HOLA!

I love that we've got linguistic conversation! that's definitely my area of interest. This year I took a course about the history of the language, and I have some great references for all you aspiring linguists out there, or for anyone who's curious.

My fave is Ralph Penny, I've used 2 of his books in 2 different classes, and they are VERY useful. Both have great appendices if you're searching for the evolution of specific sounds or words, etc. Here's the one about history of the language (and there is a version española as well)

'A History of the Spanish Language' by Ralph Penny, 1991

there's also a great one by Paul Lloyd, but I found it a little harder to follow than Penny.

'From Latin to Spanish', 1987. it's also a great reference, and has a version española.

then, the mother of all : COROMINAS. This is an etymological diccionary, and has the history and evolution of a bizillion words. I used this for several papers, it's amazing. there's also a brief version.

'Diccionario etimologico castellano e hispanico', by Joan Corominas, 1980. this book is incredible! but it's not just a book, it's volumes of books.

I would totally recommend taking a history of the language class to anyone who is interested in Linguistics. you will learn more than you can ever imagine! I had a great Prof at PSU.

I love that people are pumped about linguistics!
take care!

HOLA!

I love that we've got linguistic conversation! that's definitely my area of interest. This year I took a course about the history of the language, and I have some great references for all you aspiring linguists out there, or for anyone who's curious.

My fave is Ralph Penny, I've used 2 of his books in 2 different classes, and they are VERY useful. Both have great appendices if you're searching for the evolution of specific sounds or words, etc. Here's the one about history of the language (and there is a version española as well)

'A History of the Spanish Language' by Ralph Penny, 1991

there's also a great one by Paul Lloyd, but I found it a little harder to follow than Penny.

'From Latin to Spanish', 1987. it's also a great reference, and has a version española.

then, the mother of all : COROMINAS. This is an etymological diccionary, and has the history and evolution of a bizillion words. I used this for several papers, it's amazing. there's also a brief version.

'Diccionario etimologico castellano e hispanico', by Joan Corominas, 1980. this book is incredible! but it's not just a book, it's volumes of books.

I would totally recommend taking a history of the language class to anyone who is interested in Linguistics. you will learn more than you can ever imagine! I had a great Prof at PSU.

I love that people are pumped about linguistics!
take care!

...and I'm pumped about someone who is so excited the "enter" key gets hit three times! I haven't seen that much excitement over linguistics since Noam Chomsky and his pet ape Nim Chimpsky!

I hate to insert an Iowa joke here, being from Minnesota and all...

Thank you thank you thank you for the information!

CaliBasco [Who enjoys ribbing a neighbor to the south whenever possible...]

Thx Cali

I'm not a linguist, and I may be wrong, after all, all what I know about the history of the spanish language I learnt in the school...

Fernando

Here's an interesting twist. The Old Spanish (cedilla) "ç" and the Old Spanish "z", were pronounced as ,(ts)=ç, and (dz)=z. These stops became confused over the centuries and eventually changed into the Modern Spanish lisp that some of us here use when speaking Spanish.

Here are the examples of pronounciation. I'll organize the examples shown below, so you'd all can have a more clearer understanding of how certain Old Spanish words were pronounced in the past. (For those who aren't linguistically inclined. )

Palatal Voiceless Stops (ts)

[OS]Coraçon: (Cor-at-son)
[OS]Consolaçion: (Con-so-lat-sion)

Palatal Voiced Stops (dz)

[OS]Lazrar: (Lad-z-rar)
[OS]Vazio: (Vad-zio)

There goes my two cents... :p

I swear I didn't mean to make my reply post 3 times!!!!!!!!!!

sorry to take up space, jajaja!

That's what they all say...and we believe you too! :p

I was rereading this great thread and thought I might add a nice link in Spanish about the history of the language, Camino de la lengua . Just as Fernando has written this page suggests that "se habla castellano en su estado más puro" in Valladolid. I am biased, but I would have to recommmend to any student of the language that they consider the capital of Castilla y León as a destination.

Agua from latin Aqua, (not from arabic)

El árabe no ha sido una lengua de substrato con respecto al castellano sino que básicamente influyó en el léxico [2200 palabras] ; en el sufijo -í para formar adjetivos y gentilicios ; marroquí , andalusí ... y en la pronunciación de la S- inicial latina en J-.

Succus > Xugo > Jugo

En cuanto a los artículos el la todas las fuentes que he consultado los hacen proceder del latín "ille" "illa"

Castellano el/la/al (a + el)

Francés le/la/au (a + le)

Italiano il/la/al (a + il)

Portugués o/a/ao (a + o)

Tampoco voy a entrar ahora de donde viene el latín.

Hasta Luego