DOI: 10.25136/2409-8698.2022.11.39012

Abstract: The article addresses the subject of the semantics of Spanish words and collocations containing the roots -gr(i)eg- (-grec-, -gring-, etc.), -helen-, -bizant-, associated with Greece and with the Greek culture. The author analyzes the semantics and etymology of the words and expressions the way they are represented in the two most reputable explanatory dictionaries, Diccionario de la lengua española (DLE) and Diccionario de americanismos. In some cases, the usage of the selected units is described with reference to corpus data (Modern Spanish corpora — CREA and CORPES XXI). The study has revealed the presence of a significant proportion of “learned borrowings” (“cultismos”), which is explained by the importance of Ancient Greek and Byzantine culture for European civilization in general and for Spain in particular. It is stated that the semantic evolution of some vocabulary units was influenced by stereotypical ideas about Greece and the Greeks. In addition, the analysis of Diccionario de americanismos has shown some peculiarities of the usage of the words and expressions under analysis in Latin American Spanish (e. g. the more frequent use of “gringo” and its derivatives).

DOI: 10.25136/2409-8698.2022.10.39009

Abstract: The article addresses the subject of the use of Greek in the apologiae for Castilian (Spanish) language, drawing upon the key Spanish scientific treatises, and literary texts of the Spanish Golden Age (end of the 15th — first half of the 17th centuries), which mention Greek in an attempt to assert the prestige of Castilian. Particular attention is paid to the judgments about Greek and native languages expressed in the works of A. de Nebrija, J. de Valdés, C. de Villalón, F. de Medina, A. de Morales, F. de Quevedo, G. Correas and other writers and thinkers. Most studies in the field have always been primarily focused on the comparisons of Romance languages with their “mother”, Latin, while the use of Greek in the apologiae for Castilian has been a less frequent topic of study. The author comes to a conclusion that Greek invariably acts as the highest reference point for the Spanish grammarians, philologists and thinkers (and as an arbitrator or, sometimes, an "ally" of Castilian), while the attitudes towards Latin evolve over the course of the 15th–17th centuries.

DOI: 10.25136/2409-8698.2019.2.29945

Abstract: This article is devoted to the development of Uruguayan national identity and how this process reflects in the printed media texts. In addition to that, the authors of the article also analyzes the historical environment of that period. Russian studies of Latin America have not studied Uruguay as the priority area of research. However, Uruguayan peculiarities of the national variant of Spanish have been traditionally discussed by a number of researches that cover quite a wide language material. The corpus of this research includes only Uruguayan texts, over 100 El Dia newspaper issues and other printed matter of that era. The methodological basis of the research is the discursive historical approach that implies the synthesis of linguistic data and historical, sociocultural and political contexts. The authors also define the main language means and discursive strategies used to develop the national consciousness. The authors conclude that texts of the printed media of the 1900 - 1930s have played a crucial role in the discursive construction of Uruguayan national identity that is created as the 'civil' cosmopolitan type balancing between Eurocentrism, regionalism and pan americanism and supported by sports achievements and mass events.