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<font size=3>Beyond regional pride, I have heard both Cubans and
Spaniards describe Colombian Spanish as the "most correct,"
comparing it to US national news - speak. I found that far more
curious than everyone claiming their own as superior.<br><br>
Kristine Fitch<br><br>
At 12:55 PM 8/5/2004, Alexander King wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>Interesting to see these posts.
When I was an exchange student to Bogota, many years ago, I learned that
the most correct, best Spanish is spoken in Colombia, in Bogota, to be
exact. Later when I met another American who had been living in
Bucaramanga (sp?), she informed me that the 'best' Spanish was spoken
there. This is an interesting pattern.<br><br>
Sociolinguists working in Britain will be quick to point out that
regionalism in British English is alive and strong, not subject to the
homogenization apparent in America, but the interesting thing there is
that local accents are devalued vis a vis a 'standard English' which no
one really speaks. Interesting that Spanish speakers in Mexico and
Colombia seem to have the inverse ideology (pride in their own way of
speaking).<br><br>
Alex King<br><br>
At 12:23 -0500 5/8/04, Christie Lopez wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>I agree, the Washington Post
article was interesting. I don't think<br>
between Telemundo and Univision we're in danger of eliminating the<br>
intricacies of the spoken Spanish language immediately, though.<br><br>
Hispanic people identify themselves by their dialects between countries
and<br>
within a country much more so than those of us in the US. It
gives a<br>
sense of culture, provides a biographical map, and is a source of pride.
<br><br>
There has been the long-standing debate as to which Spanish is the
most<br>
correct--that of Spain or Mexico. Ask any Mexican and they will
tell you<br>
it is theirs of course! Ask any Spaniard and they will wonder why
you are<br>
asking such an obvious question.<br><br>
Ms. Davila's book is interesting, but I question its direction.
Within our<br>
own country television personalities neutralize English accents and<br>
dialects to be more easily understood. If we're talking
global<br>
communications for advertising or other media, you want the largest<br>
possible group to understand what you're talking about. Segmenting
by<br>
special interest or dialect groups is too costly and just
impractical.<br>
</blockquote><br>
-- <br>
_________________________<br>
University of Aberdeen
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Koryak
Net
<a href="http://www.koryaks.net/" eudora="autourl">http://www.koryaks.net</a><br>
Soyuz
<a href="http://www.abdn.ac.uk/soyuz" eudora="autourl">http://www.abdn.ac.uk/soyuz</a><br>
tel:+44(1224)27 2732<br>
fax:+44(1224)27 2552</blockquote>
<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
Kristine L. Fitch, Ph.D<br>
Associate Professor<br>
Communication Studies, BCSB 105<br>
University of Iowa<br>
Iowa City, IA 52242-1498<br>
<a href="http://www.uiowa.edu/~commstud/faculty" eudora="autourl">http://www.uiowa.edu/~commstud/faculty<br><br>
</a>Co-chair, IRB 02 (Social and Behavioral Sciences)<br>
<a href="http://research.uiowa.edu/hso" eudora="autourl">http://research.uiowa.edu/hso</a></font></body>
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