GENERAL LINGUISTIC ISSUES IN B. DE ALDRETE’S TREATISE ON THE ORIGINS OF SPANISH (1616): FROM THE HISTORY OF LINGUISTIC THOUGHT
DOI: 10.23951/1609-624X-2020-5-133-141
Introduction. The present paper introduces Russian historians of linguistics to a little-known treatise on the history of Spanish – “Del origen y principio de la lengua castellana o romance que oi se usa en España” (1606) by Bernardo de Aldrete. Aim and objectives. The aim of the present study is to analyse B. De Aldrete’s treatise and specify how certain notions of general linguistics, crucial for its present state of development, were being developed. Material and methods. The study is based on a print edition of Aldrete’s treatise (about 400-pages long). The methods employed are: critical analysis of the text as an example of Renaissance linguistic thought and sociocultural analysis of the historical context the treatise was written in. This XVII-century scientific text and its system of terms are interpreted with the help of modern terminology, as normally done by linguistic historiography scholars. Results and discussion. The analysis of Aldrete’s treatise as a specimen of Spanish linguistic thought is performed against the background of the earlier linguistic tradition and the sociocultural situation in the Golden-Age Spain. XVI–XVII-century Pyrenees linguistics – Spanish in particular – was developing in a very specific sociocultural milieu, which preconditioned its inter-paradigmatic nature and an extremely wide scope of objects and themes discussed. The paper mainly focuses on how Aldrete dealt with general linguistic issues in his treatise on the history of Spanish. The analysis shows that such issues include: ways of naming language; functions of language; diversity of forms of speech; correlations between language system and speech; historicity of language; language contacts; diatopic (territorial), diastratic (social) and diaphasic (functional) variation of language; distinguishing between dialects and languages; the domineering role of standard language. Conclusion. The author of the XVII-century historical-linguistic treatise under analysis does not limit himself to studying purely historical aspects of language. The work by Aldrete embraces a wide range of issues of general linguistics, which shows that as early as in the pre-Port-Royal period linguists were already discussing the concepts and principles that are crucial for modern linguistic science.
Keywords: linguistic historiography, history of Romance linguistics, general linguistics, functions of language, language variation
References:
1. Aldrete B. J. de. Del origen y principio de la lengua castellana o romance que oi se usa en España. Por el doctor Bernardo Aldrete. Rome: By Carlo Wilietto, 1606. 371 p. (25p.).
2. Bahner W. La lingüística española del Siglo de Oro. Madrid, Editorial Ciencia Nueva, 1966. 202 p.
3. Kukenheim L. Contributions a l’histoire de la grammaire italienne, espagnole et francaise a l’epoque de la Renaissance (Romance reprints). Amsterdam, Antwerpen De Vries, 1932. 232 p.
4. Swiggers P. Les études linguisiques romanes des origines jusques’au début du XIXe siècle: les “prémices” de la romanistique. In: Manuals of Romance linguistics. Manuel des langues romanes. Éd. Par Andre Klump, Johannes Kramer et Aline Willems. Berlin, de Gruyter, 2014. Pp. 13–42.
5. Zholudeva L. I. Spor o nazvanii yazyka v lingvisticheskikh trudakh Chinkvechento kak otrazheniye problem formirovaniya ital’yanskoy identichnosti [The controversy on language name in the XVI-century linguistic treatises as a reflection of Italian identity development problems]. Drevnyaya i Novaya Romaniya, 2013, vol. 12 (2), pp. 36–48 (in Russian).
6. Kosarik M. A. Sotsiolingvisticheskaya problematika v rannikh portugal’skikh sochineniyakh o yazyke. V ramkakh proyekta “Lingvisticheskaya doktrina Portugalii XVI–XVII vekov: Teoriya i praktika opisaniya yazyka”. 2-e izd. , ispr. i dop. [Sociolinguistic problems in early Portuguese linguistic treatises. In the framework of the project “XVI–XVII Portuguese linguistic thought. Theory and practice of language description”]. Мoscow, LENAND Publ., 2018. 232 p. (in Russian).
7. Mikhaylova E. N. Grammaticheskaya traditsiya frantsuzskogo Vozrozhdeniya: klass imen. Dis. dokt. filol. nauk [Grammatical tradition of French Renaissance: the nominal class. Diss. doct. of philol. sci.]. Saint-Petersburg, 2000. 291 p. (in Russian).
8. Rayevskaya M. M. Ispanskoye yazykovoye soznaniye Zolotogo veka (XVI–XVII vv.) [Spanish language consciousness of the Golden Age (XVI–XVII cc.)]. Moscow, KomKniga Publ., 2006. 304 p. (in Russian).
9. Grinina E. A. Ranniye provansal’skiye grammaticheskiye traktaty [Early Provençal grammar treatises]. In: Formirovaniye romanskikh literaturnykh yazykov. Provansal’skiy-oksitanskiy [Formation of Romance literary languages. Provençal-Occitan]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1991. Pp. 117–161 (in Russian).
10. Stepanova L. G. Ital’yanskaya lingvisticheskaya mysl’ XIV–XVI v. (ot Dante do pozdnego Vozrozhdeniya) [Italian linguistic thought: XIV–XVI cc. (from Dante to late Renaissance)]. Saint-Petersburg, RKhGI Publ., 2000. 504 p. (in Russian).
11. Chernyak A. B. Ot Juka Faydita do Koseriu: ocherki istorii romanskoy filologii [From Uk Faidit to Coseriu. Essays on the history of Romance philology]. Saint-Petersburg, ILS RAS Publ., 2018. 260 p. (in Russian).
12. Zwartjes O. The Historiography of Missionary Linguistics. Present state and further research opportunities. Historiographia Linguistica XXXIX, 2/3: John Benjamins Publishing, 2012. Pp. 185–242.
13. Kossarik M. Amplificação dos fins da descrição da língua como fator da evolução do cânone gramatical (do cânone único à diversificação de tipos da descrição gramatical – obras portuguesas dos séculos XVI e XVII). In: Antonelli R., Glessgen M., Videsott P. (eds.). Atti del XXVIII Congresso internazionale di linguistica e filologia romanza (Roma, 18–23 luglio 2016). Vol. 2. Strasbourg: Éditions de linguistique et de philologie, 2018. Pp. 1672–1682.
14. Kossarik M. A obra de Amaro de Roboredo. Questões de historiografia linguística portuguesa In: Roboredo A. de. Methodo, de Marina A. Kossarik (ed.). Grammatical para todas as Linguas. Lisboa, Imprensa nacional – Casa da Moeda, 2002. Pp. 7–63.
15. Kosarik M. A. Opisaniye yazykovoy sistemy v rannikh lingvisticheskikh pamyatnikakh Portugalii. Tom I. Fonetika. Morfemika. Morfologiya imennykh chastey rechi [Description of language system in early Portuguese linguistic treatises. Vol. I. Phonetics. Morphemics. Morphology of nominal parts of speech]. Moscow, MAKS Press Publ., 2013. 228 p. (in Russian).
16. Kosarik M. K probleme traditsii i innovatsii v istorii yazykoznaniya. Renessansnaya i sovremennaya lingvisticheskiye paradigmy – svyaz’ epokh [On the problem of tradition and innovation in the history of linguistic studies. Renaissance and contemporary linguistic paradigms: two epocs’ bondage]. Vestnik MGU. Seriya 9. Filologiya – Moscow State Universiy Bulletin. Series 9. Philology, 1995, no. 5, pp. 104–116 (in Russian).
17. Kossarik M. Early Portuguese treatises and the case of scientific paradigms. Interparadigmatic periods and the two hyperparadigms in linguistic history. Tradition and Innovation in the History of Linguistics: Contributions from the 13th International Conference on the History of the Language Sciences (ICHoLS XIII), Vila Real, 25–29 August 2014. Ed. by Carlos Assunção, Gonçalo Fernandes & R. Kemmler. Mü nster, Nodus Publikationen, 2016. Pp. 176–185.
18. Kossarik M. Concepciones pre-coserianas en los monumentos lingüísticos portugueses de los siglos XVI y XVII. In: Stehl Th., Hassler G., eds. Processes-Kompetenz-Funktion-Variation: Linguistica Coseriana V. Frankfurt am Main, Peter Lang GmbH, 2017. Pp. 351–367. DOI https://doi.org/10.3726/b11258
19. Kosarik M. La linguística ibérica en los siglos XVI–XVII y el contexto cultural de la época. Actas de la II Conferencia de hispanistas de Rusia. Moscú. 19–23 abril 1999. Madrid, Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores, 2000. URL: www.hispanismo.cervantes.es/documentos/kosarik.pdf
20. Kossarik M. Problemática lexicológica em gramáticas, tratados e diálogos da língua dos séculos XVI e XVII. Confluência. Revista do Instituto da Língua Portuguesa, 2018, no. 55, pp. 246–283. DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.18364/rc.v1i55.254
21. Beck E. S. Historiographical Approaches to Iberian Multiculturalism and Castilian Imperialism during the Siglo de Oro. eHumanista: Journal of Iberian Studies, 2013, no. 24, pp. 479–490.
22. Bezzi M. Th. Língua portuguesa na África e na Ásia a partir do corpus pedagógico-catequético de João de Barros. XXVII Simpósio Nacional de História. Conhecimento histórico e diálogo social. ANPUH, 2013. Pp. 1–12. URL: http://www.snh2013.anpuh.org/resources/anais/27/1375466829_ARQUIVO_SNH2013-MarinaThomeBezzi-Trabalhocompleto_12-07-2013_.pdf (Accessed 25 May 2020).
23. Binotti L. La teoría del “Castellano Primitivo”: nacionalismo y reflexión lingüística en el Renacimiento español. Mü nster: Nodus, 1995. 186 p.
24. Góngora E. M. Aldrete, el castellano y el latín: cruces de polémicas. e-Spania. Revue interdisciplinaire d’études hispaniques médiévales et modernes – e-Spania. Interdisciplinary journal of Hispanic medieval and modern studies, 2019, no. 32, pp. 1–26.
25. Gauger H. M. La conciencia lingüística en el Siglo de Oro. Actas del IX Congreso de la Asociación Internacional de Hispanistas, 1989, vol. 1, pp. 45–64. URL: https://cvc.cervantes.es/Literatura/aih/pdf/09/aih_09_1_006.pdf (Accessed 20 July 2020).
26. Molina Redondo J. A. de. Ideas linguisticas de Bernardo de Aldrete (The Linguistic Ideas of Bernardo de Aldrete). Revista de Filología Española, 1968, no. 51, pp. 183–207.
27. Ward M. T. Bernardo de Aldrete and Celso Cittadini: shared sophistication. Renaissance linguistic investigation. Hispanic Review, 1993, no. 61, fasc. 1, pp. 65–85.
28. Woolard K. A. Bernardo de Aldrete and the Morisco problem: A study in early modern Spanish language ideology. Comparative studies in society and history, 2002, no. 44(3), pp. 446–480.
29. Kossarik M. Universalização de conceitos linguísticos como etapa da consolidação da ciência – contribuição dos filólogos portugueses. Confluência. Revista do Instituto da Língua Portuguesa, 2015, no. 49, pp. 162–200. DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.18364/rc.v1i49.97
( 443.55 kB ) 
( 435.6 kB )
Issue: 5, 2020
Series of issue: Issue 5
Rubric: TOPICAL ISSUES OF MODERN LINGUISTICS
Pages: 133 — 141
Downloads: 680