Pragmalingüística

Review of Méndez Santos, María del Carmen (2024). No me gusta cómo hablas (o más bien no me gustas tú). Crítica de la discriminación lingüística

2025-07-15T16:26:17+00:00

Review of Sampietro, Agnese (2023). Lengua e imagen en la comunicación digital

2023-09-15T21:20:05+00:00

Review of López-Rodríguez, Clara Inés (2023). Localización para lingüistas y traductores

2025-07-15T16:55:23+00:00

Review of Marqueta García, Bárbara and López García, Fernando (coords.) (2024). La divulgación lingüística. Formación, información y desinformación

2025-09-15T11:16:28+00:00

Review of Szlamowicz, Jean (2022). Les moutons de la pensée. Nouveaux conformismes idéologiques

2024-06-27T09:43:15+00:00

Review of Gómez Devís, M.ª Begoña (2024). Léxico disponible de los escolares valencianos. Alcance, control y evolución en educación primaria

2025-06-18T18:59:20+00:00

Linguistics in Cadiz as a scientific field of specialization

2025-09-18T09:32:55+00:00

This paper seeks to show how Linguistics has emerged in Cadiz as a scientific field of strategic specialisation. It begins with the history of the discipline at Cadiz University before the implementation of Linguistics Studies. The work provides an overview of the goals achieved in teaching (e.g., the Bachelor’s Degree in “Linguistics”, the Degree in “Linguistics and Applied Languages”, the Master’s Degree in “Language Sciences and their Applications”, and the Doctorate in “Linguistics”), research, knowledge transfer, and academic management, including the scientific trajectory of Semaínein research group of excellence, and the creation of the research institute in Applied Linguistics (ILA). The academic and institutional achievements of Linguistics as a field of knowledge will also be highlighted, in which the area of General Linguistics at Cadiz University has actively participated through its national coordination.

Quantitative differences and retrieval strategies in the available lexicon of adults

2024-12-19T11:10:44+00:00

This paper explores the causes behind quantitative differences in adults’ performance on lexical availability tasks. To achieve this goal, the production of 144 adult informants divided into three different age groups is analysed. Age-related differences in averages per informant are examined and lexical retrieval strategies are analysed on the basis of two indices: mean cluster size and switches between clusters. Results and statistical analyses align with previous findings showing that age leads to a decrease in the average number of words per informant, which is always significant in contrast with the older group of adults. Furthermore, the association between the informants’ quantitative performance on tests and the aforementioned retrieval strategies is confirmed as well as the influence of age on them. These results are in line with other findings in cognitive psychology.

Language as a peace or war vehicle. Ambivalent metaphorical expressions in the Colombian context

2025-04-22T15:02:31+00:00

This study aimed at providing evidence for the Lakoff and Johnson postulates (1980) regarding the fact that metaphors are part of our conceptual system and, as a result, of our daily life; as well as at bringing evidence about their ambivalence through the analysis of some metaphors used in Colombia and in some Latin-American contexts to refer peace by using warlike expressions. A textual corpus was compiled based on the Colombian newspapers El Tiempo and El Espectador (2018-2020) and a software component was developed to extract possible ambivalent metaphorical expressions from those newspapers. The results showed a relationship between the human conceptual system and the experience of armed conflict when speaking about peacebuilding using metaphorical expressions. Thus, the language used in the Colombian culture is permeated by ambivalent metaphorical expressions referring to warlike language and violence when speaking about peace.

The Tratado de gramática castellana (1867 and 1872) by José Luis Pinto: notes for the history of Chilean pedagogical grammar

2025-01-17T11:37:12+00:00

The development of grammatical ideas in Chile has traditionally been linked to the figure of Bello, who dominates the historiographical canon. However, this hypothesis must be contrasted with the analysis of new sources, such as Pinto's Tratado de gramática castellana, the subject of this article. Our aim, therefore, is to study the intralinguistic and extralinguistic ideology of the text and to evaluate Bello together with other possible sources. The results obtained demonstrate the importance of the implementation of contextual aspects for the interpretation of the data, since it alters structure and theory, as well as the existence of sources used together with Bello's Grammar implicitly by the treatise writer, namely: the Academy and José Antonio Lira.

Nel as a discourse marker of negation in Mexico

2025-03-01T19:47:47+00:00

This paper analyzes the use of the discourse marker nel as a negation throughout the country of Mexico. This particle is only used in that country and in the region of Central America and has been, up to this point, frequently overlooked in the literature, with very few exceptions, therefore there is a general lack of knowledge about its specific usage. Thanks to a survey sent to participants all over the country (N=177), in which they had to evaluate how natural some sentences that included nel were, and write down their own reflections about the word, we now have data about this unique discourse marker and its demographic use. Results show that nel is widely recognized in all regions of the country and by people of different age ranges, and, while it is highly accepted, some speakers mention its use is restricted to specific contexts.

Deepening in the Semantic-Pragmatic Aspects of Substantive Subordinate Clauses of Opinion Verbs with Modal Alternation: A Comparative Study between Spanish and Polish

2025-04-08T07:06:34+00:00

This article analyzes the modal alternation between the subjunctive and the indicative in substantive clauses with opinion verbs, with a comparative focus between the Spanish and Polish languages. Significant differences are identified in modal selection, where Spanish shows greater variability in alternation, influenced by the speaker’s subjectivity and the communicative context. In contrast, Polish tends to use the indicative more uniformly in contexts of certainty. Through concrete examples, the study highlights the semantic-pragmatic implications that guide these choices, suggesting that the use of moods in both languages reflects different approaches to expressing opinions and beliefs. This research, on the one hand, expands knowledge on the issue of moods in both languages, and on the other, offers useful considerations for teaching grammar in the field of Spanish as an additional language.

Sexism against women in linguistic constructions in romance novels. A cognitive, syntactic and semantic constructional analysis

2024-07-12T10:16:31+00:00

This article deals with the analysis of sexism against women in the syntactic-semantic linguistic constructions of Spanish in the domain of romantic relationships in classic and current romance novels. To do this, a case study is carried out comparing a romance novel from each era. The aim is to establish to what extent and in what way language constructions can be used in a sexist manner. The objective is twofold. On the one hand, apply a technique that, through a cognitive analysis of the linguistic form (the syntactic-semantic construction), can evaluate the sexist use of language. On the other hand, compare the sexist uses in constructions of the classic and current romance novel in the cases analyzed. The results of the analysis show the usefulness and limits of the technique used and that in the constructional field there is sexism against women in both the classic and current romance novels.

From the megastructure to the mediostructure: the theory of lexicographic functions applied to sociological dictionaries

2025-05-07T09:48:53+00:00

This interdisciplinary research draws on both lexicographic theory and sociological theory. Sociological dictionaries have been little researched, despite their usefulness for students and practitioners of sociology as well as for translation professionals. Based on the theory of lexicographical functions, developed by members of the Aarhus School of Lexicography, we have studied structural aspects, such as megastructure, macrostructure and mediostructure, of eleven dictionaries located in the catalogues of the CSIC, the University of Cordoba and the National Library of Spain. The data obtained suggest that the structural features are confusing and heterogeneous, thus proving to be an obstacle to the use of the resource by the user. This suggests that the absence of lexicography professionals in the elaboration of dictionaries specialised in sociology has negative consequences for the user, who may not be able to solve his query.

The analysis, carried out from the perspective of the theory of lexicographic functions, has focused on the structural aspects of dictionaries, where the megastructure, the macrostructure and the midstructure of the entries have been considered. By doing so, it has been possible to conclude that the absence of professional lexicographers has a series of consequences for the user, who is confronted with structures which are not very intuitive, and which may not resolve his or her specific queries.

Echo questions in oral discourse: pragmatic and discursive functions

2025-05-10T10:22:39+00:00

Echo questions are used in oral discourse with different functions depending on the speaker’s purpose when uttering them. In this paper, the functions of interrogative allorepetitions, those that repeat the words of another speaker, are analysed from a pragmatic and discursive perspective. For this aim, we will analyse qualitatively the data extracted from three corpora: PRESEEA-Palma, GHECEM, and COJEM, which cover the variety of Spanish spoken in Majorca. Furthermore, we will check whether the different types of interactions in which echo questions are used have a significant influence on the function with which they are used. The results show that these questions are mainly used with six functions and that there is variation on their use according to the characteristics of the communicative situation in which they appear.

Legibility / readability in transcribed oral speech samples. A case study of pragmatic competence in people with trisomy 21

2025-03-17T08:09:02+00:00

The research deals with pragmatic competence in a neurodevelopmental disorder. Specifically, readability/readability in transcribed oral speech samples of people with trisomy 21, also called Down’s syndrome. The Python 3 programming language is used to handle the collected and transcribed data, with a view to analysing and extracting reliable objective results. When working with transcribed samples of oral discourse, secondary orality is of interest. The aim of the research is, on the one hand, to trace the verbal fluency of oral discourse in the transcribed samples analysed and, on the other hand, to map its pragmalinguistic characteristics in the context of the dual role of readability/readability. After the formal analysis of the corpus separately and in aggregate, the results are presented and discussed with regard to the quantitative variables applied to readability and conclusions are drawn with regard to the qualitative factors applied to readability.

Interactional meaning as an internal criterion in the classification of linguistic structures conveying the same type of speech act

2025-01-25T12:49:10+00:00

Spanish speakers have at their disposal different linguistic structures to carry out the same type of speech act. In this contribution, our hypothesis is that it is possible to classify the structures conveying the same illocutionary force thanks to the concept of degree of force. These structures carry the same transactional meaning, but their degree of force varies according to their differences in interactional meaning (Geis, 1995). We present a proposal for a taxonomy of the linguistic structures linked to the communicative function of asking for help in the Cervantes Institute's Curriculum Plan, using the interactional meaning they carry as an internal classification criterion. The aim of this proposal is to illustrate the possibility of explaining what they are used for and what is the communicative nuance that makes them not interchangeable in communication.

Distribution and functions of the interactive discourse marker ¿no? in PRESEEA corpora from Mexico

2025-01-25T13:04:44+00:00

The aim of this paper is to study the distribution of the Spanish discourse marker ¿no? in the five PRESEEA corpora from Mexico (Mexico City, Guadalajara, Mexicali, Monterrey and Puebla). Specifically, we aim to provide with a twofold approximation to data. First, a quantitative study on the distribution on the discourse marker by each city and discursive role (informant and interviewer) is carried out. Second, a qualitative study is performed, in which the functions of ¿no? are annotated and the distribution of these functions is studied. The quantitative results show differences in the frequency of use of ¿no? between the cities and also between discursive roles. The qualitative results reveal that informants and interviewers use ¿no? with distinct functional patterns in all five Mexican cities.