Date of Award

Summer 1992

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Department of Foreign Languages

Abstract

This is a study on Isleño, a vestigial variant of Spanish spoken in Saint Bernard Parish, Louisiana by the descendants of Canary Islanders who settled in Louisiana during the 1780's. The goal of this research is to determine the position of Isleño in Hispanic dialectology. Previous researchers have made conflicting claims about the origins of Isleño's linguistic features, e.g. on one hand that Isleño is primarily composed of Canary Island Spanish antecedents, or on the other hand that documented contacts between the Isleños and speakers of other non-Canarian Spanish varieties have influenced Isleño's linguistic make-up. These claims are tested using the available data on Isleño phonology and lexicon and the various sources on Spanish, French, English, and other languages to isolate those features which are not traceable to Canary Island Spanish and which are not archaic or popular Spanish forms. The findings of this study are: (1) Almost all Isleño phonological features, with the exception of the lack of final /n/ velarization in Isleño, which seems to have a Canarian origin, are similar to many other regional dialects, thus making the sources of Isleño phonology unclear at best. Therefore, based on its phonological features, the exact origins of Isleño cannot be determined; (2) Isleño lexicon shows evidence of significant influence from American Spanish, French, and English in the great number of loan words from these language sources. Thus, given these lexical items, the claim that Isleño is exclusively derived from its Canary Island Spanish origins proves to be overstated. The thesis also provides listings of Isleño phonological and lexical features with analysis of their sources.

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