The Linguist - Spring 2021

Editorial Dear readers, This term, we have thoroughly enjoyed researching and writing articles around the theme of evolution! We were able to explore a wide range of countries and cultures diving into aspects of language that were new to us. We have included topics varying from the origins and history of languages, to what they make look like in the future. This term we decided to organise our articles by language, so please enjoy as we aim to make these articles accessible to all by providing the translated version alongside the original.

We hope by the end you have learnt something new about a different culture.

Avinashi Sahota and Bavini Saravanamuthu, Editors in Chief

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Contents Chinese 华文的演化：从象形文字到汉字 ................................................................................................ 4

French Comment l’Académie française a façonné l’évolution de la langue française ................................ 6 L’évolution du verlan, un argot français....................................................................................... 8 Le monde Francophone est-il prêt à se diriger vers une langue au genre neutre ?........................ 10

Italian Code Switching .......................................................................................................................... 12

Japanese 年月を経た日本語方言の変遷 .......................................................................................................... 14

Korean ‘신세대말’: The Language of the New Generation ..................................................................... 16

Russian Истоки кириллицы ................................................................................................................. 18

Spanish Del origen, al romance; la historia de la lengua española ........................................................... 22 Los orígenes del judeoespañol: cómo el Edicto de Granada creó un nuevo tipo del español .......... 23 ¿El español no es el único idioma hablado en España? ............................................................... 26 ¿Cómo se habla español en todo el mundo? La evolución de diferentes dialectos ......................... 28

Editors in Chief: Avinashi Sahota & Bavini Saravanamuthu Publicity Officer: Sophie Orgler Front Cover by Mary Qurban 3

华文的演化：从象形文字到汉字 中国的文字蛮有名，不但因为不用字母 ，反而用汉字，而且已经使用了数千年 。字母发明以前， 文明使用象形文字， 而不是把文字分开成为音位。比如很有 名的象形文字是古埃及的象形文字。就 像古埃及象形文字一样，汉字开始于象 形文字，后来演化成为现代的简体字。 有些现代简体字的汉字，例如‘口’，或 者‘人‘，看起来很明显地和所代表的意 义很像。然而，其他汉字并没有那么明 显。 最早的已知汉字是甲骨文，有这个名称 是因为甲骨文出现在商朝（1700-1027

汉字 画

BCE）的卜骨（用于卜卦的动物骨）。 随着书写系统的发展，汉字比较少是象形符号，而是比较多风格化。 草书 （有时候翻译为‘grass script‘ ，因为草的意思可以是青草， 也可以是草率或潦草 ）从汉朝（公元前202年– 公元220年）开始。它一开始看起来像是书写系统的演化， 可是其实是用来做速记，所以很难了解。 楷书发源于公元200年左右，在东汉和曹魏间，延用至现代的繁体字。繁体字用于日本 的书写系统之一，kanji（漢字），以及台湾，香港，和澳门。 中国大陆 和新加坡使用简体字，比起仍然被使用的繁体字，简体字非常新，从1950年 开始使用，为的是提高识字率。除了汉字的简单化以外，简体字也通过结合已知汉字 做新字来减少标准汉字数目。因此不但让外国人比较容易地学习汉语，而且也帮助提 高中国的识字率。

图片：我的

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The evolution of the Chinese script: from pictographs to characters The Chinese writing system is rather well known as, instead of using an alphabet, characters are used, and has been used for thousands of years. Before the invention of the alphabet, civilisations used pictograms for writing, not splitting words into their phonemes. For example, a well-known pictographic writing system is the writing system of Ancient Egypt – hieroglyphs. Just like hieroglyphs, the Chinese script began with a very pictographic writing system that evolved to become more the simplified script of the modern age.

Some characters in the simplified Chinese script used in the modern age, such as ‘口’ (kǒu) for mouth, or ‘ 人’ (rén) for person, obviously look similar to the words they represent. However, others are not so clear.

The earliest known Chinese script is the Oracle-Bone script, called so as it appeared on oracle bones (animal bones used for divination), from Shang Dynasty (1700-1027 BCE). As the writing system developed, it became less pictographic and more stylistic.

Cursive script (sometimes translated as grass script as A table of the evolution of the Chinese the character ‘草’ (cǎo) can mean grass, as well as script rough or sloppy) is from the Han dynasty (202 BCE – 220 CE). It may first seem like a deviation from the evolution of the writing system, however the reason for this is it served as a shorthand method of writing, so it was quite difficult to read.

Regular script originated around 200 CE, between the Eastern Han and Cao Wei dynasties, and is used in the modern age as traditional characters. Traditional characters are used in the Japanese writing system, kanji, as well as in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau.

Simplified Chinese characters are used in Mainland China and Singapore and is extremely new compared to the still used traditional script and has been in use since the 1950s in order to increase literacy. Apart from the simplification of characters, simplified Chinese also reduced the number of standardised Chinese characters by combining already known characters to make new words. Therefore, not only has this made it much easier for foreigners to learn to the language, but it has also helped improve literacy rates in China.

Picture: https://www.chinatravel.com/facts/evolution-of-the-chinese-script.htm Mary Qurban

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Comment l’Académie française a façonné l’évolution de la langue française L’Académie française a été fondée par le cardinal Richelieu en 1634 dans le but de promouvoir et de protéger la beauté de la langue française. L’Académie comprend 40 membres soigneusement sélectionnés, appelés les « Immortels » d’après la devise de Richelieu sur le sceau de l’Académie : « A l’Immortalité », qui se réfère à la langue française. Ce nom reflète la façon dont les membres sont vénérés et les places dans l’Académie convoitées. Le processus de sélection est long et incroyablement coupe-gorge : même de grands écrivains français tels que Jean-Paul Sartre et Émile Zola n’ont jamais été admis comme membres de l’Académie française.

Le rôle principal de l’Académie française est de mettre à jour le dictionnaire définitif du français, ce qu’elle fait depuis le XVIIe siècle. Ces mises à jour sont considérées comme si importantes qu’elles sont publiées en tant que documents officiels du gouvernement. Le dictionnaire de l’académie a été créé avec l’objectif de fournir des informations sur la nature grammaticale des mots, leur signification et le niveau de langue que détermine leur utilisation. Les mots inclus ne se limitent pas à ceux utilisés dans l’écrit et l’oral au quotidien : le développement des sciences et des technologies au 18e siècle a conduit à l’introduction de mots appartenant à des domaines spécialisés dans la quatrième édition du dictionnaire de l’Académie, publiée en 1762. L’orthographe est un autre domaine clé que les Immortels ont exploré, se tournant souvent vers l’étymologie des mots pour guider leurs décisions finales. Naturellement, la pléthore d’opinions différentes émanant d’universitaires hautement qualifiés et potentiellement assez arrogants a conduit à de nombreuses discussions sur ce sujet qui sont devenues très animées.

Lors de la rédaction de la toute première édition du dictionnaire de l’Académie en 1694, les Immortels ont été chargés de développer une langue qui possède la clarté et l’élégance du Latin, mais aussi de la simplicité pour être accessible. Il s’agissait en partie de combler le fossé entre la langue écrite et la langue parlée et de faire en sorte qu’elle ne soit pas réservée aux seuls érudits. Cependant, la nature élitiste de l’Académie française sape ces efforts pour étendre l’accessibilité de la langue française. Le manque de diversité de l’organisation en termes de race et de sexe, associé au fait que la moyenne d’âge des membres est de plus de 70 ans, laisse entendre qu’elle est trop archaïque pour soutenir la progression de la langue. Cependant, il existe des preuves qui suggèrent que l’Académie française s’adapte aux valeurs modernes, même si certains membres sont encore réticents à le faire.

En mars 2019, la féminisation des titres professionnels a été approuvée par l’Académie, ce qui signifie que, selon les mots de la journaliste française Faustine Wohlfart, les femmes peuvent être « linguistiquement reconnues ».

Voici une photo de quelques-uns des membres de l’Académie française, surnommée les gardiens officiels de la langue française.

Ces tenues coûtent environ €45,000 !

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How L'Académie Française has Shaped the Evolution of the French Language L’Académie française was founded by Cardinal Richelieu in 1634, with the aim of promoting and protecting the beauty of the French language. The academy comprises of 40 carefully selected members, named the ‘Immortals’ after Richelieu’s motto on the academy’s seal: “A l’Immortalité” (“To immortality”), which referred to the French language. This name reflects how the members are revered and places in the academy coveted. The selection process is lengthy and incredibly cutthroat: even great French writers such as Jean-Paul Sartre and Émile Zola were never admitted as members of the Académie française.

The main role of the Académie française is updating the definitive dictionary of French, which it has been doing since the 17th century. These updates are considered to be so important that they are published as official government documents. The Academy’s dictionary was created with the aim of providing information on the grammatical nature of words, their meanings and the level of language which determines their use. The words included were not limited to those used in everyday writing and speaking: the development of science and technology in the 18th century lead to the introduction of words belonging to specialised fields in the fourth edition of the Academy’s dictionary, published in 1762.

Spelling was another key area which the Immortals explored, often turning to the etymology of words to guide their final decisions. Naturally, the plethora of different opinions from highly qualified and potentially quite arrogant academics lead to many discussions on this topic becoming very heated.

When writing the very first edition of the Academy’s dictionary in 1694, the Immortals were tasked with developing a language which possessed the clarity and elegance of Latin, yet also the simplicity to be accessible. Part of this was bridging the gap between written and spoken language as well as ensuring that it was not only exclusive to scholars. However, the elitist nature of L’Académie française arguably undermines their efforts to extend the accessibility of the French language. The organisation’s lack of diversity in terms of both race and gender coupled with the fact that the average age of the members is over 70 gives way to the suggestion that it is too antiquated to support the progression of the language. However, there is some evidence to suggest that L’Académie française is adapting to modern values, even if some members are still reluctant to do so. In March 2019, the feminisation of professional titles was approved by the academy, meaning that, in the words of the French journalist Faustine Wohlfart, women can be ‘linguistically recognised’.

- serves as the official guardian of the French language - the custom-made robes worn by members of the Academy cost around £40,000

Aviva Sharp

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L’évolution du verlan, un argot français Si on allait en France, on pourrait entendre des mots étranges comme teuf ou vénère qu’on n’aurait jamais entendus en cours. C’est le verlan, un argot français tel le pig-latin en anglais.

Le verlan est si répandu que certains mots sont même dans le dictionnaire officiel. Le verlan consiste en l’inversion des syllabes des mots importants. Par exemple, le mot français se divise en fran et çais et ensuite le mot devient céfran. Cela fonctionne avec des mots d’une syllabe, comme fou qui devient ouf. Voyez même le nom verlan qui est le mot l’envers en verlan.

Cette méthode d’inversion existe depuis le XVIIe siècle lorsque les mazarinades utilisaient le nom Bonbours pour la maison royale de Bourbon. Au XVIIIe siècle, l’écrivain FrançoisMarie Arouet a choisi le nom de plume de Voltaire en inversant les syllabes du Airvault, le nom d’une ville avec des liens familiaux. Le verlan est devenu plus répandu pendant l’occupation allemande de la Seconde Guerre mondiale quand les jeunes l’ont utilisé pour que les Allemands ne comprennent pas ce qu’ils disaient. Des mots en verlan sont apparus dans la musique et le cinéma, et bientôt dans le rap aussi.

Actuellement, le verlan fait partie des conversations quotidiennes, et même des dictionnaires, cependant il est surtout lié aux jeunes des grandes villes et des banlieues. C’est une langue secrète dans les groupes sociaux, donc quand les mots deviennent de plus en plus connus, ils créent des nouveaux mots en verlan. Il y a le double verlan qui fonctionne en inversant les mots qui sont déjà inversés. Par exemple, le mot femme devient meuf, un mot souvent utilisé, donc on l’a inversé à nouveaux pour créer le mot feumeu.

Le verlan et pig-latin montre une différence entre le français et l’anglais, même s'ils ont le même alphabet. En anglais on peut réorganiser simplement des consonnes car elles sont souvent prononcées, mais en français beaucoup de lettres ne sont pas prononcées, ainsi c’est plus facile de changer un mot par rapport aux syllabes. L’orthographe des mots en verlan n’est pas officielle car le verlan est essentiellement oral. Certains disent que le verlan menace la langue française et d’autres disent qu’il l’enrichit mais, dans tous les cas, il fait partie de la culture française aujourd’hui.

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The evolution of verlan, a type of French slang If you went to France, ready to engage with the current urban culture, you might hear strange words like teuf or vénère you never learnt in lessons. This is ‘verlan’, a form of French slang akin to pig-latin in English. It has been so widely used in France that some words have even made it into the official dictionary. It works by reversing the syllables of keywords. For example, the word français can be split into ‘fran’ and ‘çais’, then rearranged to form çaisfran (or céfran). This is done to single syllable words too like fou (crazy) which becomes ouf. In fact, the name verlan itself comes from reversing the syllable of l’envers, meaning reverse.

This system of reversing syllables has actually been dated back to the 17th century when political pamphlets used the term Bonbours for the royal house of the Bourbons. In the 18th century, writer Francois-Marie Arouet used the pen name Voltaire, suspected to have come from the reversed syllables of Airvault, the name of a town where his family had roots.

Verlan became much more familiar in World War II when it was used by younger generations to confuse the Germans occupying France at the time. Verlan began featuring in songs and movie titles, soon becoming prevalent in hip-hop and rap music.

Today, verlan words have made their way into everyday speech and even the official language, however, it is still strongly associated with urban youth. Verlan is a sort of secret language among social groups so naturally, as words become widely used, new words are created. ‘Double verlan’ is when a word that has already been inverted is reversed again to form a slightly different word. An example of this is the word femme (woman): In verlan it is meuf, a word which is used often, and in double verlan it is feumeu.

Comparing verlan with pig-latin is interesting from a linguistics view because it highlights how the French language differs from English even though they use the same alphabet.

While, individual letters can be manipulated in English, there is a stronger emphasis on syllables in French because of silent letters and vowel sounds. Very often multiple consonants and vowels are pronounced with one vowel sound, for example, ‘ille’ is pronounced ‘ee’. Additionally, verlan is primarily verbal so the spelling of words in verlan is debated. Some people argue that verlan is ruining French while others say it broadens the language, but either way it has irreversibly become a part of the culture today.

Anaya Jaffer

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Le monde Francophone est-il prêt à se diriger vers une langue au genre neutre ?

Les féministes françaises disent que la nature sexiste de leur langue favorise une vision du monde sexiste, et que le passage à une version non sexiste améliorerait le statut des femmes dans la société française. Sous prétexte que le langage détermine et contraint notre champ de réflexion, une notion dénommée le déterminisme linguistique, il est nécessaire de reformer, ou même de dégenrer le Français pour que le monde francophone puisse faire partie du monde inclusif du 21ème siècle. Ainsi, éduquer la prochaine génération de manière à intégrer tous les genres, encouragerait des changements positifs concrets, comme des environnements professionnels plus accueillants pour les femmes, et une meilleure réalité pour les non-binaires.

Les étudiants français apprennent depuis le jeune âge que « le masculin l’emporte sur le féminin », ce qui signifie que si vous avez une salle pleine de dix femmes et un seul homme, vous devez décrire tout le groupe au masculin. Le problème à propos de l’expression du genre est exacerbé par le fait que la langue française n’a pas de genre grammatical neutre. Par ailleurs, il existe de nombreux noms, notamment ceux qui font référence à des professions, qui n’ont pas de versions féminines, ce qui renforce le problème. Ainsi, un homme écrivain est l’écrivain et une femme ministre est aussi l’écrivain. Lorsque la société francophone essaye d’avancer dans le 21ème siècle, son succès est empêché par une langue qui n’a pas énormément évoluée depuis son adoption comme lingua franca de la France à la suite de la révolution au 18ème siècle. Le sexisme de la langue française s’inscrit donc dans une culture patriarcale.

Néanmoins, la règle du masculin qui l’emporte sur le féminin n’a pas toujours existé. Selon Les Échos, « elle est née d’une volonté politique… il y a près de 400 ans. » Logiquement donc, aujourd’hui, cette règle « fait état d’un conservatisme persistant de la langue… et de la culture française ».

Pour corriger le problème, il est recommandé de créer des versions féminines de tous les noms professionnels et/ou d'utiliser des noms neutres quand cela est possible. Certains préconise également un outil grammatical qui consiste à ajouter un point médian à la fin des noms masculins, suivi de la terminaison féminine, indiquant ainsi les versions féminines et masculines de chaque nom (comme musicien·ne·s, qui se lirait comme « musiciens et musiciennes »). Certains ont même recommandé des néologismes pour créer un pronom neutre, comme iel, ou ille, des articles neutres, (par exemple : an pour un/une), des modifications des terminaisons (par exemple : autaire pour auteur/autrice), et des mots-valises (par exemple : frœur, pour frère/sœur). Pour répondre à la préoccupation de la professeure de littérature française Éliane Viennot dans le journal Libération : « [Même si vous utilisez‘ iel ’ou‘ ille ’] vous devez alors choisir entre ‘iel est content’ ou ‘iel est contente’, certains proposent d’établir des modifications des accords (par exemple : heureuxe pour heureux/heureuse).

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Is the Francophone world ready to head for a genderneutral language?

French feminists say the sexist nature of their language promotes a sexist worldview, and that a move to a nonsexist version would better women’s status in French society. Given that language prescribes our realm of thought, a notion referred to as linguistic determinism, it is necessary to reform or even degender French so that the francophone world might become part of the inclusive world of the 21st century. Therefore, educating the next generation in a gender inclusive manner would foster concrete positive changes, like more welcoming professional environments for women, and a better reality for non-binary people.

French students learn from a young age that “the masculine dominates the feminine”, which means if you have a room full of ten women and one single man, the language says the whole group is masculine. The problem pertaining to gender expression is exacerbated by the fact the French language does not have a grammatical neuter.

For instance, many nouns, notably those which refer to professions, do not have feminine versions, which reinforces the problem. Therefore, a male minister is l’écrivain and a female minster is also l’écrivain. Whilst the francophone community attempts to advance into the 21st century, its success is impeded by a language which has not greatly evolved since its adoption as France’s lingua franca in the aftermath of the revolution in the 18th century. The sexism of the French language thereby inscribes itself into a patriarchal culture.

However, the rule of the masculine dominating the feminine has not always been in place. According to ‘Les Echos’ (the echoes), « it was born of a political will… almost 400 years ago”. Necessarily then, today, this rule, persists in a conservatism of language, and of the French culture.

To rectify these issues, most recommend the creation of feminised versions of professional nouns, and/ or the use of neutral nouns when this is possible. Many also recommend a grammatical tool which consists in adding a median point at the end of masculine nouns, followed by feminine endings, indicating the feminine and masculine of each noun (like musicien·ne·s (musician), which would be read « masculine and feminine musicians »). Some have even recommended the introduction of neologisms to create a neuter pronoun, like iel, or ille [a combination of ‘il’ and ‘elle’], neuter articles, (for example: an for un/une), modification for endings (for example : autaire for auteur/autrice), and portmantua words (for example : frœur, for frère/sœur). To address the concerns of the literature professor Éliane Viennot in the journal Libération : « [Even if you use ‘ iel ’or‘ ille ’] you must choose between ‘iel is happy {masc}’ or ‘iel is happy {fem}’, certain suggest establishing modificating agreements (for instance : heureuxe for heureux/heureuse).

Karel Ohana

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Code Switching La commutazione del codice (code-switching) si riferisce al passaggio da un sistema linguistico a un altro, ‘all’interno del discorso di uno stesso parlante’, cioè: quando uno cambia lingua, una o più volte, durante una sola conversazione. Questo passaggio può essere sia interfrasale (quando la prima frase e detta in una lingua e la seconda nell’altra) che intrafrasale (quando il cambio tra lingue succede al’ interno di un'unica frase) e accade a livello quotidiano, spesso incoscientemente, quando una persona conosce molto bene entrambi le lingue.

Anche se le parole: ‘tra lingue’ vengono usate molto quando si descrive il fenomeno del ‘code-switching’, sarebbe meglio usare il termine: ‘sistemi linguistici’, perché si può anche realizzare tra lingue e dialetti. Questo si vede spesso in Italia, per via dei numerosi dialetti locali, che vengono ancora usati frequentemente, accanto al’ Italiano ufficiale; ma anche in situazioni di emigrazione, dove l’emigrato impara una nuova lingua, pero continua a parlare la lingua madre, o in casa, o con una piccola communita. Il fatto che la maggior parte della gente intorno è bilingue vuol dire che, ‘all’abitudine di usare entrambi i codici’, viene molto naturale cambiare, spesso a scopo comunicativo, da un sistema linguistico al altro, anche a meta frase. Dato a la padronanza di tutti e due i codici, il risultato e comunque un discorso coerente, fluido e quasi sempre grammaticalmente corretto, anche se i due sistemi linguistici tengono strutture e sintassi molto diverse, perché i parlanti hanno una tale conoscenza dei codici, che il passaggio lo fanno incoscientemente quando ce un ‘certo grado di sovrapposizione tra le due grammatiche’.

Il ‘code-switching’ può anche aiutare a mantenere un senso di identità quando ci si integra in una nuova communita dove la lingua parlata non è la propria lingua madre. In certi casi, col passare del tempo, questo misto tra codici ha anche portato alla formazione di nuove lingue e dialetti, o almeno al l’adozione di alcune parole straniere in varie lingue, per esempio il termine ‘trendy’: una parola inglese che adesso viene usata frequentemente anche in Italiano.

References: https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/commutazione-dicodice_(Enciclopedia-dell%27Italiano)/

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Code Switching The term: ‘code-switching’ refers to the shift from one linguistic code to another, within the dialogue of a single speaker, in simpler terms: when a person changes language, once or more, during the same conversation. This shift can be either interphrasal (with the first sentence spoken in one language and the second in another) or intraphrasal (where the change between languages happens within one sentence) and occurs on a daily basis, often subconsciously, when a person knows both languages very well.

Even if the words: ‘between languages’ are often used when describing the phenomenon of code-switching, it would be better to use the term: ‘linguistic code’, as it can occur both between languages and dialects. This is often seen in Italy, due to the numerous local dialects, which are still frequently used alongside official Italian; but also in the case of immigration, where the immigrant learns a new language, yet continues to speak their mother tongue, either at home or with a small community. The fact that the majority of people around them are bilingual means that, through the frequent use of both linguistic codes, it becomes natural to shift, often for means of more efficient communication, from one code to another, even half way through a sentence.

Due to a fluency in both linguistic codes, the result is still a coherent and flowing conversation, which is almost always grammatically correct, even if the two codes have very different structures and syntax. This is because the speakers have such a thorough understanding of the languages, that they subconsciously transition where there is a certain degree of overlap in the grammar of both codes.

Code-switching can also help to maintain a sense of identity when integrating into a new community, where the language spoken is different to the speaker’s mother tongue. In certain cases, over time, this mix between linguistic codes has also resulted in the formation of new languages and dialects, or at least the adoption of certain foreign words in various languages, demonstrated, for example, by the term: ‘trendy’: an english word that is now also widely used in Italian.

Lara D’Amico 13

年月を経た日本語方言の変遷 日本語は広く知られている言語で、21世紀初頭には1億 2,700万人以上の人々が日本語を話し、主に日本列島で 使用されています。深い谷、高い山頂、6000以上の島 々を持つこの国の地理は、多くの自然の境界を創造し 、多数の方言が発展するのに役立ちました。さらに、 多くの地方それぞれが異なる期間の間お互いに交流か ら遠ざかったことも方言の発展につながりました。日 本語の方言は、語彙、文法、抑揚、ピッチのアクセン ト、そして’が'と'は'の助詞の使用が大きく異なります 。 多くの場合これらの方言は互い理解不能であり、例え ば九州の鹿児島方言を話す人が本州の方言を理解でき ないのが普通です。日本の方言学者は、琉球諸国から の沖縄方言と本土方言の間に大きな境界があると結論付けています。後者には、日 本東部、日本西部、九州の方言が含まれます。福岡の「博多弁」や、助詞の不使用 で有名な「大阪弁」や、芸者文化との歴史的なつながりなどにより、より女性的と 考えられる方言「京都弁」などがある。ほかにも「仙台弁」、「名古屋弁」、「北 海道弁」、「広島弁」もあります。宮城県では「仙台弁」が多く使われ、この地域 のほとんどの方言は標準日本語とは大きく異なります。方言と各地域の人々の特徴 、彼らの言葉がどのように表現されるかなど様々なステレオタイプで語られること が多く、これはメディアを通じて示されています。東京から来た人はおおよそ中立 、大阪人はおしゃべりでユーモラスな人、九州人は熱い情熱を持ち、最後に東北や 札幌などの地域の人々は「田舎もの」として提示されます。 第二次世界大戦前である半世紀前から、政府が施行した東京弁に基づく標準日本語 の形成により言語統一が実現されました。標準化された文語が形成され、1886年以 来、義務教育の特徴を作りました。このため、東京に近い地域の方言は、通常、理 解しやすいです。その後各地方の方言の差異は、現代のモビリティとマスメディア の助けを借りて克服されてきましたが、これはまた、日本文化のユニークな部分で ある地元の方言を急速に失っていることを意味します。

14

The Evolution of Japanese Dialects throughout the Years Japanese is a widely known language, with more than 127 million speakers in the early 21st century, spoken largely in the Japanese archipelago. This country’s geography, with deep valleys, high mountain peaks and more than 6000 islands, has created many natural boundaries and helped to develop numerous dialects.

Additionally, many internal regions isolated themselves during different periods. Japanese dialects mostly differ in vocabulary, grammar, inflections, pitch accents and the use of ‘ga’ and ‘wa’ particles.

Often, these dialects are mutually unintelligible, for example, speakers from Kyushu with the Kagoshima dialect are usually unable to understand the dialect from Honshu. Japanese dialectologists have largely concluded that there is a major boundary between the Okinawan dialects, from the Ryukyu Islands, and the rest of the mainland dialects. The latter includes the Eastern, Western and Kyushu dialects. Some major dialects include ‘Hakata-ben’ from Fukuoka, ‘Osaka-ben’, which is noted for its lack of particle use, and ‘Kyoto-ben’, a dialect considered more feminine, perhaps due to its historical links with Geisha culture. There is also ‘Sendai-ben’, ‘Nagoya-ben’, ‘Hokkaido-ben’ and ‘Hiroshima-ben’. ‘Sendai-ben’ is used often in the Miyagi prefecture and most dialects from this region differ wildly from Standard Japanese. Dialects, and thus how people from each region are portrayed, also often have various stereotypes because of how they sound, and this is shown through media.

People from Tokyo are usually presented as being neutral, those from Osaka as talkative and humorous, those from Kyushu as hot-headed and passionate, and finally those from regions such as Tohoku and Sapporo, as ‘rural’.

Due to the formation of Standard Japanese, enforced by the government from half a century before WW2 and based on the Tokyo dialect, linguistic unification has been achieved. A standardized written language was formed and made a feature of compulsory education since 1886. Thus, dialects from regions closer to Tokyo are usually easier to understand. These dialectal differences have been overcome with the aid of modern mobility and mass media, but this also means that we are rapidly losing local dialects, a unique part of Japanese culture.

Sophie Orgler

15

‘신세대말’: The Language of the New Generation 소셜 미디어가 세계적인 영향력을 계속 키워가고 모든 플랫폼이 사용자 수의 증가를 보고 있기 때문에 소셜 미디어 사이트의 공식 언어가 그 존재감과 관련성을 잃는다는 것은 비밀이 아니다; 말과 글에서 모두 이전 세대의 화술와 '성실'은 새로운 용어, 속어, 줄임말 등의 지속적인 도입으로 인해 겉보기에는 해체되고 있다. 오늘날, 한국어는 특히 논리적 이고 복잡하지 않는 언어이기 때문에, 한국어와 영어 양쪽 단어에서 파생되는 새로운 용어와 구문의 유입을 경험하고 있다. 이것을 일컫는 이름은 '신세대말'로 번역된 'New Generation Language'이다. 성장을 거듭하고 있는 이 새로운 '언어'는 한국어의 진화의 한 형태로, 이 새로운 물결을 하나의 새로운 물결로 하여, 언어의 기원과 역사가 다양한 방식으로 진화하더라도 존중되고 보존될 수 있음을 보여준다 – 효율성뿐만 아니라 즐거움을 위한 현대적 진화의 한 분이다. 이 '언어'에서 가장 자주 사용되는 용어의 몇 가지 예와 가장 혁신적이고 재미있다고 생각하는, 가장 좋아하는 문구를 골라봤다 (만약 한국에서 이 문구를 사용한다면 당신은 인싸!): 1. No 재미 2. 리얼로

노잼 렬루

a. 이거레알

ㅇㄱㄹㅇ

b. 리얼팩트

ㄹㅇㅍㅌ

3. 세상에서 제일 예쁨 4. 궁금해서 물어봄

세젤예 궁물

5. 점심 메뉴 추천해 주세요

점메추해

6. 낄때 끼고 빠질 때 빠지다

낄끼빠빠

7. 할 말은 많지만 하지 않겠다 à 할말하않 8. 고구마 100개 먹은듯한 답답이 à 고답

16

‘신세대말’: The Language of the New Generation It is no secret that as social media continues to grow in global influence and every platform sees an increase in the number of users, formal language on social media sites loses its presence and relevance; the eloquence and ‘properness’ of the previous generations in both speech and writing is seemingly dissolving with the constant introduction of new terms, slang, abbreviations, and the like.

Today, South Korea is seeing a introduction of a wave of new terms and phrases deriving from both Korean (and some English!) words, especially as Korean is a language of such logic and simplicity. The name given to this is ‘신세대말’, literally translating to ‘New Generation Language’. This new ‘language’ that is continuing to grow is a form of evolution of the Korean language, demonstrating that a language’s origins and history can still be respected and preserved even as it evolves in various ways, with this new wave as one of them – it is a modern branch of evolution which is not only for efficiency, but also for enjoyment.

I have picked out some examples of the most frequently used terms from this ‘language’, as well as my favourite phrases which I think are the most innovative and fun (-if you were to use them in Korea, you could be considered an 인싸*!): (*in-ssa = taken from the English ‘insider’: someone in the know; of the ‘inner circle’; trendy) 1. no jae-mi

no-jaem = no fun

2. li-eol-lo

lyeol-lu = for real

a. i-geo-lae-al b. li-eol-paek-teu

ㅇㄱㄹㅇ(?) = this is real / is this real? ㄹㅇㅍㅌ = real fact

3. sae-sang-ae-seo jae-il yae-bbeum 4. gung-gum-hae-seo mul-eo-bom

sae-jael-yae = most beautiful in the world gung-mul = asking because you’re curious

5. jeom-shim mae-nyu chu-cheon-hae ju-sae-yo

jeom-mae-chu-hae = please

recommend me a lunch menu 6. kkil-ddae kki-go bba-jil ddae bba-ji-da

kkil-kki-bba-bba = involving yourself

when necessary, and withdrawing when necessary 7. hal mal-eun man-ji-man ha-ji an-gaet-da à hal-mal-ha-an = having a lot to say but not saying anything 8. go-gu-ma baek-gae meog-eun-deut-han dab-dab-i à go-dab = you feel so uncomfortable that it’s as if you’ve eaten 100 sweet potatoes Fleur 민서 Lee 17

Истоки кириллицы Кириллица - один из старейших и один из самых распространенных алфавитов в мире используется более чем на 50 языках, основными из которых являются русский, сербский, украинский и болгарский. Это третий официальный шрифт Европейского Союза после латинского и греческого алфавитов. Глаголица - самая ранняя форма кириллицы - была впервые основана в IX веке святыми Кириллом и Мефодием Греческими, которые распространяли христианство среди славян. Чтобы упростить общение с ними, Кирилл расширил греческий алфавит и добавил недавно изобретенные буквы для обозначения звуков, которые не использовались в греческом языке, таким образом, образовав 24 греческих буквы из 19 глаголических. Его ученики в Первой Болгарской империи стандартизировали ранний кириллический алфавит и сделали его официальным.

Кириллица на коре березы из древнего Новгорода (Россия), 1025-1050 после рождения Христа

Несмотря на сходство в написании, русский и греческий языки сами по себе очень разные, где синтаксис и грамматика никак не связаны. Греческий — это средиземноморский эллинский язык, а русский - балтийскославянский язык. С момента создания кириллицы было проведено множество реформ. В России первым реформатором кириллицы был типограф и его издатель Иван Федоров. Он исключил буквы Е и С и многие формы буквы О. В конце 18 века русский писатель и историк Николай Карамзин предложил ввести букву Ё. Буквы Э и Й также были официально добавлены к алфавиту в этом веке. Кириллица приобрела свой нынешний вид в 1708 году во время правления Петра Великого. Он ввел строчные буквы (до этого все буквы писались заглавными) и потребовал использовать западные формы букв, сделав современную кириллицу похожей на современный латинский шрифт. В современной России старославянский язык все еще иногда используется для религиозных служб. Современный русский алфавит кардинально отличается от своего прародителя, и только специалисты смогут сказать, как выглядели буквы оригинального кириллического алфавита и прочитать тексты с его помощью.

18

Греческий алфавит

Cовременный русский алфавит

Глаголица

Раннесредневековая кириллица

19

The Origins of the Cyrillic Alphabet The Cyrillic alphabet is one of the oldest, and one of the most widespread alphabets in the world, and is used in more than 50 languages, the main ones being Russian, Serbian, Ukrainian and Bulgarian. It is the third official script of the European Union, following the Latin and Greek scripts.

The Glagolitic alphabet- the earliest form of the Cyrillic alphabet - was first founded in the 9th century by St. Cyril and Methodius of Greece who were spreading Christianity to the Slavs. In order to make it easier to communicate with them, Cyril expanded the Greek alphabet and added newly invented letters to represent sounds that were not used in Greek, thus, forming 24 Greek letters with 19 Glagolitic ones. His students in the First Bulgarian Empire then standardised the early Cyrillic alphabet and made the alphabet official.

Despite the similarities in writing, the Russian and Greek languages themselves are very different, where syntax and grammar are in no way related. Greek is a Mediterranean Hellenic language, while Russian is a Baltic-Slavic language

The Cyrillic Alphabet on a Birch Bark Document from ancient Novgorod (Russia) Dated to 1025-1050 AD

Since the creation of the Cyrillic alphabet, there have been numerous reforms. In Russia, the first reformer of the Cyrillic was printer and publisher Ivan Fyodorov. He eliminated the letters Е and С and many forms of the letter О. At the end of 18th century the Russian writer and historian Nikolay Karamzin suggested to introduce the letter Ё. Letters Э and Й were also officially added to the alphabet in this century.

The Cyrillic alphabet achieved its current form in 1708 during the reign of Peter the Great. He introduced lower case characters (all letters were written with capital letters before this) and mandated the use of westernized letter forms, making the modern Cyrillic similar to the modern Latin font.

In Russia today, the Old Slavic language is still sometimes used for religious services. The modern Russian alphabet differs from its forefather dramatically, and only experts will be able to tell how the letters of the original Cyrillic alphabet looked like and read texts using it.

Diora Juraboeva

20

Греческий алфавит

Cовременный русский алфавит

Глаголица

Раннесредневековая кириллица

21

Del origen, al romance; la historia de la lengua española Es interesante pensar en como el español que ha ido evolucionando a través de las distintas etapas de la historia. El español que escuchamos y hablamos hoy es muy diferente puesto que el español tal y como lo entendemos actualmente ha pasado por miles de años de desarrollo e influencia cultural.

El español con más de 330 millones de hablantes repartidos en más de 20 países es la lengua "Romance" más hablada, por encima del portugués, el francés y el italiano, por citar algunos.

Los historiadores creen originariamente hubo una gran familia a la que han llamado “Protoindoeuropa" y cuyas lenguas fueron habladas hasta el 3,400 AEC. Estas lenguas formaron la base de muchas de las lenguas románticas. A medida que las personas que hablaban estas lenguas se desplazaban, iban extendiendo su lengua por Europa y Asia, así se propagaron lenguas como el griego, el armenio, el baluo-eslavo y el albanés.

Se cree que el español empezó a desarrollarse en la Península Ibérica (donde se encuentran España y Portugal) cuando los romanos se instalaron en la zona hablando una forma más ruda de latín, el latín vulgar. Esta lengua se mezcló con otras lenguas que se hablaban en esa misma zona.

Alrededor del siglo XI se formó el dialecto castellano en el Norte de España.

Se ha comprobado que ahí está localizado el punto inicial donde podemos ver los comienzos del español tal y como se habla hoy.

Sin embargo, es importante señalar que el español también se habla en Sudamérica. Fué Cristóbal Colón quien comenzó a difundir el idioma a lugares como las Islas Bahamas, Trinidad y América del Sur. Con el paso del tiempo, los sonidos del español latinoamericano se han vuelto bastante diferentes a los del español peninsular Hasta el día de hoy, hay diferencias de pronunciación que hacen que los dialectos suenen diferentes. Además, hay diferencias de vocabulario, por ejemplo, en España alguien conduce “un coche” (a car) mientras que en otros lugares se conduce “un carro”.

El español es el resultado de muchas décadas de evolución lingüística y sus orígenes muestran que las lenguas no se forman aisladamente, ya que ahora se hablan dialectos más matizados a nivel mundial.

22

From origin, to romance; the history of the Spanish language It is interesting to think about how the Spanish we hear and speak today is very different from its different stages throughout history. The Spanish we understand now has gone through thousands of years of language development and cultural influence. Spanish is the most widely spoken “Romance” Language, among Portuguese, French, Italian and others, as more than 330 million people speak it in more than 20 countries.

Historians believe that a family of languages called the “Proto-Indo-European” languages were spoken until 3,400 BCE which formed the basis of many romantic languages. As the people who spoke these languages moved around, they spread over Europe and Asia and branched out into languages such as Greek, Armenian, Balto-Slavic and Albanian.

The idea of Spanish developing came from The Iberian Peninsula (where Spain and Portugal meet) where Romans settles speaking a cruder form of Latin, Vulgar Latin. As other languages in the same area mixed together, around 11th century the Castilian dialect was formed in northern Spain which has been proven to be the earliest point where we can see the beginnings of modern Spanish being spoken. However, it is important to note that Spanish is also spoken in South America, which started with Christopher Columbus who started to spread the language further to places like Bahamian Islands, Trinidad and South American mainland.

Over times, the sounds of Latin American Spanish became pretty different to those who spoke Castilian Spanish. To this day, there are differences with pronunciation points that make different dialects sound different. Additionally, there are vocabulary differences e.g. in Spain someone drives un coche, a car, whilst elsewhere you drive un carro, a car.

Spanish is the result of many decades of linguistic evolution and the origins of it show that languages don’t form in isolation, as even now more nuanced dialects are spoken globally.

Avinashi Sahota

23

Los orígenes del judeoespañol: cómo el Edicto de Granada creó un nuevo tipo del español El judeoespañol, también conocido como ladino, es un idioma hermoso y romántico derivado del español antiguo. Antes, fue el idioma principal que fueron hablado por los judíos sefardíes en todo el Mediterráneo, sin embargo, ahora ya no se habla en ningún lugar como primer idioma, entonces, ¿cómo surgió este rico idioma que ahora está en peligro de extinción?

El 31 de marzo de 1492, Isabel I de Castilla y Fernando II de Aragón, los reyes católicos conjuntos de España, ordenaron la expulsión de los judíos practicantes de las Coronas de Castilla y Aragón y sus territorios y posesiones antes del 31 de julio de ese año. El objetivo principal era eliminar la influencia de los judíos practicantes en la gran población de España, antiguamente judía, converso nueva cristiana, para asegurar que estos últimos y sus descendientes no volvieran al judaísmo. Po aquella época, se sospecha que de la población de origen judío estimada en España de 300.000, un total de más de 200.000 se habían convertido al catolicismo para permanecer en España, y entre 40.000 y 100.000 seguían siendo judíos y sufrieron la expulsión. Aunque Fernando e Isabel, cuyo matrimonio condujo a la unificación final de España, fueron inicialmente protectores de los judíos, se sintieron perturbados por los informes de que los judíos conversos que eran cristianos no eran sinceros en su conversión y practicaban secretamente el judaísmo. Aunque esta afirmación era cierta hasta cierto punto, los cristianos "viejos" exageraron la magnitud de este fenómeno y en 1478, Fernando e Isabel presentaron una solicitud formal a Roma para establecer una Inquisición en Castilla para investigar estas y otras sospechas. Después de que se aprobó el decreto, a toda la población judía de España se le dio solo cuatro meses para convertirse al cristianismo o abandonar el país. Los judíos se vieron obligados a vender todos los bienes que poseían y, como resultado, gran parte de la riqueza de la comunidad judía permaneció en España. El castigo para cualquier judío que no se convirtiera o se fuera antes de la fecha límite era la ejecución.

Habiendo sido expulsado de España, los judíos sefardíes emigraron a cuatro áreas principales: África del Norte, el Imperio Otomano, Portugal e Italia. Tras su expulsión, esta lengua puede considerarse una lengua franca judía en el sentido de que fue adoptada como lengua común para todos los diferentes tipos de dialectos. El vocabulario central del judeoespañol es el español antiguo, sin embargo, tiene numerosas influencias de otras lenguas romances como el arogonés antiguo, el catalán antiguo y ha sido desarrollado por el turco otomano y el hebreo. La gramática, la fonología y aproximadamente el 60% del vocabulario del judeoespañol son básicamente españoles pero, en algunos aspectos, se parecen a los dialectos del sur de España y América del Sur, más que a los dialectos del centro de España. Sin embargo, la fonología tanto de las consonantes como de parte del léxico se acerca más al gallego-portugués y al catalán que al español moderno. También, por supuesto, incorpora muchas palabras hebreas y arameas principalmente para conceptos religiosos.

La formación del judeoespañol muestra cómo el idioma puede ser un factor de unión en tiempos tan oscuros y al mismo tiempo ser una rama diferente del idioma español con la que la mayoría de la gente no está familiarizada.

24

The origins of Judeo-Spanish: how the Edict of Expulsion created a new branch of Spanish Judeo-Spanish, also known as Ladino, is a beautiful, romantic language derived from Old Spanish. It was once the primary language spoken by Sephardic Jews across the Mediterranean however it is now no longer spoken anywhere as a first language, so how did this rich language which is now at danger of extinction come to be?

On the 31st of March 1492, Isabella I of Castille and Ferdinand II of Aragon, the joint Catholic Monarchs of Spain, ordered the expulsion of practicing Jews from the Crowns of Castile and Aragon and its territories and possessions by the 31st July of that year. The primary purpose was to eliminate the influence of practicing Jews on Spain's large formerly-Jewish converso New Christian population, to ensure the latter and their descendants did not revert to Judaism. In the years leading up to the expulsion, it is suspected that of Spain’s estimated 300,000 Jewish origin population, a total of over 200,000 had converted to Catholicism to remain in Spain, and between 40,000 and 100,000 remained Jewish and suffered expulsion. Although Ferdinand and Isabella, whose marriage led to the final unification of Spain, were initially protective of Jews, they were disturbed by reports that Jewish converts that were Christians were insincere in their conversion and secretly practising Judaism. Although this claim was true to an extent, the ‘Old’ Christians exaggerated the scale of this phenomenon and in 1478, Ferdinand and Isabella made a formal application to Rome to set up an Inquisition in Castile to investigate these and other suspicions. After the decree was passed, Spain's entire Jewish population was given only four months to either convert to Christianity or leave the country. Jews were forced to sell any goods they owned and as a result, much of the wealth of the Jewish community remained in Spain. The punishment for any Jew who did not convert or leave by the deadline was execution.

Having been expelled from Spain, the Sephardic Jews migrated to four major areas: North Africa, the Ottoman Empire, Portugal, and Italy. Following their expulsion, this language can be seen as a Jewish lingua franca in the sense that it was adopted as a common language for all different types of dialects.

The core vocabulary of Judeo-Spanish is Old Spanish however it has numerous influences from other Romance languages such as Old Arogonese, Old Catalan and has been further developed by Ottoman Turkish and Hebrew. The grammar, the phonology and about 60% of the vocabulary of JudaeoSpanish are basically Spanish but, in some respects, it resembles the dialects in southern Spain and South America, rather than the dialects of Central Spain. However, the phonology of both the consonants and part of the lexicon is closer to Galician-Portuguese and Catalan than to modern Spanish. It also, of course, incorporates many Hebrew and Aramaic words mostly for religious concepts.

The formation of Judeo-Spanish shows how language can be a uniting factor in such dark times whilst also being a different branch of the Spanish language which most people are not familiar with.

Bavini Saravanamuthu

25

¿El español no es el único idioma hablado en España?

Hola. Bon dia. Ola. Kaixo. Adiu. Bienvenidos. Benvingut. Benvido. Ongi etorria. Planvienut.

Puede ser más fácil usar un idioma, así que vamos a continuar con una lengua de España.

Hola. Bon dia. Ola. Kaixo. Adiu. Bienvenidos. Benvingut. Benvido. Ongi etorria. Planvienut.

Y aquí es donde empieza la parte complicada porque todas se consideran lenguas de España en España. El ‘español’ que estás acostumbrada a oír es castellano que refiere al idioma estándar de la lengua española, como decir que un angloparlante habla inglés de Oxford. Para los estudiantes extranjeros, como yo, el acento castellano es lo más fácil de entender porque pronuncian cada letra y por eso lo aprendemos en el colegio. La palabra ‘castellano’ refiere a la provincia de Castilla (en el centro de España) donde se dice que la lengua se originó. Sin embargo, en muchos países afuera de España, español se llama español porque es ahí de donde proviene la lengua.

Con suerte, todavía estás conmigo para que podamos aprender más sobre por qué el castellano no es el único idioma hablado en España…

El país de España se divide en 17 regiones que se unen para crear la nación española. Cada región o comunidad tiene su propio gobierno, y algunas comunidades tienen un idioma cooficial junto al castellano.

Una de estas regiones es Cataluña y su lengua cooficial es catalán. Muchas personas piensan que el catalán es un dialecto del castellano pero, de hecho, es una lengua que evolucionó del latín común. También se habla en Valencia, las Islas Baleares y es la lengua oficial de Andorra. Ya que el catalán es la lengua cooficial de Cataluña, la gente de esta región habla catalán como primera lengua y castellano como segunda, o viceversa.

Históricamente, el catalán ha pasado por dificultades porque ha sido prohibida por motivos políticos, pero hoy en día es promovido activamente para mantener su valor cultural. Pero no tienes que preocuparte, si estás pensando en volar a Barcelona pronto, el español castellano definitivamente te servirá porque un 98% por ciento de la población de Barcelona habla castellano.

Otra región de España es el País Vasco que, para hacer más confusas las cosas, no es un país. El idioma hablado en este área se llama euskera (hablado por un 27% por ciento de la población vasca) y es la lengua viva mas antigua de Europa. Algunos lingüistas incluso creen que proviene del idioma que usaban los cavernícolas en España. Aunque se han hecho muchos esfuerzos para encontrar dónde se originó, sigue siendo un misterio sin resolver. Debido a esto, los lingüistas dicen que el euskera es un idioma aislado, lo que significa que no está relacionado con ninguno de los otros idiomas, o aún no se ha encontrado su origen.

El punto de vista que sostienen la mayoría de las personas es que el euskera comenzó a desarrollarse antes que las lenguas romances, pero ha incorporado mucho vocabulario de estos idiomas. Como el catalán, durante el régimen de Franco, el euskera fue afectado por políticas gubernamentales y era ilegal registrar a los recién nacidos usando nombres vascos, y también los grabados en lápidas en euskera fueron eliminados. Sin embargo, en años posteriores ha habido una continuación de educación y publicación en euskera porque aumentó su popularidad. ¡Claro que solo hemos visto dos lenguas de los cuatro más habladas en España (sí, hay más), pero espero que esto ayude cuando no puedas entender todos los idiomas hablados en cada región cuando viajes por España!

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Is Spanish not the only language spoken in Spain?

Hola. Bon dia. Ola. Kaixo. Adiu. Bienvenidos. Benvingut. Benvido.

Ongi etorria. Planvienut.

It may be easier to stick to one language, so let’s go with a Spanish language.

Hola. Bon dia. Ola. Kaixo. Adiu. Bienvenidos. Benvingut. Benvido.

Ongi etorria. Planvienut.

This is where it gets confusing as they are all considered Spanish languages in Spain. The ‘Spanish’ you are used to hearing is called Castilian in Spain which refers to the standard kind of Spanish language, a bit like saying an English speaker speaks Oxford English. For foreign students, like myself, the Castilian Spanish accent is the easiest to understand as every letter is pronounced, which is why we learn this at school. The word Castilian refers to the Castile province in central Spain where the language is said to have originated. However, in many countries outside of Spain, Spanish is called Spanish as that is where the language comes from.

Hopefully, you’re still with me so we can learn more about why Castilian isn’t the only language spoken in Spain…

The country of Spain is divided into 17 autonomous regions which come together to form the Spanish nation.

Every community has its own regional government, and some communities have a co-official language alongside Castilian. One of these regions is Catalonia and its co-official language is Catalan. Many people think that Catalan is a dialect of Spanish, but it is in fact its own language as it evolved directly from common Latin.

It is also spoken in Valencia, the Balearic Islands and is the official language of Andorra. Since Catalan is the co-official language of Catalonia, people from that region speak Catalan as their first language, and Castilian as their second or vice versa. Historically, Catalan has been through some hardship as it has been banned for political reasons on two occasions, but it is now actively promoted to maintain its cultural value. But don’t worry, if you’re thinking of jetting off to Barcelona anytime soon, Castilian Spanish will serve you well as 98% off Barcelona’s population speak Castilian.

Another region of Spain is the Basque Country which, to make matters even more confusing, is not a country. The language spoken in this area is called Basque (spoken by about 27% of the Basque population) and is the oldest living language in Europe. Some linguists even believe that is descends from the language used by cave dwellers in Spain. Although many efforts have been made to find out where the language originated from, it remains an unsolved mystery. Due to this, linguists say that Basque is a language isolate which means it does not have any relation with other languages, or they are yet to be found. The view held by most is that Basque started to develop before the Romance languages but has borrowed many of its words from these languages. As with Catalan, during Francoist Spain, the Basque language was affected by the government’s policies which included making it illegal to register new-born babies under Basque names, and tombstone engravings in Basque had to be removed. However, in later years, there was a continuation of education and publishing in Basque and it started to increase in popularity.

Of course, we have only looked at two out of the four main languages spoken in Spain (yes, there are more), but I hope this helps when you find yourself not being able to understand the language spoken in every region when you travel around Spain!

Anaya Popat

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¿Cómo se habla español en todo el mundo? La evolución de diferentes dialectos El español es idioma oficial en 18 países latinoamericanos, España y Guinea Ecuatorial (África). Aunque muchos países centroamericanos y sudamericanos tienen a la lengua india nativa como primer idioma, el español continúa propagándose.

El dialecto más común es el castellano que comenzó a extenderse durante la Reconquista, el periodo histórico en el que los estados cristianos conquistaron la España morisca en 1492.

El castellano surgió en la ciudad de Burgos, Castilla y León en el siglo IX. El idioma se extendió más tarde hacia el Sur. Posteriormente el castellano se propagó al Nuevo Mundo durante la época del descubrimiento de América desde mediados del siglo XV hasta mediados del siglo XVI. Los países Latinoamericanos han desarrollado sus propios estándares, principalmente existen diferencias en la fonología y el vocabulario, teniendo, muchas similitudes con los dialectos del Sur de España. Por ejemplo, el castellano típico usa un sonido de ceceo como 'th', mientras que el latinoamericano usa el sonido 's'.

El gallego se habla en el Noroeste de España y el catalán se habla en el Este y Noreste de España. El andaluz es un dialecto hablado en el Sur de España y es el segundo dialecto más popular. Es una “modalidad lingüística” de la lengua española y también se habla en el territorio británico de Gibraltar.

El dialecto del español, utilizado en la España árabe ocupada antes del siglo XXII se le llamó mozárabe. Esta era una forma muy arcaica de español con muchas influencias del árabe, muchos de los refranes mozárabes se han añadido a los poemas árabes y hebreos.

El judeoespañol es un reflejo de la lengua castellana antes de la estandarización del siglo XVI. Rioplatense español se habla en la región de la Cuenca del Río, Argentina y Uruguay. La principal diferencia entre este dialecto y los otros es la entonación, que se asemeja a la italiana debido al aumento de los inmigrantes italianos en estas regiones en el siglo XIX.

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How Spanish is spoken around the world: the evolution of different dialects Spanish is the official language of 18 Latin American countries, Spain and Equatorial Guinea in Africa. Although many central and South Americans have native Indian as their first language, Spanish is continuing to spread there. The most common dialect is Castilian which started spreading due to the Reconquista, the conquest of Moorish Spain by the Christian states in 1492. It arose in Cantabria in the 9th century in a town called Burgos. The language then spread to the south. After starting in Spain, the Castilian dialect was distributed to the New World during the Age of Discovery from the mid 15th century to the mid 16th century. Latin American countries have developed their own standards, mainly a difference in phonology and vocabulary, agreeing mostly with Southern Spanish dialects. For example, typical Castilian uses a lisp like ‘th’ sound, whereas, Latin American uses the ‘s’ sound.

Galician is spoken in north-western Spain and Catalan is spoken in eastern and north-eastern Spain. Andalusian is a dialect spoken in southern Spain and is the second most popular dialect. It is a ‘linguistic modality’ of the Spanish language and is also spoken in the British territory of Gibraltar.

The dialect of Spanish, used in Arab occupied Spain before the 12th century was called Mozarabic. This was very a very archaic form of Spanish with many influences from Arabic, the Mozarabic refrains have been added to Arabic and Hebrew poems. Judeo-Spanish is a reflection of the Castilian language before the 16th century standardisation. Rioplatense Spanish is spoken in the River Basin region, Argentina and Uruguay. The main difference between this dialect and the others is the intonation, which resembles Italian due to the rise of Italian immigrants in these regions in the 19 th century.

Esha Shah

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