LINGUIST List 10.1514

Wed Oct 13 1999

Disc: The Palatal Plosive in Galician

Editor for this issue: Karen Milligan <karenlinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Xos� L. Regueira, Disc: The "palatal plosive" in Galician

In response to the reply of Joaquim Brand�o de Carvalho (Linguist List
10.1503), I would like to make two remarks:

1) In my original message I wrote "Spanish and Galician have experienced a
phonological change which has led to some non-lateral consonants" as a
fact: a phonological change was done; and I continued: "The origin of this
change is controversial, but the most widely accepted interpretation is
that this change has been induced by the Spanish language in Galician", and
later again "possibly Spanish influence". Prof. Carvalho wrotes: "very
probably due to the strong influence of Castilian in Galiza". There is not
disagreement. 
 
2) I agree too with Carvalho when he says: "it is simply not true that
talking about "Galizan-Portuguese" implies that one 'supports the idea
that the [modern] Galician language is a (rather rural) variety of the
Portuguese language'; it is also well-known that the term
'Galizan-Portuguese' has, mainly, a genetic meaning, and refers to the
linguistic (and cultural) community that existed in Galiza and northern
Portugal during the XII-XIV centuries, so that medieval Portuguese and
Galician literatures can be said to be one. The global rejection of the
term "Galizan-Portuguese" appears, indeed, to be only an ideological
parti-pris". 
I have not said that the use of "Galician-Portuguese" implies this idea,
but that the supporters of this idea use the label Galician-Portuguese for
the current language spoken Galicia (along with Spanish). And I have not
rejected this term, neither as a genetic label nor as a possible common
label for the language varieties currently spoken in Galicia, Portugal,
Brasil, and other former Portuguese colonies.


Xos� L. Regueira
Fgregueiusc.es
Instituto da Lingua Galega
Universidade de Santiago de Compostela