The Story of Spanish

Jean-Benoît Nadeau, Julie Barlow

• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Year: 2024
• eBook ISBN: 9781250023162
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: European History
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

A rich linguistic history of the Spanish language and its progress around the globe, from the authors of The Story of French , who "do an excellent job of transforming it into an accessible and lively narrative" ( Los Angeles Times ).

Just how did a dialect spoken by a handful of shepherds in Northern Spain become the world's second most spoken language, the official language of twenty-one countries on two continents, and the unofficial second language of the United States? Jean-Benoît Nadeau and Julie Barlow, the husband-and-wife team who chronicled the history of the French language in The Story of French, now look at the roots and spread of modern Spanish.

The story starts when the ancient Phoenicians set their sights on "The Land of the Rabbits," Spain's original name, which the Romans pronounced as Hispania. The Spanish language would pick up bits of Germanic culture, a lot of Arabic, and even some French on its way to taking modern form. Through characters like Queen Isabella, Christopher Columbus, Cervantes, and Goya, The Story of Spanish shows how Spain's Golden Age, the Mexican Miracle, and the Latin American Boom shaped the destiny of the language. It explains how the United States developed its Hispanic personality from the time of the Spanish conquistadors to Latin American immigration, and also shows how fundamentally Spanish many American cultural artifacts, like the dollar sign, actually are. The Story of Spanish is the passionate and intriguing chronicle of a vibrant language that thrived conquests and setbacks to become the tongue of hundreds of millions of people throughout the world.

"Part linguistic primer, part cultural history, The Story of Spanish zips along crisply." ? Wall Street Journal

"Nadeau and Barlow once again present a thoroughly researched linguistic history. The authors cover more than 2,000 years in concise chapters with clever headings. Part anthropological study, part travelogue, this volume is an entirely compelling compendium." — Booklist

"An engaging mix of travel, personal anecdotes, and extensive research." — Shelf Awareness

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Notice
• Acknowledgments
• Contents
• A Guide to Spanish Pronunciation
• Spain Today
• La Reconquista (814)
• La Reconquista (1210)
• Latin America Today
• U.S. Minority Population by County (2010)
• U.S. Minority Population Change by County (2000–2010)
• Introduction
• 1. The Land of the Rabbits
• 2. Vulgar Language
• 3. Waiting for the Godos
• 4. Almost Arabic
• 5. The Curious Case of Castilian
• 6. The Kings’ Speech
• 7. The Prince of Language Buffs
• 8. The World According to Portugal
• 9. Fourteen Ninety-two
• 10. New Turf
• 11. The Accidental Grammarian
• 12. A Loss for Words
• 13. The Canary Effect
• 14. The Missionary Position
• 15. Moving Norte
• 16. Golden Age
• 17. Sunset on Spanish
• 18. The Bourbon Identity
• 19. The Secret Lives of Language Academies
• 20. Riding the Tiger
• 21. Standard Shift
• 22. Enter the United States
• 23. The Spanish Renaissance
• 24. The Latin Rage
• 25. Learning Curve
• 26. The Franco Years
• 27. The Secret Agent of the Boom
• 28. From Ketchup to Salsa
• 29. I Say Spanglish, You Say Spanish
• 30. Spanish Dollars
• 31. The Department of Urgent Spanish
• 32. The Language of the Cervantes
• 33. Traces of the Future
• Spanish Speakers by Country
• Spanish Speakers, Other Countries
• Learners of Spanish as a Foreign Language
• Influence of Language by Absolute Numbers
• Influence of Spanish by Rank
• Hispanic Nobel Prizes by Country
• Select Bibliography
• Index
• Also by Jean-Benoît Nadeau and Julie Barlow
• About the Authors
• Copyright