Spanish as a heritage language in Europe: a demolinguistic perspective

Autor: Loureda Lamas Óscar, Moreno-Fernández Francisco, Álvarez Mella Héctor
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2023
Předmět:
Zdroj: Journal of World Languages, Vol 9, Iss 1, Pp 27-46 (2023)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 2169-8260
DOI: 10.1515/jwl-2022-0059
Popis: This paper offers an estimation of the number of Spanish speakers in Europe in order to analyze the demographic dynamics according to their migratory backgrounds. This demolinguistic approach allows us to quantify this group of Spanish heritage speakers and outline their demographic and linguistic profiles. Through analyzing specific family, social, educational, and geographic settings, this paper identifies a heterogeneous group of 1.7 million Spanish heritage speakers. Moreover, we discuss the social dynamics involved in the intergenerational transmission of the Spanish language in different contexts: spaces in which Spanish is an official language and in which different geographic varieties coexist, and spaces beyond the national borders of predominantly Spanish-speaking countries. In the latter, the demolinguistic analysis suggests that barely a third have been linguistically socialized in environments favorable to the intergenerational transmission of the Spanish language.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals