Spanish and Portuguese

Survey of work completed and in progress by scholars associated with the Cíbola Project.

This article provides a succinct review of the history and technological development of PhiloBiblon, one of the pioneer Digital Humanities projects for the study of the primary sources of the medieval and early modern literatures of the Iberian Peninsula. The warp and weft of its history are the four bibliographies that comprise it: BETA (Bibliografía Española de Textos Antiguos), BITECA (Bibliografia de Textos Antics Catalans, Valencians i Balears), BITAGAP (Bibliografia de Textos Antigos Galegos e Portugueses), and BIPA (Bibliografía de la Poesía Áurea). We describe how the program functions on the web, paying particular attention to the use of PhiloBiblon's key identifiers. Then we explain the proposed evolution of the project from siloed databases to Linked Open Data via FactGrid, a Database for Historians. Precisely because of this pending change, we wish to show medievalists other than literary and linguistic specialists, especially historians, how to make good use of PhiloBiblon.

Bibliography update to 10/29/2020

Abstract Catalan exhibits a systematic velarization of alveolar lateral /l/ to (dark) [ɫ], somewhat infamously and even pejoratively recognized by speakers as la ela catalana ‘the Catalan l,’ in salient opposition to the non-velarized (or light) realizations of the parallel alveolar lateral Spanish category, realized as [l] ( Bibiloni 2006 ; Davidson 2019 ; Hualde 2005 ). In light of an attested negative social stigma afforded to velarized /l/ ( Davidson 2019 ; Pieras 1999 ; Simonet 2010a ), in this study I examine the variable acquisition of Catalan /l/ by L1-Spanish speakers. In so doing, I problematize the assessment of successful second language acquisition for an L1 sociolinguistic stereotype (cf. Labov 2001 ), ultimately demonstrating how L2-speakers adopt native-like sociolinguistic variation with non-native-like speech variants.

Abstract This investigation examines the variable production of alveolar laterals in Barcelonan Spanish as a case study evidencing the effects of language contact between a majority language, Spanish, and a minority language, Catalan. The Catalan‐Spanish speech community constitutes a rather unique case of majority‐minority language contact, particularly within the Spanish‐speaking world, as Catalan, though a minority language in Spain, is characterized by such a high degree of linguistic vitality, linguistic capital, and social prestige in the autonomous region of Catalonia that its status as a minority language is to a degree, questionable. I account for sociophonetic variability in the production of Barcelonan Spanish /l/ by a set of linguistic (phonological context, cognate status) and social factors (gender, age, style, language dominance) that support an analysis of lateral velarization as contact‐induced and situate this case of language contact as a natural or otherwise predictable outcome of this community's sociolinguistic and sociodemographic history, notably concerning changes in immigration patterns, language ideologies, and language use in the last century. Additionally, I highlight how the gradient nature of select sociophonetic variables uniquely conditions nuanced social indexation in the speech community, specifically in the absence of any one singular or discrete, community‐wide acoustic variant. Abstracte Aquesta investigació s'enfoca en la producció variable de les laterals alveolars en el castellà barcelonès, amb l'objectiu de demostrar els efectes del contacte lingüístic entre una llengua majoritària, el castellà, i una llengua minoritària, el català. La comunitat de parlants de català‐castellà exemplifica un cas únic de contacte lingüístic majoritari‐minoritari, especialment dins el món castellà‐parlant, ja que el català, tot i que es una llengua minoritària a Espanya, es caracteritza per un nivell tan alt de vitalitat lingüística, capital lingüístic, i prestigi social dins la comunitat autòctona de Catalunya, que el seu estatus com a llengua minoritària al final no queda tan clar. Justifico la variabilitat sociofonètica de la producció de /l/ en el castellà barcelonès amb un grup de factors lingüístics (context fonològic, estatus de cognat) i socials (sexe, edat, estil, perfil lingüístic) que corrobora un anàlisi de la velarització lateral com a fenomen de contacte lingüístic, així demostrant que els productes lingüístics d'aquest cas de contacte són naturals i a més previsibles a partir de la història sociolingüística i sociodemogràfica de la comunitat, en particular pel que fa a uns canvis de la immigració, les ideologies lingüístiques, i el usos lingüístics del últim segle. A més, destaco com és que la qualitat contínua de certes variables sociofonètiques condiciona els seus vincles socials dins la comunitat de parlants, específicament en l'absència d'una variant acústica discreta o singular de la comunitat.

After a brief review of the technological changes in PhiloBiblon since 1987, there follows a description of the current project, “PhiloBiblon: From Siloed Databases to Linked Open Data via Wikibase: Proof of Concept”. The current rigid structure, with its ten relational tables and almost 1,300 data fields, is abandoned in favor of a much more f lexible structure of “triples,” records based on a series of statements of the type Entity + Property + Entity, using the system of Wikidata, in which two entities Q are linked by a property P, e.g., Santillana (Q2877) writes (P50) the “Comedieta de Ponza” (Q390408).

After a brief review of the technological changes in PhiloBiblon since 1987, there follows a description of the current project, "PhiloBiblon: From Siloed Databases to Linked Open Data via Wikibase: Proof of Concept". The current rigid structure, with its ten relational tables and almost 1,300 data fields, is abandoned in favor of a much more flexible structure of “triples,” records based on a series of statements of the type Entity + Property + Entity, using the system of Wikidata, in which two entities Q are linked by a property P, e.g., Santillana (Q2877) writes (P50) the “Comedieta de Ponza” (Q390408).