58- Identity: the
building blocks of
2. Literature
and philosophy
3. Art and
architecture
4. Performing
arts
5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
7. Food and drink 8. Living culture:
the details of
Broguish charms: Spanish dialects
Spain shelters a wealth of dialects. Valenciano always stirs
debate: many users insist it’s a distinct language, while
much of the nation deems it a dialect of Catalan. Murcia
(Murciano) and Extremadura (Extremeño) both have their
variants on Castilian, while Andalusia (Andaluz), with its
Moorish twang, does most to mangle the national tongue- they’re famous for shortening any word they can,
dropping letters and syllables at will. Conversely, the best
enunciation of Castilian is apparently found in and around
Valladolid.
Tongue twisting in Latin America
Castilian Spanish found its strongest New World foothold
in areas that maintained strong links with Madrid – in
Mexico, Bolivia and Peru. Where Madrid played less of a
role, most notably in Argentina, the Andalusian dialect had
more of an influence on the region’s Castilian. Of course,
the Latin American versions of Spanish also incorporated
words from indigenous peoples, usually for creatures or
sights that had no Spanish equivalent. Often, these new
additions found common usage back in Spain. Some went
even further: the Guarani wordpira-aña, bequeathed to a
particularly feisty ‘devil fish’ and integrated into Castilian,
has become known the world over.How do the Spanish actually talk?
Any foreigner with a stumbling grasp of Spanish will
confirm that native speakers can talk at alarming speed.
And while subtle regional habits clearly exist (mesetafolk
can be more reticent than Andalusians, for example), it
seems the Spanish are more conversationally comfortable
than northern Europeans once any ice has been broken.
Similarly, they’re more inclined to use expressive hand
gestures and to make sustained eye contact. Interruption
is another accepted part of conversation – taken not as an
affront but as proof of interest in the debate.Catalonia and Galicia
brought to book
Galician was a language
of culture during the
Middle Ages, employed in
literature in Portugal and
Castile as well as its
homeland. Revived as a
cultural tool in Galicia’s
Rexurdimento(resurgence)
in the early 19thcentury, it
was used by the poet
Rosalía de Castro and
writer Manuel Curros
Enríquez. Catalan benefits
from a similarly rich literary
heritage. Poets like Jordi
de Sant Jordi and Ausiàs
March, among the first to
write in Catalan rather than
Occitan, ushered in a 15th
century Golden Age. The
epic knightly tale,Tirant lo
Blanc(1490), written in
Catalan by two Valencians,
is a famous piece from the
period. TheRenaixença
(another resurgence, this
one Catalan) of the early
19 thcentury revived the
tradition, gave it a
Romantic hue and pushed
it out to include art and
theatre. Poet Jacint
Verdaguer, responsible for
the epicL’Atlàntida(1877),
and playwright Àngel
Guimerà were among the
stars. Later, poet Josep
Carner explored Catalan’s
literary potential further,
while Mercè Rodoreda
wrote the most successful
Catalan novel,La plaça del
diamant(1962), on the
anguish of Civil War.