Remarks on Politics and Language(s) Concerning Alphonso X «the Wise»

Authors

  • Carlos Folgar University of Santiago de Compostela

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4312/vh.24.1.17-36

Keywords:

Alphonso X «the Wise», nationalism, Hispanic kingdoms, apocope, Castilian language, Galician-Portuguese language, poetry

Abstract

According to some philologists, certain linguistic behaviours adopted by the king Alphonso X the Wise in his use of the Castilian language were due to his Castilian nationalism. Nevertheless, our view is quite different. On the one hand, we accept the existence of the Castilian monarch’s political nationalism, which is manifest in his various expansionist ambitions (North Africa, Portuguese Algarve, Navarre, Germanic Empire…). But, on the other hand, we find no evidence of political nationalist ideology in the linguistic domain. In order to deny the king’s linguistic nationalism, the best way, in our opinion, is to remember his positive assessment of the Galician Portuguese language, which he made use of for writing his poetic work, particularly the Cantigas de Santa Maria. In this respect, this text becomes very important and very meaningful, not only in literary history but also from the linguistic point of view, because the king expresses in it —in Galician-Portuguese, not in Castilian— his religious zeal and his devotion to the Blessed Virgin.

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Author Biography

Carlos Folgar, University of Santiago de Compostela

Carlos Folgar é professor efetivo de Língua Espanhola na Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. Exerce o seu labor docente na Faculdade de Humanidades, sita no Campus Universitário de Lugo. Atingiu o grau de doutor em Filologia Hispânica pela universidade compostelana, com uma tese acerca da sintaxe do castelhano medieval. Além de uma vintena de artigos, é autor dos livros Diacronía de los objetos directo e indirecto (del latín al castellano medieval) (Santiago de Compostela: Serviço de Publicações da Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, 1993) e Lecciones sobre la lengua del Quijote, este em parceria com Margarita Turrión (Lugo: Axac, 2007).

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Published

29.12.2016

How to Cite

Folgar, C. (2016). Remarks on Politics and Language(s) Concerning Alphonso X «the Wise». Verba Hispanica, 24(1), 17–36. https://doi.org/10.4312/vh.24.1.17-36

Issue

Vol. 24 No. 1 (2016)

Section

Linguistics

License

Copyright (c) 2017 Carlos Folgar

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