El cambio lingüístico en Herrera de Alcántara y Cedillo: representaciones y actitudes acerca del español local y de la situación sociolingüística [Language Shift in Herrera de Alcántara and Cedillo: Representations and Attitudes Towards Local Spanish and the Sociolinguistic Situation]

Ossenkop, Christina

Abstract

In this paper we will address the issue of linguistic change in the Spanish-Portuguese border area of Cedillo and Herrera de Alcántara. We will discuss the impact of speakers’ linguistic representations and attitudes on this change, focusing especially on their judgements about the local Spanish variety and the sociolinguistic situation in the two villages. In doing so, we will complete the results of a previous study, in which we analysed representations and attitudes towards local Portuguese. Our aim is to find out more precisely how linguistic representations and attitudes influence the selection processes that affect the social use of both languages and thus contribute to the progressive abandonment of Portuguese in this border area.