The thesis of this article doesn't sit well with me. The details are lovely and fascinating, but the author seems to be trying to build a case that global Spanish, in contrast to global English, is welcoming of linguistic change. She even cites English (i.e., from England) people's apparent intolerance or pearl-clutching at some American linguistic innovations, leaving the heavy implication that Spain would never do such a thing about language evolution.

I got three words for you, author:

Real
Academia
Española

There's a reason a 21st-century Spanish speaker can read the Reina Valera version of the Bible with much less difficulty than a 21st-century English speaker can read the King James version. The reason is not because Spain welcomes linguistic change.

"Across the varieties of Spanish, spelling remains largely uniform..."

Again, not because Spanish (especially Castellano from Spain) embraces change. That's (AFAIK) because of a few centuries of heavy-handed, top-down pressure from the RAE. They're fairly aggressive about vocabulary and spelling. This is not a case of "Spanish speakers are just more OK with linguistic change."

I think Global Spanish is active, vibrant, and constantly changing, but the language as spoken in Spain is generally--because of the RAE--a force acting against that, and sometimes quite aggressively.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jul/03/spanish-english-speak-language-global-world

#language #nuhuh #NotBuyingIt

On my way home from my fieldwork trip, and I have to pass through airport security with all my cameras and film two times! It can be a little stressful. 😬

1st airport:
Security doing hand check: This is… … film??? But it’s… … uh… it’s… um… film is old!?!? Do you know there are, uh, digital cameras now? Why don’t you shoot with a new camera!
Me: I do also, this one is a digital camera!
Security: … … 🫤…

#BelieveInFilm #NotBuyingIt