Showing papers in "Hispania in 1998"

Processing Instruction and the Subjunctive

Abstract: Research is uncovering developmental factors (e.g., interactions between syntactic and morphological development) that account for the fact that foreign-language learners of Spanish completing the intermediate level seem to benefit little from subjunctive instruction (cf. Leow 1993, 1995; Terrell et al. 1987; Collentine 1995, 1997a, 1997b). Yet, little is known about how different methodological approaches to grammar instruction affect subjunctive acquisition. Recently, investigators (e.g., Cadierno 1995; VanPatten and Cadierno 1993) have presented evidence that Processing Instruction, an input-oriented approach to grammar instruction promoting the intake of grammatical properties, may be more effective than traditional, output-oriented approaches in facilitating the acquisition of grammar. An experiment comparing the two approaches with the subjunctive indicates that, while Processing Instruction is indeed effective at fostering learners' subjunctive abilities, output-oriented instruction is equally effective in tasks where the subjunctive has communicative value.

Learning Spanish in Mexico: The Effect of Informal Contact and Student Attitudes on Language Gain.

Abstract: Students' informal interactive and noninteractive contact with the second language, as well as their cultural and linguistic attitudes and motivation, may affect oral proficiency gains in summer study abroad programs. However, these gains are difficult to measure with instruments such as the Oral Proficiency Interview. Thirty-two trained native speakers' assessment of 30 students' gain in Spanish over a seven-week period of summer study in Mexico indicate that 22 of them improved significantly in some aspect of their Spanish. Statistical correlations indicate that students-especially beginning students-who report more informal interactive contact show greater gain in Spanish. Both beginning and advanced students reporting more noninteractive contact show less progress. Greater integrative and less instrumental motivation correspond with greater gain in advanced students. Several other variables correlate significantly with language gain. The results indicate directions for both study abroad and stateside classroom planning.

Refiguring Spain: Cinema/Media/Representation

Abstract: In "Refiguring Spain", Marsha Kinder has gathered a collection of new essays that explore the central role played by film, television, newspapers, and art museums in redefining Spain's national/cultural identity and its position in the world economy during the post-Franco era. By emphasising issues of historical recuperation, gender and sexuality, and the marketing of Spain's peaceful political transformation, the contributors demonstrate that Spanish cinema and other forms of Spanish media culture created new national stereotypes and strengthened the nation's place in the global market and on the global stage. These essays consider a diverse array of texts, ranging from recent films by Almodvar, Saura, Erice, Mir, Bigas Luna, Gutirrez Aragn, and Eloy de la Iglesia to media coverage of the 1993 elections.Francoist cinema and other popular media are examined in light of strategies used to redefine Spain's cultural identity. The importance of the documentary, the appropriation of Hollywood film, and the significance of gender and sexuality in Spanish cinema are also discussed, as is the discourse of the Spanish media star - whether involving film celebrities like Rita Hayworth and Antonio Banderas or historical figures such as Cervantes. The volume concludes with an investigation of larger issues of government policy in relation to film and media, including a discussion of the financing of Spanish cinema and an exploration of the political dynamics of regional television and art museums.Drawing on a wide range of critical discourses, including feminist, postcolonial, and queer theory, political economy, cultural history, and museum studies, "Refiguring Spain" is the first comprehensive anthology on Spanish cinema in the English language. It will expand the possibilities of intellectual discourse on Spanish cultural production and will appeal to all students and scholars of world cinema. The contributors include: Peter Besas, Marvin D'Lugo, Selma Reuben Holo, Dona M. Kercher, Marsha Kinder, Jaume Mart'-Olivella, Richard Maxwell, Hilary L. Neroni, Paul Julian Smith, Roland B. Tolentino, Stephen Tropiano, Kathleen M.Vernon, and I-aki Zabaleta.

Perceptions of and Perspectives on the Term "Communicative"

Abstract: An analysis of the term communicative as used by scholars and as realized in textbooks suggests a gap between theory and practice as well as substantial differences between the perspectives held by scholars and the perceptions held by instructors, publishers, and others. These differences are reviewed and their sources traced to attempts to adapt the term itself to existing methodologies as well as to the education of language instructors.

Pragmatic Presupposition and Old Information in the Use of the Subjunctive Mood in Spanish

Abstract: Independent evidence favors pragmatic characterizations of the distribution of mood in complement clauses in Spanish. Examination of the behavior of different types of complements in two different grammati- cal constructions supports the argument that the differences in behavior are the result of the different prag- matic status of the complement. Empirical evidence supports the hypothesis that complements which repre- sent old information appear in the subjunctive mood. The notion of old information serves to revise standard explanations of the use of mood in some negated complements and to explain some uses of the subjunctive mood that have been rarely discussed in the literature.

Encyclopedia of Latin American Literature

Abstract: A comprehensive, encyclopedic guide to the authors, works, and topics crucial to the literature of Central and South America and the Caribbean, the Encyclopedia of Latin American Literature includes over 400 entries written by experts in the field of Latin American studies. Most entries are of 1500 words but the encyclopedia also includes survey articles of up to 10,000 words on the literature of individual countries, of the colonial period, and of ethnic minorities, including the Hispanic communities in the United States. Besides presenting and illuminating the traditional canon, the encyclopedia also stresses the contribution made by women authors and by contemporary writers. Outstanding Reference Source Outstanding Reference Book

Constraints on Spanish NP Anaphora: the Syntactic versus the Pragmatic Domain

Abstract: Anaphoric NP use and interpretation in Spanish may be constrained by grammatical, semantic, and pragmatic factors. While syntactic and semantic constraints place restrictions on what is referentially possible or acceptable in sentences, empirical data suggest that the use and interpretation of anaphoric NPs in Spanish conversational discourse (excluding reflexives and reciprocals) adhere to two neo-Gricean principles of language use. Furthermore, analysis of naturally occurring conversations among native speakers reveals that the pattern of anaphora predicted by the neo-Gricean framework is constrained by antecedent salience, mutual knowledge, and semantic entailments. These data suggest that instances of intended coreference may be considered conversational implicatures that can be explained in terms of pragmatic rules of language use and intervening consistency constraints.

A Cultural History of Latin America: Literature, Music and the Visual Arts in the 19th and 20th Centuries

Abstract: Preface Part I: 1. Literature, music and the visual arts, c. 1820-1870 2. Literature, music and the visual arts, c. 1870-1930 Part II: 3. Narrative since c. 1920 4. Poetry, c. 1920-1950 5. Poetry since 1950 6. Indigenous literatures 7. Music, c. 1920-c. 1980 8. Architecture, c. 1920-c. 1980 9. Art, c. 1920-c. 1980 10. Cinema Bibliographic essays.

The Spanish-speaking world: a practical introduction to sociolinguistic issues

Abstract: This accessible textbook offers students the opportunity to explore for themselves a wide range of sociolinguistic issues relating to the Spanish language and its role in societies around the world. It is written for undergraduate students who have a sound practical knowledge of Spanish but who have little or no knowledge of linguistics or sociolinguistics. It combines text with practical exercises and discussion questions to stimulate readers to think for themselves and to tackle specific problems.In Part One Clare Mar-Molinero discusses the position of Spanish as a world language, giving an historical account of its development and dominance. Part Two examines social and regional variation in Spanish, and investigates dialects, language attitudes, and style and register, particulaly in the media. The author also questions the relationship between gender and language. Part Three focuses on current issues, particularly those arising from language policies and legislation, especially in the education system, in Spain, Latin America and the USA.

De retorno a lo natural : la serpiente de oro, la novela de la selva y la critica ecologica

Abstract: La "novela de la selva" hispanoamericana de la primera mitad del siglo XX contiene propuestas eco16gicas que han sido ignoradas y que incluso iluminan los debates contemporaineos. A pesar de la imagen del Infierno Verde, estas novelas proponian un "retorno a lo natural" y criticaban las industrias extractivas del momento. Tal "retorno," no obstante, era el fundamento para una modernizaci6n alternativa de la Amazonia. Igualmente ambigua es la re-inscripci6n de la oposici6n entre Naturaleza y Ser Humano que subyace a la idea misma del "retorno." Finalmente, ante el fracaso de sus protagonistas, la "novela de la selva" termina sugiriendo implicitamente que la literatura es el espacio en el que ese "retorno" puede ser alcanzado. La serpiente de oro de Ciro Alegria ilustra toda esta problemaitica y tambien la critica de la "novela de la selva" al mito de El Dorado y su relaci6n con los discursos latinoamericanos sobre la Modernidad.

Focusing on Form While Conveying a Cultural Message

Abstract: Recent research has demonstrated that form-based practice within a communicative context leads to higher levels of linguistic accuracy and performance than when practice is uncontextualized. As a result, current foreign language textbooks offer many more contextualized activities than in the past. Culture, however, is one type of content that often appears separate from grammar, as if it were not an integral part of the language. An examination of the cultural content in grammar exercises of recent college-level Spanish textbooks suggests a small trend toward the integration of cultural content with form-based practice. Teachers can supplement their texts' offerings by creating form-focused activities with cultural content and by expanding cultural activities with grammar practice.

Vowel lenition in São Miguel Portuguese

Abstract: Analysis of lexical data from one variety of European Portuguese (Sao Miguel, Azores) reveals two sorts of vowel weakening processes at work in the language: deletion and devoicing. Quantitative analysis indicates that the two processes are non-categorical, and that each operates under different conditions: while the likelihood of deletion is conditioned primarily by linguistic and stylistic factors, the application of devoicing is conditioned by linguistic and social factors. These findings suggest that the two processes play different roles for speakers in this sample of the population, with deletion marking differences in speech style and devoicing acting as an indicator of the speaker's social position in the community.

Communication as an Organizing Principle in the National Standards: Sociolinguistic Aspects of Spanish Language Teaching.

Abstract: The Standards for Foreign Language Learning present a definition of language teaching that ex- tends beyond a focus on grammar and vocabulary to include the sociolinguistic and cultural aspects of lan- guage. An analysis of the concept of communicative competence, as defined by anthropologists and sociolinguists, elucidates the types of cultural knowledge that underlie the three communicative modes: the interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational, defined in the Standards.

Estudio sociolingüístico de una variante sintáctica: el fenómeno "dequeísmo" en el español canario

Abstract: Le dequeismo est l'introduction systematique de la preposition de dans les complements verbaux avec une forme de substantif fonctionnel (ex : Pienso de que...). Ce phenomene est de plus en plus frequent en espagnol d'Espagne et d'Amerique. Il est lie au niveau socio-culturel, a l'âge et au sexe du locuteur, ainsi qu'a la propriete deictique de la preposition de d'introduire les expressions, jugements et pensees du locuteur. Le dequeismo est analyse quantitativement dans la variete d'espagnol parle aux iles Canaries

Required reading : the canon in spanish and spanish american literature

Abstract: The required graduate reading lists of 56 leading Ph.D.-granting Spanish faculties in the United States were analyzed to characterize the current canon for Spanish and Spanish American literature. The database consisted of 14,686 items. Little consensus was found regarding authors, and even less for specific works of literature. Only two authors and two works from Spain achieved 100 percent representation on the lists. Thirty-nine authors (one female) and 22 male-authored works from Spain, and 24 authors (two female) and ten male-authored works from Spanish America were present on 75 percent or more of the lists. At the other end of the spectrum, nearly 1,000 different titles appeared just once in the database, demonstrating presence on only a single reading list. The findings show little agreement about what constitutes literary value in this field. This has important implications for graduate education.

A century of progress : A retrospective on FLES programs : 1898-1998

Abstract: A retrospective of over a hundred years reveals the evolution of different policies, approaches, and methodology with regard to the teaching of foreign languages to young children. As is so often the case, the seeds of the past are evident in many aspects of the present. A review highlighting some of the significant events and/or policies in the history of elementary school foreign language programs in general, with specific details about Spanish FLES programs, shows pivotal points. Three periods help to synthesize this historical perspective of FLES in the twentieth century.

Del uso sociolinguistico de las oclusivas posnucleares en el espanol peninsular norteno (On the Sociolinguistic Use of Post-Nuclear Occlusives in North Peninsular Spanish).

Abstract: Las consonantes oclusivas posnucleares en espanol se ven modificadas por procesos fonologicos tales como sonorizacion, espirantizacion, deslizamiento y elision. En la variante centro-norte del espanol peninsular estas consonantes tambien se sustituyen por el sonido interdental fricativo sordo de la zeta castellana. La aplicacion de tecnicas metodologicas de la sociolinguistica variacional al estudio de la pronunciacion de los segmentos oclusivos en el espanol peninsular norteno resulta en: a) entendimiento de la vitalidad de uso de las distintas variaciones alofonicas de las oclusivas posnucleares, b) caracterizacion de las tendencias de uso sociolinguistico de estas realizaciones en relacion a factores como el nivel socioeconomico, el sexo, la edad de los hablantes y el grado de formalidad de habla, y c) identificacion de posibles cambios linguisticos en marcha y de las fuerzas sociales que potencian el cambio. Los resultados del analisis sociolinguistico contribuyen a una descripcion mas completa del habla del norte peninsular.

Spanish Linguistics: The Past 100 Years: Retrospective and Bibliography.

Abstract: The entire field of general and Spanish linguistics is circumscribed by the last 100 years of scholar- ship. Fields as diverse as historical linguistics, phonetics, phonology, syntactic analysis, first- and second-lan- guage acquisition studies, morphology, sociolinguistics, and dialectology are products of twentieth-century linguistic thought. From the outset, Spanish has enjoyed a prominent place in the evolution of contemporary linguistics. A survey of the major accomplishments of twentieth-century Spanish linguistics sets the stage for linguistic research in the next century.

Based on a True Story: Latin American History at the Movies

Abstract: Sonya Lipsett-Rivera and Sergio Rivera Ayala find in the quincentennial 1492 (USA, 1992) is, with little exception, familiarly mainstream. Columbus is the safe and traditional "Renaissance Rambo" who protects the Indians. On the other hand, though, Aguirre (Germany, 1972), in the director's own words, is not about real happenings or people at all, which propels Thomas H. Holloway to print the famous mutinous 1561 letter and propose his own representation of Aguirre as loyal soldier betrayed by "the system.

Spanish Aspect and the Nature of Linguistic Time

Abstract: Evidence from adverbial modification in Spanish shows that the imperfect restricts eventualities to occur or obtain at open time intervals, while the preterite inflection restricts eventualities to closed time intervals. The evidence supports a temporal ontology in which linguistic time is a continuous linear order.

Individual and Collective Identity through Memory in Three Novels of Argentina's "El Proceso"

Abstract: Three Argentine writers-Mempo Giardinelli, Tununa Mercado, and Ana Maria Shua-have confronted the need to construct alternative histories. These writers place their narrative primarily within the context of "El Proceso" (The Process of National Reorganization 1976-83) by focusing on secondary, oftentimes fictional events and characters whose treatment of history is shaped by the subjectification of time and the inclusion of memory. Their novels show the twentieth-century transformation of memory as an intellectual shift from a purely individual psychology of remembering to a new exploration of issues such as identity, literary expression, the mechanisms of memory, and the relevance of the past.