25.37, Review: Historical Linguistics; Spanish: Bolufer (2013)

Tue Jan 7 22:07:50 UTC 2014

LINGUIST List: Vol-25-37. Tue Jan 07 2014. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 25.37, Review: Historical Linguistics; Spanish: Bolufer (2013)

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Reviews: 
Monica Macaulay, U of Wisconsin Madison
Rajiv Rao, U of Wisconsin Madison
Joseph Salmons, U of Wisconsin Madison
Mateja Schuck, U of Wisconsin Madison
Anja Wanner, U of Wisconsin Madison
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Date: Tue, 07 Jan 2014 17:06:51
From: Jason Doroga [dorogajustin at gmail.com]
Subject: Estudio Elemental de Gramática Histórica de la Lengua Castellana

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Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/24/24-2590.html

AUTHOR: José Alemany Bolufer
TITLE: Estudio Elemental de Gramática Histórica de la Lengua Castellana
SERIES TITLE: LINCOM Classica 21
PUBLISHER: Lincom GmbH
YEAR: 2013

REVIEWER: Jason Doroga, Centre College 

SUMMARY 

This publication is a reprint of José Alemany Bolufer's 1915 monograph
(henceforth, B) first published in Spain. In the preface, the author states
that his intention for writing this book is to provide university students who
study Old Spanish texts (here understood to be texts composed between the
twelfth- and early fifteenth-century) a reference manual of historical Spanish
grammar. B believes that the knowledge of historical grammar should be an
integral part of literary studies. Without this knowledge of earlier forms of
language, according to B, early texts are reduced to nothing more than a study
of remote dates and events. Indeed, B believes that the language of an early
text is “la parte sabrosa y deleitable que tiene este estudio” (‘the rich and
enjoyable part of this study’, my translation; p. xii). This grammar was
intended to be a practical, useful reference work that facilitates students’
comprehension of the linguistic forms that are documented in Old Spanish
texts. The remainder of the preface provides a brief overview of the modes of
transmission of Latin words into Spanish (e.g., learned, semi-learned,
popular). Though B acknowledges that other languages have enriched the lexicon
of Spanish (e.g., indigenous language of the Americas, Celtic), he argues that
the phonology, morphology and syntax of Spanish is undeniably Latinate, and
the remainder of the work only addresses changes from Latin to Spanish.

“Part I: Phonology” (pp. 1-62)

This section is divided into three parts. In Part I (pp. 1-7), B provides an
overview of the Latin alphabet and compares it to the alphabet of Old Spanish.
This brief section contains an overview of Latin diphthongs, Latin orthography
and the Old Spanish alphabet (including a discussion of geminate consonants).
Part II (pp. 8-11) treats the differences between the vocalic system of
Classical Latin and Vulgar Latin, paying special attention to vowel length and
aperture in the two systems. In Part III (pp. 12-62), B outlines the
development of the vowels and consonants in Old Spanish. In a highly
systematic way, B discusses the historical development of tonic vowels, atonic
vowels (both pre- and post-tonic) and then each category of consonants (e.g.,
voiceless stops, voiced fricatives). For each sound, B first establishes the
general rule of the sound change before outlining the changes that occur
within specific phonetic contexts. Finally, for each rule established, he
presents important exceptions to the rule. For example, B shows that the Latin
consonant cluster /fl/ is maintained in word initial position (e.g., ‘floc’ >
‘fleco’ (‘tassel’)) but does not persist in word medial position (e.g.,
‘sufflare’ > ‘soplar’ (‘to blow’)). An important counter-example to this
general rule is seen in ‘flama’ > ‘llama’ (‘flame’), though B does not offer
any explanation for this apparent anomaly. This section concludes with a brief
illustration of the phonetic processes of metathesis, assimilation,
dissimilation and epenthesis. A notable feature of this entire volume are the
abundant examples that illustrate the phonetic environments where these
changes are most likely to occur. One interesting example that is not often
cited in other historical phonology reference manuals is the example of an
‘epenthetic n’ which can occur before Latin voiceless velar, palatal and
dental consonants. This is seen in words such as ‘nec uno’ > ‘ninguno’
(‘none’) and ‘lacosta’ > ‘langosta’ (‘lobster’).

“Part II: Morphology” (pp. 63-153)

This section is divided into five parts. The morphology of nouns is treated in
Part I (pp. 63-76). The central claim in this section is that the uniformizing
tendency seen in the noun morphology of Old Spanish is the result of the
decline of the case system of Classical Latin, as well as the result of the
loss of the Latin neuter gender. This is seen, for example, in the creation of
the analogical plural form ‘brazas’ (‘fathoms’) from Latin ‘brachia’. Also
covered in this part is a brief discussion of the morphology of augmentatives,
diminutives and patronyms. Part II (pp. 76-82) discusses adjective morphology,
including comparative and superlative morphology, as well as numerals. Part
III (pp. 82-91) addresses the morphology of articles and pronouns. In Part IV
(pp. 91-148), B presents the verbal morphology of Old Spanish. The majority of
this lengthy section consists of lists of verbs with irregular morphology
(e.g., present indicative verbs with a velar consonant infix). Nonetheless,
B’s central claim here is that verb morphology is the result of two competing
processes. On the one hand, B demonstrates that it is the result of regular
phonetic processes that he discusses in the first part of this volume. For
example, he claims that the development of the participle ‘ruptus’ > ‘roto’
(‘broken’) is wholly expected, though the Spanish form is traditionally
classified as an irregular participle. On the other hand, the competing force
is morphological change as a result of analogy (which B identifies as a
“psychological cause of morphological change” (my translation; p. 97) as seen
in the development of ‘rupi’ > ‘rompí’ (‘I broke’). Throughout this section,
the author seeks to find patterns in Spanish verbal morphology. He notes that
there is a predictable tendency for Spanish to inherit the inchoative form of
Latin infinitives (e.g., ‘florescere’> ‘florecer’ (‘flourish’). In the brief
Part V (pp. 149-153), B discusses the morphology of Old Spanish adverbs,
conjunctions and prepositions. 

“Part III: Texts” (pp. 154-368)

The bulk of this volume, and perhaps its greatest asset, is a compilation of
Old Spanish texts composed between the twelfth century (e.g., “El Cid”) and
the fifteenth century (e.g., “El rimado del palacio”), accompanied by a
glossary of antiquated lexical items. This section includes selections from
familiar texts (e.g., “Libro de buen amor”, “Proverbios morales”), as well as
texts that appear less frequently in modern anthologies (e.g., “Poema de
Alfonso onceno”, “El libro de los gatos”). B does not include the dates of
composition for the majority of the texts. The inclusion of selections of a
wide variety of Old Spanish texts reflects B’s purpose for writing this
grammar. As stated in the prologue, the literary study of texts and the
linguistic study of language necessarily complement each other. In theory, any
linguistic form documented in these texts is explained in Parts I and II of
the volume, though the reader will quickly notice that B does not include any
discussion of syntactic or semantic changes from Latin to Old Spanish.

EVALUATION 

This is the twenty-first volume published in the LINCOM Classica series. To
date, there have been several volumes that, like the present volume under
review, are of particular value to Romance linguists (e.g., a reprint of de
Mugica’s “Gramática del Castellano Antiguo” as well as Gröber’s “Grundriss der
Romanischen Philologie”). The republication of B’s monograph, originally
published almost a century ago, comes at a time when some in the modern
academy claim that Medieval Spanish studies are becoming increasingly watered
down because of the use of modernized editions of texts. B calls for a renewed
interest in reading texts in the original language, without adulterations or
modernizations. As B acknowledges in the preface (p. xii), this work is
primarily meant for students of literature, which is reflected in the
inclusion of over one-hundred pages of Old Spanish texts, using the most
reliable editions that were available in 1915.

This volume will be of particular interest for advanced students of Medieval
Spanish studies, as well as historical Hispanic linguists and comparative
Romance philologists. The monograph provides succinct and clear descriptions
and documentation of the various sound changes and morphological changes that
occurred between Latin, Vulgar Latin, and Old Castilian. Although it is not an
adequate primary textbook for a History of the Spanish Language course, it is
a suitable complementary manual of examples for students who are studying
language change. As would be expected for a book written during the nascent
period of Hispanic linguistics, this volume does not provide explanations for
changes, or categorizations of these changes, as representations of
phonological processes, a de facto endeavor that more modern books on the
subject of sound changes undertake.

Another potential problem for modern readers is the lack of consistent IPA
symbols to represent sounds. For example, the voiceless, velar fricative /x/
is occasionally represented by the symbol ‘G’, but more frequently the author
simply relies on orthography (e.g., ‘ge’ or ‘gi’) to represent the sound.
Though this is generally discouraged in modern phonetics courses, B relies
heavily on orthography to demonstrate the relevant changes rather than on
phonetic symbols. As a result of this, the reader might assume that the
voiceless dental sibilant is consistently represented by the grapheme ‘ç’ in
Old Spanish texts. This simply is not the case in the manuscript tradition. It
is unfortunate, also, that the book has no index or bibliography. Even a more
specific table of contents would help guide the reader to appropriate sections
of the text.

Despite these limitations in format, the reader occasionally is struck by how
modern this work appears to be, despite the fact that it was published a
century ago. For example, at a time when sound changes were assumed to be
governed by universal principles of regularity, B consistently provides
counter-examples to the laws of sound change. Additionally, throughout the
work, the author includes forms other than Castilian, such as Leonese and
Asturian, to illustrate that the laws of sound change are not necessarily
universal.

ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Jason P. Doroga is Assistant Professor of Spanish at Centre College in
Danville, KY. His research interests include historical syntax and morphology,
semantics and pragmatics, and Spanish/Portuguese contact and language
acquisition. His current research project focuses on the grammaticalization of
the past participle in compound tenses in Spanish and Portuguese. 

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