the official language of the Viceroyalty of New Spain \u2014 officially created in 1535. This imposition proved unsustainable, as it was a foreign language for both the Spaniards and many of the native peoples.<\/p>\n

In 1696, King Charles II established Spanish as the only official language of the Viceroyalty. In this way, Spanish became the first modern European language to be massively taught as a second language. Bilingualism persisted in the home, while Spanish quickly spread to all aspects of public and political life.<\/p>\n

Spanish in the Americas<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Bello\u2019s Grammar of 1847<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

The Spanish of the\u00a0criollos<\/em>, native Spanish-speakers born in America, was, by the end of the seventeenth century, its own version of peninsular Spanish. This Creole Spanish had developed on the basis of southern Andalusian phonetics, with\u00a0seseo<\/em>\u00a0(lack of distinction between \/s\/ and \/th\/) and the fall of the final consonants (as in \/ust\u00e9\/ instead of \/usted\/); the inclusion of indigenous words, such as\u00a0ma\u00edz<\/em>\u00a0(corn),\u00a0man\u00ed<\/em>\u00a0(peanut),\u00a0hurac\u00e1n<\/em>\u00a0(hurricane) and\u00a0chocolate<\/em>; and the Sevillian syntax, which incorporated the use of\u00a0ustedes<\/em>\u00a0(informal plural for\u00a0you<\/em>) to the detriment of\u00a0vosotros\u00a0<\/em>(formal plural for\u00a0you<\/em>.)<\/p>\n

Faced with a new transcontinental linguistic reality, the Real Academia Espa\u00f1ola was founded in 1713, \u201cto cultivate and solidify in any possible way the purity and elegance of the Castilian language\u201d through the creation of a dictionary, \u201cthe most copious that could be created\u201d.<\/p>\n

For more than a century, American Spanish had a submissive place to Peninsular Spanish until 1847. That year, the Venezuelan scholar Andr\u00e9s Bello wrote his\u00a0Grammar of the Castilian Language Intended for the Use of Americans<\/em><\/strong>. Understanding that \u201ceach language has its genius, its physiognomy, its twists\u201d, Bello took on the task of describing based on observations the innovative identity of American Spanish.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did not want [\u2026] to rely on authorities, because for me the only unimpeachable language is language itself. [\u2026] The prodigious advancement of all science and art, the spread of intellectual culture, and the political revolutions of our time call every day for new signs that express new ideas.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

(My translation.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Bello\u2019s intention was not to \u201cwrite for the Castilians,\u201d meaning European Spaniards, but rather to bring together in language all of the young American nations where SPanish was spoken. This goal was faithful to Nebrija\u2019s ideal of avoiding linguistic fragmentation (especially in syntax), considered a sign of cultural and political weakening. In the Prologue to his Grammar, he explained his animosity towards changes in syntax:<\/p>\n

\u201c[\u2026]the greatest of all evils, and the one that, if it unchecked, will deny us of the priceless advantages of a common language, is that of new structures. It already floods and muddies much of what is written in America. Liberties of construction alter the structure of the language, turning it into a multitude of irregular, licentious, and barbarian dialects. As embryos of future languages, the belabored transformations of these language-lings would replicate in America the dark era of the corruption of Latin in Europe. Chile, Peru, Buenos Aires, and Mexico would each speak their own language, or rather, several languages, as happens in Spain, Italy, and France.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

(My translation.)<\/span><\/p>\n

In pursuit of the unity of language and, more specifically, of the homogenization of syntax, Bello used as his model the Spanish of \u201ceducated people.\u201d These were speakers who, because they had had access to formal education, shared a mutually comprehensible language even when they lived in very distant regions. He shared this rationale in the preface to his Grammar:<\/p>\n

\u201cThis use is preferred because it is the most uniform in the various provinces and towns that speak the same language, and therefore the one that makes what is said easier and more often understood. In contrast, the words and phrases of uneducated people vary greatly from one town and province to another, and are not easily understood outside that narrow environment in which they were born.\u201d
\n(My translation.)<\/p>\n

In the late 19th century, awareness about American Spanish led to the creation of national language academies in the New World. The first one to be founded was the Colombian Language Academy in 1871. Today, there are 22 national academies: in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Spain, the United States, Uruguay and Venezuela. These 22 academies collaborate in the Association of Spanish Language Academies (ASALE), which was founded in 1951 at the behest of the then President of Mexico, Miguel Alem\u00e1n Vald\u00e9s, in order to work towards the unity of language as cultural heritage.<\/p>\n

Pan-Hispanic Spanish<\/strong><\/h2>\n

At the beginning of the 21st century, almost a century after the last grammar published by the Royal Academy in 1931, ASALE brought together scholars from all over the Spanish-speaking world to create the first consensual pan-Hispanic grammar. More than a hundred scholars collaborated in the new grammar with the aim of describing the grammatical constructions typical of Spanish in general, while giving an account of the phonological, morphological, and syntactic variants from different areas. In 2009, the new grammar of the Spanish language,\u00a0Nueva gram\u00e1tica de la lengua espa\u00f1ola<\/em><\/strong>,<\/em>\u00a0was officially launched under the slogan \u201cthe grammar that makes us\u201d. The work has three volumes, one on morphology, one on syntax, and one on phonetics and phonology, as well as a DVD of voices of Spanish for educational purposes, gathering the diversity of the language \u201cfrom the mouths of speakers in all linguistic areas\u201d.<\/p>\n

According to a recent study based on data collected from Twitter messages, it can still be said that three large Spanish-speaking regions endure, reflecting patterns of colonial settlement that developed differences specific to each region. The Iberian Peninsula is the original region, the Central American Caribbean region, along with Mexico and Peru, make up the second region, and finally, the Southern Cone is the third region. To these, we should perhaps add today the United States as the youngest region, a melting pot of Spanish dialects where speakers from the three previous regions converge.<\/p>\n

Spanish Around the World<\/h2>\n
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Countries where Spanish is spoken as a mother tongue<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Did you know that Spanish is one of the most spoken languages in the world? With about 580 million speakers, it is only second to Mandarin Chinese as mother tongue (and Mandarin Chinese might be better defined as a set of mutually intelligible dialects). English is the most spoken language as a second language. Spanish is also one of the six official languages of the United Nations and one of the most studied as a foreign language.<\/p>\n

Spanish is the official language in 20 countries in the Americas, one in Europe and two in Africa, by declaration or adoption in governmental institutions, as in the case of Argentina. More than 400 million native Spanish-speakers live in the Americas, from Argentina and Chile to Canada and the United States. The US, it bears mentioning, with some 55 million Spanish speakers, has become the second Spanish-speaking country in the world, after Mexico, despite Spanish not being an official Spanish language.<\/p>\n

Spanish is also the official language in the African nations of Equatorial Guinea and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and is spoken in Cameroon, Nigeria, Gabon, Morocco, Angola, Turkey, Israel, Philippines, Brazil, and several islands in Oceania.<\/p>\n

Historia del espa\u00f1ol y su gram\u00e1tica<\/h1>\n

La gram\u00e1tica y su estudio<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"panini\"<\/p>\n

La palabra \u201cgram\u00e1tica\u201d se refiere tanto a las normas que rigen la producci\u00f3n y comprensi\u00f3n del idioma, como a su estudio. Entendida como conjunto de reglas y principios que gobiernan el uso de una lengua concreta, \u00a1la gram\u00e1tica es tan antigua como la m\u00e1s antigua de las lenguas!<\/p>\n

<\/span>
\nEn tanto estudio de las reglas, tiene una historia milenaria. Las gram\u00e1ticas m\u00e1s antiguas que se conocen provienen de la antigua India, y tratan de las reglas del idioma s\u00e1nscrito. El gram\u00e1tico indio m\u00e1s reconocido fue Panini, cuya obra, escrita en el siglo IV AEC, \u00a1estableci\u00f3 conceptos a\u00fan utilizados hoy en d\u00eda! En el mundo occidental, la gram\u00e1tica surgi\u00f3 como disciplina en Grecia, con varios autores, entre ellos Aristarco de Samotracia, quien la bautiz\u00f3 \u201cel arte de las letras\u201d. En la Antigua Roma, la gram\u00e1tica latina se desarroll\u00f3 con base en los preceptos griegos, y se convirti\u00f3 en uno de los pilares de la ense\u00f1anza de las artes de la elocuencia, con la ret\u00f3rica y la dial\u00e9ctica (impartidas junto a las artes de los n\u00fameros).<\/p>\n

El nacimiento del espa\u00f1ol<\/strong><\/h2>\n

A lo largo de la Edad Media, diversos factores contribuyeron al surgimiento de lenguas romances (tambi\u00e9n denominadas rom\u00e1nicas\u00a0o\u00a0neolatinas), entre ellas, el espa\u00f1ol. La estricta prescripci\u00f3n gramatical del lat\u00edn cl\u00e1sico \u2014ya diferenciado del lat\u00edn vulgar o popular\u2014 y las nuevas condiciones geopol\u00edticas de un imperio fragmentado fomentaron una fractura ling\u00fc\u00edstica que, paulatinamente, dio origen a lenguas vern\u00e1culas heterog\u00e9neas (espec\u00edficas de cada regi\u00f3n), aunque interrelacionadas.<\/p>\n

En Espa\u00f1a, donde coexist\u00edan diversas lenguas romances \u2014como el gallego, el castellano, el catal\u00e1n, el leon\u00e9s y el asturiano\u2014 comenz\u00f3 a fines del siglo XI un proceso de reunificaci\u00f3n ling\u00fc\u00edstica gracias a la difusi\u00f3n del espa\u00f1ol como la lengua de los cantares de gesta (que serv\u00edan de ejemplo e inspiraci\u00f3n, lo mismo que las historias de los superh\u00e9roes de hoy). Durante el reinado de\u00a0Alfonso X de Castilla y Le\u00f3n, el espa\u00f1ol adquiri\u00f3 estatus oficial, ya que el rey hizo redactar directamente en castellano o traducir a \u00e9ste, y no al lat\u00edn, como hasta entonces, todos los documentos oficiales.<\/p>\n

Junto al ascenso pol\u00edtico de las nuevas lenguas, surgi\u00f3 la necesidad de estudiarlas en derecho propio. El sevillano Antonio de Nebrija fue el primer estudioso de lenguas romances en comprender la importancia de asentar por escrito la gram\u00e1tica de las nuevas lenguas. As\u00ed, en 1492, public\u00f3 en Salamanca su\u00a0Gram\u00e1tica de la lengua castellana<\/em><\/strong>, que no s\u00f3lo es el primer tratado de\u00a0gram\u00e1tica\u00a0de la lengua espa\u00f1ola, sino tambi\u00e9n el primer tratado impreso de una lengua romance. En el pr\u00f3logo a la Reina Isabel la Cat\u00f3lica, indica:<\/p>\n

Cuando bien conmigo pienso,\u00a0muy esclarecida reina: [\u2026] y pongo delante de los ojos todas\u00a0las cosas que para nuestra\u00a0recordaci\u00f3n y memoria quedaron escritas, una\u00a0cosa hallo y saco por conclusi\u00f3n\u00a0muy cierta: que siempre la\u00a0lengua [latina] fue compa\u00f1era del imperio [romano]; y de tal manera lo sigui\u00f3,\u00a0\"gramanebrija2\"que juntamente comenzaron, crecieron, y florecieron, y despu\u00e9s junta fue la ca\u00edda de entrambos [\u2026] Y porque mi pensamiento y voluntad siempre fue engrandecer las cosas de nuestra naci\u00f3n, y dar a los hombres de mi lengua obras en que mejor puedan emplear su ocio [\u2026], acord\u00e9 ante todas las otras cosas asentar el arte de este nuestro lenguaje castellano, para que lo que de ahora en adelante en \u00e9l se escribiere pueda quedar en un estilo, y extenderse en toda la duraci\u00f3n de los tiempos que est\u00e1n por venir, como vemos que se ha hecho en la lengua griega y latina, las cuales por haber sido estudiadas en su arte, aunque sobre ellas han pasado muchos siglos, todav\u00eda perduran en su uniformidad.<\/span><\/p>\n

(Nebrija, 1492.\u00a0Gram\u00e1tica<\/em>.<\/span>
\nAdaptaci\u00f3n del espa\u00f1ol antiguo, hecha por la autora)<\/span><\/p>\n

Ese mismo a\u00f1o, Crist\u00f3bal Col\u00f3n recibi\u00f3 la autorizaci\u00f3n de los Reyes Cat\u00f3licos para buscar nuevas rutas mercantiles a las Indias por el Atl\u00e1ntico. Espa\u00f1a, como muchos reinos anteriores, buscaba expandir su poder. Durante esta expansi\u00f3n, el descubrimiento y posterior conquista de un nuevo continente propiciaron la difusi\u00f3n del castellano como lengua franca.<\/p>\n

Sin embargo, el largo proceso de castellanizaci\u00f3n iniciado por los conquistadores fue mucho m\u00e1s lento que la expansi\u00f3n geopol\u00edtica y religiosa. Como consecuencia de la concesi\u00f3n papal de tierras al reino de Espa\u00f1a, en tanto vicario del dios cat\u00f3lico, se consider\u00f3 a los ind\u00edgenas s\u00fabditos de la corona, a quienes hab\u00eda que cristianizar y cobrar impuestos. La tarea de comunicaci\u00f3n, eminentemente ling\u00fc\u00edstica, recay\u00f3 sobre los misioneros, quienes en gran medida abogaron por el uso de las lenguas nativas, y se abocaron al desarrollo de materiales pedag\u00f3gicos, como gram\u00e1ticas y glosarios biling\u00fces. En un principio, fueron los espa\u00f1oles quienes adoptaron el biling\u00fcismo para provecho econ\u00f3mico y religioso, no sin la ayuda de un grupo invaluable de hablantes nativos de las lenguas abor\u00edgenes, que se convirtieron en int\u00e9rpretes y eran a menudo producto de la esclavitud o el mestizaje. Sin embargo, la comunicaci\u00f3n con grupos ling\u00fc\u00edsticos tan diversos era muy dificultosa. En pos de paliar esta situaci\u00f3n sin dejar de \u201crespetar\u201d el uso de idiomas nativos, en\u00a01570, el rey Felipe\u00a0II\u00a0decret\u00f3\u00a0el\u00a0n\u00e1huatl\u00a0como lengua oficial de Virreinato de la Nueva Espa\u00f1a (creado en 1535). Esta imposici\u00f3n result\u00f3 insostenible, ya que se trataba de una lengua extranjera tanto para los espa\u00f1oles como para muchos pueblos nativos. En\u00a01696, el rey Carlos\u00a0II estableci\u00f3 el espa\u00f1ol como \u00fanico idioma oficial del virreinato.\u00a0 De esta manera, el espa\u00f1ol se convirti\u00f3 en la primera lengua europea moderna en ense\u00f1arse masivamente como segundo idioma.<\/p>\n

El espa\u00f1ol de las Am\u00e9ricas<\/strong><\/h2>\n

El espa\u00f1ol de los criollos, hispanohablantes nativos nacidos en Am\u00e9rica, era, para finales del siglo XVII, una versi\u00f3n del espa\u00f1ol peninsular con caracter\u00edsticas propias. El espa\u00f1ol criollo se hab\u00eda desarrollado con base en la fon\u00e9tica meridional andaluza (con el seseo y la ca\u00edda de las consonantes finales como en \/ust\u00e9\/<\/em>), la inclusi\u00f3n de indigenismos\u00a0(como ma\u00edz,\u00a0man\u00ed, hurac\u00e1n<\/em>\u00a0y\u00a0c<\/em>hocolate) y la sintaxis sevillana (que incorpor\u00f3 el uso de usted\/ustedes en detrimento del vos\/vosotros)\u00a0[i].<\/p>\n

De cara a una nueva realidad ling\u00fc\u00edstica transcontinental, en 1713 se fund\u00f3 en Espa\u00f1a la Real Academia Espa\u00f1ola, \u201cpara cultivar y fijar en el modo posible la pureza y elegancia de la lengua castellana\u201d mediante la creaci\u00f3n de un diccionario, \u201cel m\u00e1s copioso que pudiere hacerse\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"gramabello\"Durante m\u00e1s de un siglo, el espa\u00f1ol americano ocup\u00f3 un lugar sumiso frente al peninsular, hasta que en 1847 el estudioso venezolano Andr\u00e9s Bello escribi\u00f3 su\u00a0Gram\u00e1tica de la lengua castellana destinada al uso de los american<\/em><\/strong>os<\/em><\/strong>. Entendiendo que \u201ccada lengua tiene su genio, su fisonom\u00eda, sus giros\u201d, Bello se aboc\u00f3 a la tarea de darle al espa\u00f1ol americano su identidad innovadora bas\u00e1ndose en la observaci\u00f3n.<\/p>\n

No he querido [\u2026] apoyarme en autoridades, porque para m\u00ed la sola irrecusable en lo tocante a una lengua es la lengua misma. [\u2026] El adelantamiento prodigioso de todas las ciencias y las artes, la difusi\u00f3n de la cultura intelectual y las revoluciones pol\u00edticas, piden cada d\u00eda nuevos signos para expresar ideas nuevas.<\/span><\/p>\n

(Bello, 1847,\u00a0Gram\u00e1tica<\/em>)<\/span><\/p>\n

Bello no pretend\u00eda \u201cescribir para los castellanos\u201d (refiri\u00e9ndose a los espa\u00f1oles de la pen\u00ednsula), pero s\u00ed apuntaba a la unificaci\u00f3n de la lengua en las nacientes naciones americanas, retomando la idea de Nebrija de evitar la fragmentaci\u00f3n ling\u00fc\u00edstica (sobre todo desde el punto de vista sint\u00e1ctico) por ser signo de debilitamiento cultural y pol\u00edtico. En el Pr\u00f3logo de su\u00a0Gram\u00e1tica<\/em>\u00a0explic\u00f3 su animosidad a los cambios sint\u00e1cticos:<\/p>\n

[\u2026] el mayor mal de todos, y el que, si no se ataja, va a privarnos de las inapreciables ventajas de un lenguaje com\u00fan, es la avenida de neologismos de construcci\u00f3n, que inunda y enturbia mucha parte de lo que se escribe en Am\u00e9rica, y alterando la estructura del idioma, tiende a convertirlo en una multitud de dialectos irregulares, licenciosos, b\u00e1rbaros; embriones de idiomas futuros, que durante una larga elaboraci\u00f3n reproducir\u00edan en Am\u00e9rica lo que fue la Europa en el tenebroso per\u00edodo de la corrupci\u00f3n del lat\u00edn. Chile, el Per\u00fa, Buenos Aires, M\u00e9xico, hablar\u00edan cada uno su lengua, o por mejor decir, varias lenguas, como sucede en Espa\u00f1a, Italia y Francia.<\/span><\/p>\n

En pos de la unidad del idioma y, m\u00e1s espec\u00edficamente, de la homogeneizaci\u00f3n de la sintaxis, Bello us\u00f3 como modelo el espa\u00f1ol de la \u201cgente educada\u201d, que por tener acceso a una educaci\u00f3n formal compart\u00eda la lengua aun estando en regiones muy alejadas, lo que promov\u00eda la comprensi\u00f3n.<\/p>\n

Se prefiere este uso porque es el m\u00e1s uniforme en las varias provincias y pueblos que hablan una misma lengua, y por lo tanto el que hace que m\u00e1s f\u00e1cil y generalmente se entienda lo que se dice; al paso que las palabras y frases propias de la gente ignorante var\u00edan mucho de unos pueblos y provincias a otros, y no son f\u00e1cilmente entendidas fuera de aquel estrecho recinto en que las usa el vulgo.<\/span><\/p>\n

(Bello, \u201cNociones preliminares\u201d,\u00a0Gram\u00e1tica<\/em>, 1847)<\/span><\/p>\n

La concientizaci\u00f3n sobre el espa\u00f1ol americano llev\u00f3 hacia fines del siglo XIX a la creaci\u00f3n de academias nacionales del idioma, la primera de las cuales fue la Academia Colombiana de la Lengua, fundada en 1871. Hoy en d\u00eda existen 22 academias nacionales (en Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Espa\u00f1a, Estados Unidos, Filipinas, Guatemala, Honduras, M\u00e9xico, Nicaragua, Panam\u00e1, Paraguay, Per\u00fa, Puerto Rico, Rep\u00fablica Dominicana, Uruguay y Venezuela). Las 22 academias colaboran en la Asociaci\u00f3n de Academias de la Lengua Espa\u00f1ola (ASALE<\/a>), que fue fundada en 1951 a instancias del entonces Presidente de M\u00e9xico, Miguel Alem\u00e1n Vald\u00e9s, a fin de trabajar en pos de la unidad del idioma como patrimonio cultural.<\/p>\n

El espa\u00f1ol panhisp\u00e1nico<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"nuevagram\"A principios del siglo XXI, casi un siglo despu\u00e9s de la \u00faltima gram\u00e1tica publicada por la Real Academia en 1931, ASALE reuni\u00f3 a estudiosos de todo el mundo hispanohablante para crear la primera gram\u00e1tica panhisp\u00e1nica consensuada. Colaboraron en la nueva gram\u00e1tica m\u00e1s de un centenar de estudiosos con el objetivo de describir las construcciones gramaticales propias del espa\u00f1ol en general, y al mismo tiempo dar cuenta de las variantes fonol\u00f3gicas, morfol\u00f3gicas y sint\u00e1cticas propias de las diversas zonas. En 2009, se present\u00f3 oficialmente, bajo el lema \u201cla gram\u00e1tica que somos\u201d, la\u00a0Nueva gram\u00e1tica de la lengua espa\u00f1ola<\/em><\/strong>. La obra cuenta con tres tomos sobre morfolog\u00eda, sintaxis y fon\u00e9tica y fonolog\u00eda, as\u00ed como un DVD de voces del espa\u00f1ol con fines did\u00e1cticos, que recoge la diversidad del idioma \u201cen boca de hablantes de todas las \u00e1reas ling\u00fc\u00edsticas\u201d.<\/p>\n

Seg\u00fan un reciente estudio realizado con base en datos recogidos en mensajes de Twitter, se puede decir que siguen existiendo tres grandes regiones hispanohablantes, que reflejan en parte los patrones de asentamiento colonial, y muestran divergencias internas propias a cada regi\u00f3n. La pen\u00ednsula ib\u00e9rica constituye el conglomerado original, la regi\u00f3n centroamericana del Caribe, junto a M\u00e9xico y Per\u00fa, conforman el segundo conglomerado, y, finalmente, el Cono Sur constituye el conglomerado m\u00e1s joven. A esto debemos quiz\u00e1s hoy agregar el crisol de dialectos en el que se ha convertido Estados Unidos, donde confluyen hablantes de las tres regiones anteriores.<\/p>\n

Hoy en d\u00eda hay unos 500 millones de hispanohablantes en el mundo. \u00a1El espa\u00f1ol es la una de las lenguas m\u00e1s habladas en el mundo como lengua materna![ii]\u00a0El espa\u00f1ol es adem\u00e1s uno de los seis idiomas oficiales de las\u00a0Naciones Unidas[iii]. M\u00e1s de 400 millones de hispanohablantes habitan pa\u00edses donde el espa\u00f1ol es la lengua oficial (por declaraci\u00f3n o adopci\u00f3n en las instituciones gubernamentales), y unos 75 millones habitan en pa\u00edses donde el espa\u00f1ol no es reconocido como lengua oficial (como en Estados Unidos o Brasil). De la totalidad de hablantes de la lengua espa\u00f1ola, 90 por ciento reside en pa\u00edses americanos, de Argentina y Chile a Canad\u00e1 y Estados Unidos.<\/p>\n

En Estados Unidos, el espa\u00f1ol es la segunda lengua materna del pa\u00eds, con casi 40 millones de hablantes[iv]. Sin embargo, muchos de ellos no han tenido acceso al tipo de educaci\u00f3n a la que se refiri\u00f3 Bello, y han adquirido su idioma s\u00f3lo en forma oral y sin instrucci\u00f3n formal. Otro aspecto del espa\u00f1ol estadounidense es que existe una gran diversidad dialectal, poco estudiada.<\/p>\n

A pesar de que el espa\u00f1ol no es un idioma oficial en Estados Unidos, muchos organismos oficiales, organizaciones no gubernamentales y empresas privadas hacen traducir gran cantidad de documentos al espa\u00f1ol[v]. Lamentablemente, no siempre las traducciones est\u00e1n en manos de profesionales capacitados, y esto ha hecho que muchos textos est\u00e9n muy mal traducidos o escritos en un espa\u00f1ol que resulta, en la pr\u00e1ctica, ininteligible. \u00a1Es esto lo que queremos evitar! Debemos reconocer tambi\u00e9n el trabajo incansable que muchos y muy buenos traductores han brindado en los diversos \u00e1mbitos mencionados, y la colaboraci\u00f3n que se est\u00e1 forjando entre el gobierno y la Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua, especialmente en lo referente a consultas sobre el sitio web GobiernoUSA.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n

En pos de la comunicaci\u00f3n<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Este post se public\u00f3 originalmente en Al rescate del espa\u00f1ol (ex Cuatro mosqueteras) el 28 de junio de 2016. con el deseo de dar acceso a los hispanohablantes estadounidenses a nociones de gram\u00e1tica y escritura tendientes a la comunicaci\u00f3n eficaz.<\/p>\n

Sigue siendo mi deseo aydar a transmitir un mensaje claro, en el que el escritor diga realmente lo que quiere decir, sin los malentendidos ni la confusi\u00f3n que llevan a aclaraciones, afrentas y altercados innecesarios. El trabajo en pos de la comunicaci\u00f3n clara apunta a cumplir con el deseo de Nebrija de escribir correctamente para nosotros y para nuestro porvenir, teniendo en cuenta nuestras circunstancias.<\/p>\n

Notas<\/strong><\/p>\n

[i]\u00a0Derivado de \u201cvuestra merced\u201d. Una consecuencia importante del reajuste pronominal fue la diferenciaci\u00f3n regional entre zonas con\u00a0tuteo<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0(uso de t\u00fa) y zonas con\u00a0voseo<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0(uso de vos) para la forma familiar de segunda persona del singular en Am\u00e9rica, y la distinci\u00f3n con Espa\u00f1a en la segunda persona del plural (en Am\u00e9rica se usa \u201custedes\u201d tanto formal como informalmente, mientras que Espa\u00f1a se distingue entre \u201custedes\u201d y \u201cvosotros\u201d).<\/p>\n

[ii]\u00a0El libro de datos de la Agencia Central de Inteligencia considera al espa\u00f1ol como segunda lengua materna del mundo, detr\u00e1s del chino mandar\u00edn, y delante del ingl\u00e9s, aunque el ingl\u00e9s es la lengua franca moderna con la mayor cantidad de hablantes como segunda lengua.<\/p>\n

[iii]\u00a0Los cinco restantes son, en orden alfab\u00e9tico \u00e1rabe, chino, franc\u00e9s, ingl\u00e9s y ruso.<\/p>\n

[iv]\u00a0Seg\u00fan una investigaci\u00f3n del Pew Research Center del a\u00f1o 2013.<\/p>\n

[v]\u00a0Una tendencia que se inici\u00f3 con la promulgaci\u00f3n de la Ley de Derechos Civiles en 1964 (que promueve la traducci\u00f3n de informaci\u00f3n destinada a los ciudadanos y residentes del pa\u00eds, en reconocimiento de las necesidades de las minor\u00edas).<\/p>\n

References \/ Bibliograf\u00eda<\/strong><\/h2>\n

BELLO, Andr\u00e9s. 1847.\u00a0Gram\u00e1tica de la lengua castellana destinada al uso de los americanos.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0Edici\u00f3n digital a partir de Obras completas. Tomo Cuarto, 3\u00aaed., Caracas, La Casa de Bello, 1995.\u00a0http:\/\/www.cervantesvirtual.com\/portales\/andres_bello\/obra-visor-din\/gramatica-gramatica-de-la-lengua-castellana-destinada-al-uso-de-los-americanos\u20130\/html\/ff6ef310-82b1-11df-acc7-002185ce6064_44.html<\/a>. Consulta del 27\/2\/16.<\/p>\n

BRAVO, Eva.\u00a0\u201cRasgos de procedencia andaluza en la variedad americana\u201d<\/em>. Espa\u00f1ol de Am\u00e9rica.\u00a0http:\/\/www.xn--espaoldeamerica-1qb.com\/rasgos-de-procedencia-andaluza-en-la-variedad-americana\/<\/a>. Consulta del 27\/2\/16.<\/p>\n

CIFUENTES, B\u00e1rbara. 1998.\u00a0Letras sobre voces: multiling\u00fcismo a trav\u00e9s de la historia.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0M\u00e9xico. Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropolog\u00eda Social e Instituto Nacional Indigenista.<\/p>\n

DE NEBRIJA, Antonio. 1492.\u00a0Gram\u00e1tica de la lengua castellana.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0http:\/\/www.filos.unam.mx\/LICENCIATURA\/Pagina_FyF_2004\/ introduccion\/Gramatica_Nebrija.pdf<\/a>. Consulta del 3\/5\/16.<\/p>\n

Estatutos de la Real Academia Espa\u00f1ola. Estatutos_1715.pdf.\u00a0http:\/\/www.rae.es\/la-institucion\/organizacion\/estatutos<\/a>. Consulta del 3\/7\/16.<\/p>\n

FRAGO GRACIA, Jose Antonio.\u00a0Historia del espa\u00f1ol de Am\u00e9rica.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0Madrid, Gredos.<\/p>\n

GON\u00c7ALVES, Bruno y S\u00c1NCHEZ, David.\u00a0\u201cCrowdsourcing Dialect Characterization through Twitter\u201d.<\/em>\u00a0PlosONE.\u00a0http:\/\/journals.plos.org\/plosone\/article?id=10.1371\/journal.pone.0112074<\/a>. 19 de noviembre de 2014. Consulta del 3\/5\/16.<\/p>\n

GONZALEZ-BARRERA, Ana y HUGO LOPEZ, Mark.\u00a0\u201cSpanish is the most spoken non\u2011English language in U.S. homes, even among non-Hispanics.\u201d<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0http:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/fact-tank\/2013\/08\/13\/spanish-is-the-most-spoken-non-english-language-in-u-s-homes-even-among-non-hispanics\/<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong>13 de agosto 2013.\u00a0<\/strong>Consulta del 3\/10\/16.<\/p>\n

Languages.\u00a0The World Factbook<\/strong><\/em>.<\/strong> Central Intelligence Agency.\u00a0https:\/\/www.cia.gov\/Library\/publications\/the-world-factbook\/fields\/2098.html<\/a>. S.f. Consulta del 2\/10\/16.<\/p>\n

MARIM\u00d3N LLORCA, Carmen.\u00a0\u201cEl espa\u00f1ol en Am\u00e9rica: de la conquista a la \u00c9poca Colonial\u201d.<\/em>\u00a0http:\/\/www.cervantesvirtual.com\/obra-visor\/el-espaol-en-amrica-de-la-conquista-a-la-poca-colonial-0\/html\/00f4b922-82b2-11df-acc7-002185ce6064_2.html<\/a>. S.f. Consulta del 2\/14\/16.<\/p>\n

KRAMER, Samuel Noah. (1988).\u00a0History Begins at Sumer: Thirty-Nine Firsts in Recorded\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>History<\/em><\/strong>. Philadelphia,\u00a0PA. University of Pennsylvania Press. (3ra<\/sup>\u00a0ed.)<\/p>\n

\"Praise<\/p>\n

Translation:<\/p>\n

You have filled my heart with emotion, tears are welling up in my eyes! What clarity you have poured into this article! What a way to weave one stage into the next in the evolution of the Spanish language without falling prey to the spider’s web of “historicism” but rather giving it a modern, fresh, and clear take. Congratulations! You don’t know how pleased I am to embark on this project in the company of someone with your vision!<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(\u00bfLo quieres leer en espa\u00f1ol? Aqu\u00ed est\u00e1.) The word \u201cgrammar\u201d refers both to the rules that govern language production and comprehension and to the study of those rules. As the set of rules and principles governing the use of language, grammar is as old as the oldest of languages! As the study of the rules, […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,69,6,26,67,12],"tags":[7,65,66,68],"class_list":["post-874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business","category-communication","category-grammar","category-health-literacy","category-spanish","category-writing","tag-grammar","tag-history","tag-language","tag-spanish"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/plainlii.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/plainlii.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/plainlii.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plainlii.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plainlii.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/plainlii.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/plainlii.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plainlii.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plainlii.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}