This is the thirty-first volume in the Blackwell series “Handbooks in Linguistics.” It is currently the first of two handbooks in the collection entirely devoted to the Spanish language (the second one is The handbook of Hispanic linguistics, edited by Jose Ignacio Hualde, Antxon Olarrea, and Erin O'Rourke, Wiley-Blackwell, 2012). Aimed at students and researchers alike, The handbook of Hispanic sociolinguistics offers a comprehensive overview of the field, including articles that revisit some of the most researched areas in Hispanic sociolinguistics and put forward some of the latest advances in the discipline.
The volume stands out for its pan-Hispanic approach. With a total of thirty-five chapters, the Handbook comprises six sections. Section 1, “Phonological variation,” includes research on the internal and external factors involved in linguistic variation as well as articles on the sociophonetics of the Hispanic domain. Current trends in laboratory approaches to the study of phonetic variation and change are also surveyed. Section 2 deals with a thriving subfield that is yet to be thoroughly explored “Morphosyntactic variation.” It includes chapters on the internal and external factors conditioning such variation as well as diachronic linguistic change by means of grammaticalization. Research on the morphosyntactic variation phenomena that characterize the Spanish-speaking realm is also considered.
Section 3, “Language, the individual, and the society,” addresses some essential questions in sociolinguistic research. It examines sociolinguistic variables such as age and gender, tackles the complexity of Spanish forms of address, and dedicates a chapter to historical sociolinguistics. Language contact phenomena with languages such as Catalan, Guaraní, and Quechua are contemplated in Section 4, “Spanish in contact.” It focuses on specific features of varieties in contact (e.g. code-switching, linguistic interferences) and explores sociolinguistic attitudes and prestige issues, leaving some room to delve into the language policies of some of the regions under consideration. Despite the section's breadth, however, some fundamental topics such as language contact along the Brazilian Portuguese- and Spanish-speaking borderlands are not addressed.
The growing amount of research on Spanish in the United States creates the need to include Section 5, “Spanish in the United States, heritage language, L2 Spanish.” This part presents the reader with essential aspects of Spanish in the North American nation. Specific linguistic variables (e.g. discourse markers in bilingual speech) are examined, but also issues such as identity, power relations, code-switching, linguistic accommodation, and the perception of Spanish in the United States. Finally, Section 6, “Language policy/planning, language attitudes and ideology,” provides an overview of Spanish language planning (assessing, for instance, the roles played by indigenous languages in Latin America) and the configuration of a linguistic identity (e.g. through the role of nonstandard varieties of Spanish in Spain). The globalization of Spanish, language attitudes, and linguistic imperialism are also addressed here.
In conclusion, this is a state-of-the art and informative book that tackles many of the pivotal issues in theoretical and experimental Hispanic sociolinguistics. It features internationally renowned contributors from around the world, providing a broad view and new insights into this complex and dynamic field. Its pan-Hispanic approach—together with its breadth and novelty—make the volume an indispensable reference book for both students and researchers.
