Spanish as a World Language: The Interplay of Globalized Localization and Localized Globalization

¿Nos hacemos un/una selfie con la/el tablet? Cross-Linguistic Lexical Influence, Gender Assignment and Linguistic Policy in Spanish

“…A strong motivation for change is the Spanish-speaking world's continuous contact with English (Niño-Murcia, Godenzzi & Rothman, 2008). Significantly, the United States is now second only to Mexico in terms of the number of native Spanish speakers, even surpassing Spain (Moreno-Fernández & Otero, 2008;Muñoz-Basols, Rodríguez Lifante & Cruz Moya, 2017, for a quantitative perspective on the status of Spanish as an international language; also see Dumitrescu (2013); Muñoz-Basols, Muñoz-Calvo & Suárez García (2014) for recent data on the presence of Spanish in the US).…”

Sociopolitical and institutional conditions for teaching Spanish as a L2 in US universities

“…Based on data gathered from observations and semi-structured interviews with teachers of different professional status, the authors emphasize that Spanish departments often show ideologies similar to those of English-speakers described in previous sections of this article, despite the "anti-hegemonic" practices that could be expected in an academic space where a language other than English is taught and promoted. These ideological positions suggest, for example, an obligatory link between language and nation and favorable attitudes toward the figure of the monolingual Spanish speaker in Spanish-speaking countries -in both cases, in conflict with the numerous bilingual and multilingual situations in these places (see e.g., Godenzzi 2006, Niño-Murcia et al 2008) -, as well as a marked adherence to the linguistic standards established by the Royal Spanish Academy as well as the most recent "Pan-Hispanic" consortium of language academies.…”

Multilingualism and Identity

“…At the linguistic level, the one with which we are concerned here, even if this globalization is favoring the spread of some languages and the disappearance of others, bilingualism (or multilingualism), and not monolingualism, is prevailing all over the world, whether it is offi cially recognized or not (Romaine 2010, p. 26). Conversely, although the process of globalization and contact might most commonly meet with linguistic erosion, erosion itself can have the effect of rejuvenating pride in languages and their revitalization, motivating people to unite in an effort to reclaim their linguistic rights (see, e.g., Niño-Murcia, Godenzzi, & Rothman, 2008). This trend is nicely evidenced in the resurgence of regional languages and their co-offi cial status in Spain where they were outlawed during the Franco regime in the mid-20th century.…”