A History of the Spanish Language (review)

Several new features have been added that make this2nd edition of Penny’s work more user-friendly. While the first edition had no maps, six maps have now been included, and many of the illustrations and examples that were set off from the text by indentation and special formatting have been put in tabular form, which enhances their appearance and readability. A list of the maps is provided on p. xi, and one for the tables cover spp. xii–xiv. The list of references (332–40) has been expanded to include approximately forty additional materials with the latest source consulted being from 2001. This reflects the author’s use of contemporary research to strengthen the quality of his work.

Ch. 1, ‘Introduction’, is a brief overview of the external history of Spanish, charting the language from its Indo-European roots through Proto-Romance, to its present-day geographic spread and diversity. The author includes lengthy discussions on the dialectal varieties that have helped to contribute to present-day Spanish (modern Castilian), and on the historical and current relation of Peninsular Spanish to that of Latin America.

Ch. 2, ‘Phonology’, presents an ambitious treatment of some aspects of Spanish historical phonology, taking into consideration processes such as assimilation and dissimilation (34–35), merger (37–38), lenition (74–84), and several others. P treats at length the development and changes of the vowel and consonant systems.

Ch. 3, entitled ‘Morpho-syntax’, takes us through various morphosyntactic processes including case-and gender-marking. The chapter is subdivided more or less on the basis of the traditional word classes (noun, adjective, article, adverb, verb, etc.). The section on verbs is the most extensive and the author takes us through discussions of areas such as voice, aspect, person, and number, and the evolution of the tense and mood system of the language. As the title suggests, the ‘lexis’ is the focus of Ch. 4, and P commences by outlining the various language varieties (Mozarabisms, Amerindianisms, Lusisms, Italianisms, Anglicisms, Gallicisms, Occitanisms, and Catalanisms) that have contributed to Spanish over the centuries. We are also provided with quite an extensive treatment of word-formation processes (prefixation, derivation, and composition).

In Ch. 5, ‘Semantics’, P deals succinctly with the semantic aspects from a paralinguistic angle, looking at the historical, social, and psychological causes of change in meaning over time. The book closes with Ch. 6, the ‘Past, present and future’ of Spanish, which focuses on the external history and the actual state of Spanish.

The addition of a glossary of technical terms (322–28) and a section containing ‘topics for discussion and further reading’ (329–31) brings the work closer to the textbook P promises. The word index (341–90), in addition to the Latin words of the first edition, now includes words with Old and Modern Spanish spellings and Greek and Arabic words.

P’s book has been an invaluable source for students of Spanish since its first appearance, and this edition is more user-friendly than the former. It should continue to provide insights and challenges for Romance linguists, Hispanicists, historical linguists, and others interested in aspects of the grammar of Spanish.