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70 books match the query 'Spanish' and 7 start with a

cover of A Brief History of the Spanish Language

A Brief History of the Spanish Language

David A. Pharies

University of Chicago Press, 2007

Spanish is the fourth most widely spoken language in the world and a language of ever-increasing importance in the United States. In what will likely become the introduction to the history of the Spanish language, David Pharies clearly and concisely charts the evolution of Spanish from its Indo-European roots to its present form. An internationally recognized expert on the history and development of this language, Pharies brings to his subject a precise sense of what students of Spanish linguistics need to know.

After introductory chapters on what it means to study the history of a language, the concept of linguistic change, and the nature of language families, Pharies traces the development of Spanish from its Latin roots, all with the minimum amount of technical language possible.  In the core sections of the book, readers are treated to an engaging and remarkably succinct presentation of the genealogy and development of the language, including accounts of the structures and peculiarities of Latin, the historical and cultural events that deeply influenced the shaping of the language, the nature of Medieval Spanish, the language myths that have become attached to Spanish, and the development of the language beyond the Iberian Peninsula, especially in the Americas. Focusing on the most important facets of the language’s evolution, this compact work makes the history of Spanish accessible to anyone with a knowledge of Spanish and a readiness to grasp basic linguistic concepts.

Available in both English and Spanish editions, A Brief History of the Spanish Language provides a truly outstanding introduction to the exciting story of one of the world’s great languages.
 
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cover of A Brief History of the Spanish Language: Second Edition

A Brief History of the Spanish Language

Second Edition

David A. Pharies

University of Chicago Press, 2015

Since its publication in 2007, A Brief History of the Spanish Language has become the leading introduction to the history of one of the world’s most widely spoken languages. Moving from the language’s Latin roots to its present-day forms, this concise book offers readers insights into the origin and evolution of Spanish, the historical and cultural changes that shaped it, and its spread around the world.

A Brief History of the Spanish Language focuses on the most important aspects of the development of the Spanish language, eschewing technical jargon in favor of straightforward explanations. Along the way, it answers many of the common questions that puzzle native speakers and non-native speakers alike, such as: Why do some regions use tú while others use vos? How did the th sound develop in Castilian? And why is it la mesa but el agua?

David A. Pharies, a world-renowned expert on the history and development of Spanish, has updated this edition with new research on all aspects of the evolution of Spanish and current demographic information. This book is perfect for anyone with a basic understanding of Spanish and a desire to further explore its roots. It also provides an ideal foundation for further study in any area of historical Spanish linguistics and early Spanish literature.

A Brief History of the Spanish Language is a grand journey of discovery, revealing in a beautifully compact format the fascinating story of the language in both Spain and Spanish America.
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cover of A Dictionary of New Mexico and Southern Colorado Spanish: Revised and Expanded Edition

A Dictionary of New Mexico and Southern Colorado Spanish

Revised and Expanded Edition

Rubén Cobos

Museum of New Mexico Press, 2011

Continuously in print since 1983, Dictionary of New Mexico and Southern Colorado Spanish, has become a classic Spanish reference book, widely used in classrooms across the United States. As a teenager in Albuquerque, esteemed linguist and folkorist Rubén Cobos (1911-2010) was intrigued by and began documenting the regional variations of spoken Spanish. This was to become his work of a lifetime spanning seventy-five years. Dr. Cobos began recording Indo-Hispanic folklore material in the early 1940s. With the co-operation of the villagers, farmers, sheepherders, and other hard-working people in the small towns throughout New Mexico and Southern Colorado he recorded the nuances, slang and the regionally distinctive words of Spanish spoken in the communities of the upper Rio Grande and Southern Colorado.

Ruben Cobos spent a decade working on the revised and expanded edition of the dictionary, published in 2003. The Dictionary of New Mexico and Southern Colorado Spanish has assumed its place as the most authoritative reference on the archaic dialect of Spanish spoken in this region.
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cover of A Practical Toolbox: Curricular Pathways in Iberian, Latin American, LatinX Studies, and Beyond

A Practical Toolbox

Curricular Pathways in Iberian, Latin American, LatinX Studies, and Beyond

Edited by Palmar Álvarez-Blanco, Christine Henseler, and Stephanie A. Mueller

Lever Press, 2027

With clear roadmaps for university faculty and administrators, A Practical Toolbox outlines engaging and impactful courses, programs, methodologies and partnerships emerging in Iberian, Latin American, and LatinX Studies. Contributors provide exploratory and pragmatic examples of how individuals, groups, and organizations are moving the fields of language, linguistics, and cultural production forward within the broader humanities and higher education landscapes. Many of the projects included in this volume exemplify how Spanish and Hispanic Studies programs can be ideally situated to meet the needs and draw on the strengths of these growing student populations. Chapters are organized into five broad approaches: navigating institutional structures through creative interdisciplinary models; connecting to local communities and organizations through public humanities, civically engaged partnerships, and social justice projects; asset-based pedagogies for Heritage, Latinx, Indigenous, and First Gen learners; innovations in Language and Area Studies for specific purposes; and expanding beyond textbooks to engage a new generation. Topics include enrollments, first-gen students, heritage learners, artificial intelligence, ecological perspectives, Spanish for specific purposes, civic engagement, public scholarship, community collaborations, public humanities, and more. By bringing students, educators, researchers, and communities into meaningful collaboration, it reimagines what the humanities can do.

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cover of A Primer of Pastoral Spanish

A Primer of Pastoral Spanish

Michael J. McGrath

Catholic University of America Press, 2022

A Primer of Pastoral Spanish is designed to provide clergy, religious and laity alike with the tools to be pastoral among Spanish-speaking people. This primer is modeled after Madrigal’s Magic Key to Spanish (1953), whose author, Margarita Madrigal, bases her methodology on creating with the language instead of memorizing it. Previous knowledge of Spanish is not necessary, although, as you will discover, you already know thousands of words in Spanish. The vocabulary you know in English is the foundation on which you can build your knowledge of Spanish vocabulary. There are thousands of English words that become Spanish words if you can recognize the slight change that takes place from one language to the other. For example, you will learn how to conjugate a verb in Spanish to the first-person singular of the past tense by dropping a letter from its translation in English and adding an accent. There are 40 units in this primer. If you were to study each unit 30 minutes a day throughout Lent, for example, think about how far you could progress. Each unit consists of four sections: Vocabulary, Prayer or Culture, Cornerstones, and Vocabulary Review. There are four Check Your Progress units. These present more Challenges based on the grammar, vocabulary, and culture you learned in the previous units. The answers to the Challenges are at the end of these units.
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cover of Another Face of Empire: Bartolomé de Las Casas, Indigenous Rights, and Ecclesiastical Imperialism

Another Face of Empire

Bartolomé de Las Casas, Indigenous Rights, and Ecclesiastical Imperialism

Daniel Castro

Duke University Press, 2007

The Spanish cleric Bartolomé de Las Casas is a key figure in the history of Spain’s conquest of the Americas. Las Casas condemned the torture and murder of natives by the conquistadores in reports to the Spanish royal court and in tracts such as A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies (1552). For his unrelenting denunciation of the colonialists’ atrocities, Las Casas has been revered as a noble protector of the Indians and as a pioneering anti-imperialist. He has become a larger-than-life figure invoked by generations of anticolonialists in Europe and Latin America.

Separating historical reality from myth, Daniel Castro provides a nuanced, revisionist assessment of the friar’s career, writings, and political activities. Castro argues that Las Casas was very much an imperialist. Intent on converting the Indians to Christianity, the religion of the colonizers, Las Casas simply offered the natives another face of empire: a paternalistic, ecclesiastical imperialism. Castro contends that while the friar was a skilled political manipulator, influential at what was arguably the world’s most powerful sixteenth-century imperial court, his advocacy on behalf of the natives had little impact on their lives. Analyzing Las Casas’s extensive writings, Castro points out that in his many years in the Americas, Las Casas spent very little time among the indigenous people he professed to love, and he made virtually no effort to learn their languages. He saw himself as an emissary from a superior culture with a divine mandate to impose a set of ideas and beliefs on the colonized. He differed from his compatriots primarily in his antipathy to violence as the means for achieving conversion.

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cover of At the Moon's Inn

At the Moon's Inn

Andrew Lytle

University of Alabama Press, 2009

A fascinating tale that brings to life the history of Spanish efforts to establish a controlling presence in the New World during the first half of the 16th century
 
At the Moon’s Inn, first published in 1941, provides a fictional account of De Soto’s famous Spanish expedition to La Florida and through the southeastern United States between 1539 and 1543. The novel begins in Spain in 1538, where De Soto and his chief lieutenants, veterans of the campaigns in South America, pledge themselves to a new enterprise to explore and exploit La Florida. The narrative follows them on their voyage to Cuba, where they rest and obtain additional supplies, then set sail for the area now known as Tampa Bay. Lytle’s brilliant historical novel takes the readers with the conquistadores through the hot, humid land, where despite their advantage in military technology they found they must rely on the Indians for food. The author explores the cultural confrontation that seriously weakened the Indians, while the Spaniards’ dreams of gold gradually turned to hopes of survival in the hostile environment.
 
Drawing his facts from the 1939 United States De Soto Commission Report and from the surviving historical chronicles of the expedition, Lytle weaves a fascinating tale that brings to life the history of Spanish efforts to establish a controlling presence in the New World during the first half of the 16th century.
 
In his introduction, Douglas Jones places At the Moon’s Inn within the context of the documentary record, as well as within the framework of its distinguished author’s career.
 
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