Peruvian Amazonian Spanish: linguistic variation, social meaning and identities

Authors

  • Ileana Margarita Jara Yupanqui University of Nevada, Las Vegas Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/sols.v6i3.445

Keywords:

indexicalities, linguistic ideologies, Amazonian Spanish, enregisterment

Abstract

Metalinguistic and metapragmatic comments are resources used to understand linguistic ideologies that underlie, shape and are shaped by language use and other social practices. These linguistic ideologies are crucial to understanding linguistic change and how identities are performed. This work is an exploration of the process of enregisterment and the way in which this process is perceived by educated participants from Iquitos (Peru). In the present study, I examine the sociolinguistic history of this region, adopting Silverstein’s notion of orders of indexicalities. First, I offer a brief historical background about the region and a review of the linguistic features that characterize the Spanish of Loreto. Then, I discuss the theoretical framework that guides the present study, and I provide a description of the data, the instruments of data collection and the data-collection process. Afterwards, I discuss respectively the reported role of others in the formation of present attitudes and the participants’ own attitudes towards their own variety. In the final section, I contextualize the findings in terms of Siverstein’s order of indexicalities and discuss the limitations of the study.

Author Biography

  • Ileana Margarita Jara Yupanqui, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
    Margarita Jara Yupanqui is Assistant Professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Dr. Jara obtained a B.A. in Hispanic Languages and Literatures in the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. She received her master’s degree (2003) and doctorate (2006) in Hispanic Linguistics from the University of Pittsburgh. Her dissertation was on the use of the preterit and the present perfect in the Spanish of Lima. Her research interest is focused on the areas of Latin American dialectology and sociolinguistics, linguistic variation and language ideologies. Her recent work has been published in Signo & Seña, Spanish in Context, Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics and Revista Internacional de Linguística Ibeoramericana.

Published

2013-08-03

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Jara Yupanqui, I. M. (2013). Peruvian Amazonian Spanish: linguistic variation, social meaning and identities. Sociolinguistic Studies, 6(3), 445-469. https://doi.org/10.1558/sols.v6i3.445