The vicissitudes and conflict of Spanish in the world

The Spanish language has shifted its axis, and the old centralism of Spain is in retreat.

The overwhelming weight of demography (Spaniards now account for less than 10% of Spanish speakers) has been joined by the pan-Hispanic perspective in all academic works (mainly from the

2005), which are drawn up by consensus between the representations Of each country.

Now one more sample has just arrived in bookstores: the

(Espasa, 1,251 pages), published by the Royal Academy and by the ASALE (Association of Academies of the Spanish Language), distributed last December and that it succeeds the one published the previous year (Espasa, 967 pages).

His text recounts the vicissitudes and conflicts of the Spanish language.

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The 2020

was made up almost entirely of texts by Spanish scholars, and collected studies on the

, on the grammatical gender in Spanish, on linguistic corpus, on specialized languages.

However, the

corresponding to the year just ended presents a detailed display on the state of the language in all the countries that speak it, with the participation of experts and academics.

This panorama of Spanish in coexistence offers works of unequal structures: some, erudite and based on quotes, data and statistics;

others, opinion articles without documentary apparatus.

Among the more than one hundred topics detailed in the index, some can be highlighted that narrate the conflicts that Spanish lives or has lived through in the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Guinea and Catalonia.

The “genocide” in the Philippines

One of the most interesting chapters of the work ―written by Guillermo Gómez Rivera, the oldest member of the Academy of the Philippines― narrates the sad history of Spanish in that country, which was incorporated in 1571 to the Crown of Spain, which maintained the Castilian as the official language after independence in 1899 and now hardly spoken.

However, this disappearance of Castilian, writes Gómez Rivera, was due to a process aimed at "eradicating its role in the construction of the State and national consciousness."

The author of the text blames the United States' military victory in April 1901, which ruined the country's independence and led to "genocide" against the language.

The invading country launched "a policy of pedagogical engineering sustained for decades by the US administration after a war of conquest."

Gómez Rivera defends that the number of Filipinos who died in that war against the United States (one sixth of the population: 1.5 million) basically coincides with that of Spanish speakers at the time. These were precisely, according to the historian Luciano de la Rosa (

1960), "those who best understood the concepts of independence and freedom and those who wrote works in Spanish on these ideas."

Later the false story was constructed that Spanish was never spoken in the Philippines.

But the author denies it with documentation and data: the number of speakers of Spanish between 1890 and 1940, as the first or second language (in coexistence with native languages ​​and English), is 70%;

He says that the most widely read novelist in the Philippines in 1924 was Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, who even accepted the invitation to visit Manila;

and he adds, obviously, that Spanish was the official language from 1571 to 1987 (the Constitution of Cory Aquino removes that condition);

and language of the judiciary, the legislature, official publications, literary works, the press.

However, the American power (from 1901 and in successive stages) was undermining that presence, today residual.

Puerto Rico resists

In 1898, Puerto Rico spoke only in Spanish. Since 1902, English and Spanish have been co-official. The text of the Puerto Rican academy states: “During the first three decades of the 20th century, the North American government tried, in vain, to impose a process of North Americanization, mainly through the educational system. Classes in public schools were taught in English and efforts were made to instill new loyalties in students. This situation raised a wave of protest and resistance ”.

Despite being one more state of the Union since 1919, 93.4% of Puerto Ricans communicate in Spanish at home, according to the 2020 census. Of them, 25% say they speak English very well.

Among those who use Spanish, 57% are above the poverty level;

and of those who use English, 61%.

That is, the remaining 39% and the small difference between the two data indicate that speaking English does not guarantee much in Puerto Rico.

And 89% consider that bilingualism does not pose a threat to their Hispanic cultural identity.

Guinea remains

Práxedes Rabat, Guinean academic, traces the historical relationship of his country with the Spanish language.

Guinea became part of the Hispanic community of nations in 1777, when Portugal ceded it to Spain in exchange for other territories between Brazil and Uruguay.

But the teaching of Spanish in schools was not prioritized until 1862. And in 1902 it became compulsory.

Even so, the natives took it as a second language and as a culture of “the whites”, because they used the Guinean mother tongues in their families.

With independence in 1968, the use of Spanish was prohibited.

The totalitarian and bloody dictatorship of Francisco Macías also changed the Hispanic place names.

Macías was overthrown in 1979 by Teodoro Obiang (still in power), who recovered Spanish, the official language since 1982, although indigenous languages ​​are recognized as "members of the national culture."

Today it is settled even in the most remote areas of the country, where children learn it at school.

85% of the population (the one that is literate) knows how to express themselves in Spanish, according to 2011 data. But, yes, still as a second language for the majority.

Only 26% of Guineans used it in the family in 1993, and 39% in 2020. It is the language of the administration, of the media and, increasingly, of the streets.

And also an inter-ethnic language so that the different groups in the country communicate with each other.

Castilian and Catalan

The director of the Spanish Academy, Santiago Muñoz Machado, addresses in the prologue and in a specific chapter the situation of the two languages ​​of Catalonia. After analyzing statistics and polls (95% of Catalans understand Catalan, 73% can speak it, 56% can write it), remember that positive discrimination in Catalan, declared constitutional, is aimed at its full implementation, but He clarifies that the predominance of Spanish no longer exists; and adds: "The higher the level of normalization, the less necessary it would be positive discrimination in favor of Catalan and the more enforceable the equality of this language and Spanish as vehicular languages ​​in teaching."

Although the vast majority understand or use Catalan, that does not imply that it is a monolingual society.

36% speak more in Catalan than in Spanish in their daily life;

33% alternate both languages ​​equally;

and 31% use Spanish more, according to data from Metroscopia as of September 2021.

In addition to these four chapters, the

of 2021 contains in its 1,251 pages much more data and studies, of course;

which will serve the specialists as a source of information and appointments, and the general public as a documented tour of the past and present of the language.

-

Chronicle of the Spanish language 2021.

Editorial Espasa, 1,251 pages.

Kindle version, 12.34 euros.

Hard cover, 32.20 euros.

Facts and curiosities

The

contains, among others, the following data and curiosities:

The latest electronic version of the dictionary includes 18,853 meanings with the American brand;

and 4,191 meanings with some brand of Spain (provinces or regions).

In Mexico City the "voucher" has been established to express agreement, previously considered Spanishism.

Spanish is the official language in New Mexico (USA).

With 2 million inhabitants, 40% of the population is Latino.

In 1940 there were less than 2 million Hispanics in the United States.

Now there are 60.6 million (18.5% of the population).

13% of Americans report speaking Spanish at home.

The United States has no official language in its Constitution.

However, 32 States of the Union have approved declarations of officiality in favor of the English language and clearly contrary to Spanish.

In Mexico, among people over 5 years of age, 6.2% speak some of the indigenous languages.

In 1930 they were 16%.

This fall is influenced by migration to the cities.

In most cases they are mutually unintelligible languages.

In Peru, 47 indigenous languages ​​survive, from 19 linguistic families.

In the mid-twentieth century, the Guatemalan voseo became a sex marker: men treated you, and women spoke.

The two US intervening governments in Cuba (1899-1902 and 1906-1909) failed to impose English as the official language.

In Paraguay, the press uses many words in Guaraní;

especially tabloid newspapers.

Neologisms: in Nicaragua they speak of “bisnear” to “negotiate” or “do business” (from English,

In Paraguay, “cajonear” is “to put in the drawer: 'Prosecutor's Office cajonea denounces against the judge”.

And we do not speak of "vulnerable" but "needy" people.

Hondurans say in polls that the country that best speaks Spanish is Spain;

and the worst, Mexico (because it is vulgar and they do not pronounce well).