Evolution of the Spanish Language: Historical Stages & Influences
The Evolution of the Spanish Language: A Diachronic Perspective
This document outlines the various historical stages and influences that have shaped the Spanish language.
Pre-Roman Hispania
Before the arrival of the Romans in the Iberian Peninsula, diverse languages such as Celtic, Iberian, and Basque were spoken. With the expansion of Latin, most of these languages disappeared, although they left some influence on the way Spanish is spoken today.
The Roman Empire
In 218 BC, Roman forces landed in Empúries, initiating two centuries of conquest across the peninsula. This led to the widespread use of Latin, marking the beginning of the linguistic unity of Hispania.
The Germanic Invasions
From the 5th century until the fall of the Roman Empire, Germanic tribes such as the Suebi, Vandals, Alans, and Visigoths invaded the Iberian Peninsula. The Visigoths remained until the Muslim invasion. This period marked the end of linguistic unity and the beginning of the transition from Latin to the Romance languages.
The Muslim Influence
In 711, the first Muslim invasion from North Africa occurred. Their presence for almost eight centuries left deep traces in the customs, culture, and language of the region.
The Reconquista
The Christian reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula began shortly after the Muslim invasion and lasted until 1492. This process accentuated the diatopic differences within Latin. Various Romance languages began to emerge, with Castilian being the most active and innovative.
The Enlightenment
With the founding of the Royal Spanish Academy (Real Academia Española), the first dictionary, grammar, and spelling standards were published.
Romanticism
The 19th century saw the rexurdimiento in Galicia and the Renaixença in Catalonia, movements that revived the use of Galician and Catalan as literary languages.
The 20th Century
After the Spanish Civil War, the use of regional languages was hampered by the Franco regime, relegating them to domestic use.
Present Day
The Spanish Constitution recognizes Castilian Spanish as the official state language, while also acknowledging and protecting other languages of Spain.
Connotation and Meaning
Meanings are classified as:
- Sig.conno.properly said: Traits associated with a word’s meaning based on social and cultural values. Example: niño (child) = innocence.
- Stylistic: Associations linked to a word through its use in a specific sociolect, implying certain connotations. Example: lady, woman, wife.
- Sig.efectivos: Subjective associations revealing the speaker’s emotions or feelings attached to their own experience. Example: sea = happiness in the summer, but work for a sailor.
A family is a set of lexical words linked by a signifier (e.g., smith-tools-hardware).
A semantic field is a set of words related by meaning (e.g., house, chalet).
Synonymy
Synonymy is the relationship between two words with different signifiers but the same or similar meaning. They must belong to the same grammatical category. For example: handsome, beautiful, pretty.
- Absolute synonyms: Words that have the same meaning (e.g., tireless, tirelessly).
- Conceptual relationship: Between two words with identical meanings in a particular semantic exception. Only in this case do they have the same denotation and may concern the same reality (e.g., wing interchangeably, mirror, moon).
- Denotative: When two words share the denotation but do not have the same connotative values (e.g., abdomen, belly, tummy).
- Benchmark: When two unrelated words are associated with the same reference (e.g., Cervantes-Mantle-Lepanto).
- False synonymy: Occurs between words whose denotations are somewhat similar but not identical (e.g., fog, smog).
Antonyms
Antonymy is a lexical relation of opposition between two words with conflicting meanings.
- Complementarity: Living-dead (no intermission).
- Gradual: High-low (there is something in between).
- Reverse: Parent-child (relationship is beginners see).
Polysemy and Homonymy
- Polysemy: The plurality of different meanings associated with the same word (e.g., skirt – mountain and clothing).
- Homonyms: Words with the same meaning are significant and distinct identity that have:
- Homophonous: But distinct phonetic writing (e.g., cow-rack).
- Homographs: They aural and visual identity (e.g., beech – the Latin habere Fage and have).