This volume addresses some lacunae in Hispanic linguistic research by focusing on new scholarly directions, exploring understudied topics as well as speech communities, and presenting new takes on relevant linguistic and sociocultural issues. This publication answers questions which have emerged as a result of the rapid increase in Hispanic linguistic research since the latter part of the twentieth century or that have remained open in spite of it. With the rapid growth of Hispanic Linguistics during the 21st century, the topics included in this volume are representative of the breadth, vitality, and interdisciplinarity of contemporary linguistic scholarship. They also reflect that linguistics, in general, has become more methodologically sophisticated. This book is comprised of twelve chapters divided into three parts. Part I addresses language ideology and language contact issues that are embedded in important sociolinguistic and cultural topics chronologically spanning from the 16th century to the present. Although these issues take place in Spain, the United States, Turkey and Ecuador, they pertain ideologically to all corners of the Hispanic World and beyond. Part II is devoted to pragmatics and language variation with topics that transport us to Colombia, Mexico, Spain and Venezuela. The study of politeness strategies shows how Spanish speakers reduce social distance between interlocutors as they make conversation a pleasant and cooperative meeting place. Concurrently, sociolinguistic innovations reveal interesting parallels among several speech communities. Part III explores linguistic variation as it relates to theoretical, structural, and instructional issues. Although these topics are analyzed based mainly on linguistic usage in Bolivia, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Panama, and Spain – as with the rest of this volume – their relevance reaches far beyond the confines of the Hispanic World. This book is unique in multiple ways and complements a number of existing publications.

This edited volume provides state of the art research on developing areas of Spanish in contact with other languages. This manuscript is unique in its broad yet coherent approach to the study of Spanish in bilingual contexts by investigating current issues in the field through well-designed research and innovative analyses. In addition, this book concludes with research on how languages in contact are reflected in individuals in educational settings as well as insights on how to teach bilinguals raised in contact with English and Spanish. This manuscript is divided into three major themes that focus on the overall issues of Spanish in bilingual contexts: 1. The first section, titled "Language and Identity," is composed of four chapters that focus on the connection between language and identity in unique settings. 2. The second section of the manuscript is titled "Language and Dialectal Contact" and is composed of six chapters that analyze the dialectal and linguistic changes in languages in contact in a variety of settings. 3. The final section is titled "Language in Educational Settings" and consists of four chapters with a focus on heritage speakers and second language students of Spanish in different classroom settings as well as abroad. This volume contributes original research in these areas in a way so as to fill valuable gaps in the current knowledge in the field especially in the innovative ways of approaching areas such as teaching heritage learners, understanding diachronic and synchronic dialectal and linguistic changes as well as innovations in language use, and how language contributes to the formation of identity.

Written for both researchers and advanced students, this Handbook provides a state-of-the-art survey of the field of Spanish linguistics. Balancing different theoretical perspectives among expert scholars, it provides an in-depth examination of all sub-fields of research in Hispanic linguistics, with a focus on recent advances.