EDADES DEL NEOESPAÑOL: REFLEXIONES SOBRE LA CORRECCIÓN IDIOMÁTICA EN ESPAÑA
DEVELOPMENTS OF NEOESPAÑOL: REFLECTIONS ON IDIOMATIC CORRECTNESS IN SPAIN

Summary/Abstract: Since 1997, when Fernando Lázaro Carreter coined the word “neoespañol”, the dynamic reality of the Spanish language has been under scrutiny more than ever. With more than four hundred million speakers worldwide, Spanish is permeable to foreign lexical influences and deviations from the standard use, making linguists and journalists worry that we might be confronted with a so-called ‘neolanguage’. Concepts such as linguistic norm, idiomatic correctness or acceptable usage are recurrently brought to the fore as key elements which fuel the debate between purist and permissive linguistic attitudes. We aim at offering an overview of the latest vehement reactions to what is seen as a ‘corruption’ of the canonical language, in the context of the Spanish Royal Academy’s effort to find the common denominator of different linguistic varieties, a ‘panshipanic norm’. Prescribers and describers are expected to reach a sensible consensus in order to update the grammar and the dictionaries without hurting linguistic sensitivities in different Spanish-speaking communities. The host of books tackling the issue of the idiomatic correction contribute to this endeavour by combining entertaining approaches with rigorous information.

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