Informacion sobre tesis doctoral: BUGEL, T. A Macro- and Micro-Sociolinguistic Study of Language Attitudes and Language Contact: Mercosur and the teaching of Spanish in Brazil. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Fri Mar 16 18:45:59 UTC 2007

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Información sobre tesis doctoral:
BUGEL, Talia. 2006. A Macro- and Micro-Sociolinguistic Study of
Language Attitudes and Language Contact: Mercosur and the teaching of
Spanish in Brazil. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (EE.UU)
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1. Autora:
BUGEL, Talia

2. Título de la tesis:
A Macro- and Micro-Sociolinguistic Study of Language Attitudes and
Language Contact: Mercosur and the teaching of Spanish in Brazil
   2.1 Número de páginas: 159
   2.2 Palabras clave: español, portugués, sociolingüística, política
lingüística,
                                   lenguas en contacto, variación
lingüística, dialectología,
                                   estudio de actitudes

3.Fecha de lectura o defensa:
24 de mayo de 2006

4. Departamento, centro o laboratorio en el que se ha desarrollado:
Departamento de Español, Italiano y Portugués (SIP)
Universidad de Illinois, Campus de Urbana-Champaign (UIUC)
Estados Unidos

5. Directora:
Dra. Anna María Escobar

6. Proyecto o línea de investigación en el que se incluye:
Sociolingüística crítica.

7. Resumen e índice:

This is a macro and microsociolinguistic study on the teaching of
Spanish as a foreign language in Brazil after the formation of
Mercosur, in 1991. Spanish being a pluricentric language, which
variety(ies) of Spanish should be used for teaching the language in
Brazil? The alleged lack of teachers trained for the task opened a
breach through which the centripetal forces in charge of the
international spread of Spanish entered Brazil. Such forces act side
by side the centrifugal forces led by the agents of language use: the
Spanish teachers from different origins, especially those from the
River Plate region.

The study explains how the centripetal forces shape the teaching of
Spanish in Brazil, by studying: a) the voice of the Spanish media as a
reflection of the centripetal forces, by means of Critical Discourse
Analysis, b) the attitudes of teachers of Spanish in Brazil, their
students, and laypeople, to the regional varieties of Spanish, by
means of matched-guise tests and open questionnaires, and c) the use
of Spanish in the classroom by River Plate teachers, by means of
linguistic analysis of class recordings.

The results expose a conflict among Spanish varieties in Brazil. One
specifically focused on the Peninsular (Northern-Central Spain) and
the Rioplatense varieties, and tightly tied to political, economic,
educational and cultural factors that interplay among them in overt
and covert dynamics. While the press analysis shows a process of
commodification of the language aligned to the Peninsular variety, the
study of attitudes presents a split in the participants' preferences,
favoring the Rioplatense variety in measures of solidarity and
evaluation, and the Peninsular variety in measures of power. When the
focus turns to the agents of the centrifugal forces, the actual
variety in use leans towards a pan-Hispanic combination of features
favoring Latin American Spanishes.

In terms of language policy and planning, such results show that the
action of the centrifugal forces can actually limit the effects of the
centrifugal forces. In terms of language analysis, further research is
required to follow up on the evolution of the particular combination
of Spanish varieties currently in use in Brazil.

Table of contents

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1. Socio-political context
1.1.1. Economics
1.1.2. Education
1.2. Cultural context
1.2.1. Cultural tradition: Europe
1.2.2. Language policy: Ideological background
1.3. The modern spread of Spanish: World Spanishes?
1.3.1. Historical background
1.3.2 . Pluricentric languages
1.3.3. The centripetal/centrifugal forces model

CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY

2.1. Discourse analysis study – Press reports
2.1.1. Texts
2.1.2. Instruments of analysis
2.2 . Attitude study: covert attitudes
2.2.1. Participants
2.2.1.1. Speech samples: matched-guise
2.2.1.2. Judges
2.2.2. Instruments
2.2.2.1. Stimuli: speech samples
2.2.2.2. Socio-demographic questionnaire
2.2.2.3. Matched-guise questionnaire
2.2.3. Collection of data
2.3. Attitude study: overt attitudes
2.3.1. Participants
2.3.2. Instruments
2.3.2.1. Structured questionnaire on Spanish varieties
2.3.2.2. Socio-demographic questionnaire
2.3.3. Collection of data
2.4. Linguistic analysis: Spanish in the classroom
2.4.1. Participants
2.4.2 . Instruments: recordings
2.4.3. Collection of data: inside and outside the classroom
2.4.4. Linguistic variables

CHAPTER 3: MACROSOCIOLINGUISTIC ANALYSIS: CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS STUDY

3.1. Critical discourse analysis study
3.2. Press reports: El País headlines
3.3. Socio-political analysis

CHAPTER 4: MACROSOCIOLINGUISTIC ANALYSIS: THE ATTITUDES
TOWARDS THE VARIETIES OF SPANISH

4.1. Matched-guise study of Spanish varieties
4.1.1. Solidarity measures
4.1.2. Evaluation measures
4.1.3. Power measures
4.1.4. Social standing measures
4.1.5. Final analysis
4.2. Overt attitudes study
4.2.1. Preference of Spanish variety
4.2.2 . Final analysis

CHAPTER 5: MICROSOCIOLINGUISTIC ANALYSIS: LINGUISTIC FEATURES

5.1. Dialectal features
5.1.1. Phonological feature: rehilamiento
5.1.2. Phonological feature: /s/
5.1.3. Morphological feature: voseo
5.1.4. Dialectal lexical preferences
5.1.5. Summary
5.2. Language contact features
5.2.1. Phonological interference
5.2.2. Semantic interference
5.2.3. Conclusion

CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION

6.1. Consequences of this study to the teaching of Spanish in Brazil
6.2. Future research in language analysis
6.3. Future research in attitudes towards language varieties and
language planning
6.4. Future research in language policy and planning

REFERENCES
APPENDIX A: Headlines from newspaper El País between 1998-2001
APPENDIX B: Texts and sentences recorded as stimuli
APPENDIX C : Sociodemographic questionnaire for L1 Portuguese speakers
APPENDIX D : Sociodemographic questionnaire for L1 Spanish speakers
APPENDIX E: Structured questionnaire on varieties of Spanish
APPENDIX F: Matched guise survey in Spanish
APPENDIX G : Chi-Square Tests according to mother tongue
AUTHOR'S CURRICULUM VITAE

LIST OF MAPS
1: Map of Brazilian states and neighbouring countries
2: Regions in Brazil

LIST OF TABLES
1: Participants in attitudes survey in Brazil
2: Amount of recorded hours, by context and native language of the teacher.
Total recording hours: 17 hours, 6 participants
3: Solidarity measures for Rioplatense and Northern Spanish stimuli
4: Evaluation measures for Rioplatense and Northern Spanish stimuli
5: Power measures for Rioplatense and Northern Spanish stimuli
6: Education and social class measures for Rioplatense and Northern
Spanish stimuli
7: Preference for one specific variety
8: Percentages of rehilamiento inside and outside of the classroom,
among River Plate Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese native teachers
9: Allophones used in no rehilamiento by native Portuguese and native
Spanish-speaking teachers, inside and outside of the classroom
10: Conservation, aspiration and elision of preconsonantal /s/ by L1
Portuguese speakers and L1 Spanish speakers inside and outside of the
Classroom
11: Forms of address in the Peninsular and Rioplatense dialects
12: Forms of address by L1 Portuguese speakers and L1 Spanish
speakers, inside and outside of the classroom
13: Dialectal preferences by L1 Portuguese speakers and L1 Spanish
speakers, inside and outside of the classroom
14: Contact features by degree of phonological adaptation in the speech,
by L1 Portuguese speakers and L1 Spanish speakers, inside and outside
of the classroom
15: Contact features by type of semantic interference, by L1
Portuguese speakers and L1 Spanish speakers, inside and outside of the
classroom

LIST OF FIGURES
1: The three concentric circles model for English
2: Gravitational model drawn according to Calvet 1999, 2002
3: Gravitational model for the varieties of Spanish
4: Only two concentric circles are proposed for Spanish
5: Solidarity measures for Rioplatense and Northern Spanish stimuli
6: Evaluation measures for Rioplatense and Northern Spanish stimuli
7: Power measures for Rioplatense and Northern Spanish stimuli
8: Education and social class measures for Rioplatense and Northern
Spanish stimuli
9: Four measures by two groups of judges on two stimuli (Riv Pl and N Sp)
10: Preference for one specific variety
11: Percentages of rehilamiento inside and outside of the classroom, among
River Plate Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese native teachers
12: Conservation, aspiration and elision of preconsonantal /s/ by L1 Portuguese
speakers and L1 Spanish speakers inside and outside of the classroom
13: Forms of address, 2nd person plural, by L1 Portuguese speakers and
L1 Spanish speakers inside and outside of the classroom
14: Forms of address, 2nd person singular, by L1 Portuguese speakers
and L1 Spanish speakers inside and outside of the classroom
15: Dialectal preferences by L1 Portuguese speakers and L1 Spanish
speakers inside and outside of the classroom
16: Contact features by degree of phonological adaptation in the
speech, by L1 Portuguese speakers and L1 Spanish speakers, inside and
outside of the classroom
17: Contact features by type of semantic interference, by L1
Portuguese speakers and L1 Spanish speakers, inside and outside of the
classroom

LIST OF CHARTS

1: Evolution of El País headlines regarding the spread of Spanish as a
foreign language in Brazil

8. Correo-e de la autora:
<linghisp at gmail.com>

9. Cómo obtener la tesis:
Comunicándose con la autora.

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