Key research themes
1. How do language policies and parental language management influence the revitalization and maintenance of Galician in an urban, bilingual sociolinguistic context?
This research area focuses on the role of official language policies, particularly since Galicia's autonomy and co-official recognition of Galician, and the grassroots-level language practices of families, notably parents, in the maintenance and revitalization of Galician amid increasing dominance of Spanish in urban settings. It addresses challenges such as diglossia, linguistic ideologies, and the effectiveness of language normalization efforts in education and daily life, highlighting how meso- and micro-level language management can counteract structural language shift.
2. What are the linguistic outcomes of bilingualism and language contact between Galician and Spanish, particularly in phonetics and sociolinguistic attitudes?
This theme explores how intense contact and bilingualism between Galician and Spanish influence phonological systems and language attitudes. It investigates phonetic changes such as vowel contrast perception and production affected by language dominance, the stigmatization and prestige associated with Galician varieties, and how these factors affect speaker identity and language maintenance in a diglossic environment.
3. How does traditional Galician linguistic heritage, exemplified by 19th-century songbooks, inform contemporary grammatical understanding and teaching of Galician, especially in relation to Spanish influence?
This theme investigates the contribution of traditional anonymous Galician songbooks as authentic sources of colloquial and syntactic features that have fallen out of common use under Spanish influence. It highlights the pedagogical and linguistic utility of these texts in reinforcing genuine Galician grammatical constructions, including morphosyntactic phenomena such as the use of direct objects without the preposition 'a' and other idiosyncratic Galician-Portuguese features, facilitating comprehension and teaching in L2 Galician contexts.