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Programme: accepted abstracts

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Abstract ID: 992

Part of General Paper Session (Other abstracts in this session)

The role of linguistic perception and attitude in the socio-spatial construction of the city of Lima

Authors: Bürki, Yvette
Submitted by: Bürki, Yvette (Universität Bern, Switzerland)

The aim of this paper is to present a project coordinated by Yvette Bürki (Universität Bern) and Carlos Garatea Grau (Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú) about the socio-spatial construction performed by the inhabitants of Lima starting from their speech perceptions of the different ways of the limeños speaking. The speech perception depends on their personal communicative experience in the different networks of illocutions in which they participate (Benhabid 2006; Garatea 2010) as well as socio-historically conceived perceptions. 

The investigation presupposes that in a megalopolis the fragmentation of the urban space is not only a geographical reality. It also acquires a strong social dimension due to the fact that their inhabitants are associated with different ways of life, part of which is the way of speaking. Therefore the said project focuses not on the socio-spatial reality of Lima, but uses a constructivist approach according to which the speakers, as social actors, construct space in a dynamical relation with the “other”. Thus, the process by which individuals settle their spatial identity in the city landscape is similar to other forms in which they construct other aspects of their identity like sex, age and ethnicity (Johnstone 2004: 74).

Lima serves as a paradigmatic example of the process explained above due to the complex dynamic of its urban social structure that displays a strong socio-spatial fragmentation which also produces a pronounced linguistic variation: according to the national Census of 2007, Lima is a city with more than eight and a half million inhabitants[1].On an international level it constitutes the fifth most populous city of Latin America and the Caribbean zone[2]. Urban transformation processes have changed the traditional linguistic varieties of Lima described in specialized manuals. This was caused in particular by the strong migration of the interior (most of the Andean regions) from the 60’ of the last century onwards. The so-called conos (Arellano / Burgos 2010; Arellano 2010) settled predominantly the outskirts of the city. The limeños perceive actually the different ways of speaking of the city and asses them in terms of correctness, adequacy and even in terms of aesthetics, which they connect with some ways of life and through a metonymical relation to certain spaces of the metropolis.

References:

Arellano, Rolando. 2010. Al medio hay sitio. Lima: Planeta.

Arellano, Rolando / Burgos, David. 2010. Ciudad de los Reyes, de los Chávez, de los Quispe. Lima: Planeta.

Benhabid, Seyla. 2006. Las reinvindicaciones de la cultura. Buenos Aires: Katz.

Garatea Grau, Carlos. 2011. Notas para una explicación integral de contacto de lenguas. Lingüística 26, 248-259.

Johnstone, Barbara 2004. Place, Globalization and Linguistic Variation, en: C. Fought (ed):Sociolinguistic Variation. Critical Reflections, 65-83.

[1] Instituto Nacional de Estadística e Informática (ed.): «Censos Nacionales 2007: XI de Población y VI de Vivienda» (PDF) pág. 29 (2007) [21 de enero de 2012].

[2] Globalization and World Cities Study Group and Network (ed.): «The World According to GaWC 2008»  (2008). [21 de enero de 2012].