Elena Méndez Gª. de Paredes, University of Seville, Spain
Carla Amorós Negre, University of Salamanca, Spain

The status of Andalusian and pluricentric Spanish. Convergence-divergence with regard to the Peninsular standard

Keywords:  pluricentric Spanish, Andalusian variety, Peninsular standard, language attitudes.

Attitudes towards the Andalusian variety are contradictory and ideologically variable. Outside Andalusia, it is associated to popular social stereotypes; within its borders, the dignifying of its functional status is being fostered: there are attempts to standardize a type of pronunciation to guide language teaching and the professional work of the media. With regard to this, in support of the Andalusian linguistic continuum, attention should be drawn to the recent creation, alongside the national prescriptive model, of two language patterns or models with different standings. These models, when superimposed to the Andalusian vernacular, “split it” into two speech communities involving the application of different correction standards to Andalusian language use. The birthplace of one of the models is Seville (extending its scope to Jerez, Cádiz and Huelva), while the other tends towards the Peninsular standard with its area of influence in central and eastern Andalusia (Jaén, Córdoba, Málaga, Granada and Almería), although it goes beyond regional borders (Extremadura, Castile La Mancha and Murcia). In spite of this division, however, it is reasonable to claim that the functional status of Andalusian is currently undergoing a process of variable adaptation of the different features of pronunciation in relation to certain situational parameters that are inherent to discursive construction, as is suggested by the current theoretical framework of the language variational chain.