Introducción a la historia de la lengua española by Melvyn C. Resnick and Robert M. Hammond (review)

In this second edition of the original 1981 publication, of which Resnick was sole author, Resnick and Hammond have not only revamped the content but also added depth and quality to an already highly used and effective text, specifically an introductory textbook designed for graduate students (xvii). As such, the text presents rich information on settlement histories, foraneous derivations of lexical items, and non-Latinate influences from before, during, and after the Roman occupation of the Iberian Peninsula. A formidable volume by weight, the materials within are accessible and clearly written, and they incite ripe discussions between teacher and students.

As entry into the historical realm, the authors begin with a typical, and appropriate, explanation of Spanish and its place in the world of languages. On the very first page, they refer to a little-known vernacular, llanito, a colloquial term for a person or thing from Gibraltar; seldom do historical accounts of Spanish concern themselves with languages of commingled elements, unless the modality has some connection with another linguistic trait. Often such varieties are derided as illicit, corrupted, unacceptable, or otherwise unappreciated forms of linguistic hodgepodge, yet the authors emphasize that minor variety of the language on page 1. The significance of this fact lies in what it portends: the book will deal fairly and completely with all varieties of Spanish and the language’s many nuances and vagaries and its richness through the course of its history, which is exactly what the text does. Even as the book winds through oft-repeated historical elements, there exists no pretense to preach to students, to expect that they will already know these facts, or to assume information is common knowledge of little importance to the intended population, graduate students in Spanish.

The maps and tables—hallmarks of this text—are inserted directly into the areas where they are needed, as opposed to a more traditional location in the back of the book as appendices. Such placement encourages students to engage the materials immediately and reinforces the history being described therein. Scattered throughout the text, shaded charts often serve as exercises for improving comprehension with concrete and well-chosen examples (e.g., vocal changes, Latin roots, consonant shifts, and verb tenses). In fact, the book’s most effective part revolves around the exercises, both within the chapters and at the very end of each one. The authors’ experience teaching history of the Spanish language is obvious in that they have an unobstructed view and controlled understanding of every aspect of student learning goals, and, even more important, of what students need to know for successful completion of the course.

The text offers a plethora of choice tidbits of useful and indispensable information at every turn. For example, the discussion of external influences on Spanish provides individual paragraphs on Basque, Celtic, Germanic, and other groups. The phonological-change sections provide, as mentioned above, shaded boxes for quick review or for immediately enhanced learning tools. The sections on personal pronouns draw particular attention because the authors, in their wisdom, assure that students grasp the concepts of grammatical cases and their evolution to the modern Spanish pronoun system, in which cases are vestigially marked (e.g., first person in yo, mi, mí, mío, me).

Resnick and Hammond have intercalated vital chapters on linguistic variation among the many modalities of modern Spanish. In each case, they discuss lexical differences, origins of American Spanish, sound fluctuations ([s] vs. [θ] is the primordial example), foreign influences and adaptations, syntactic distinctions, and many other devices. Especially fascinating is the ever-engaging issue of lexical variation, to which the authors devote approximately 10 pages. Not to be ignored is a section of “prohibited vocabulary or vocabulary to be avoided,” which included subsections on taboo, euphemism and dysphemism, and “bad” words.

The extensive bibliography, consisting of 82 pages, pays homage not only to...