From castizar to disparar or: How do Equatoguineans speak Spanish? Metalinguistic terminology and theoretical-ideological interpretations based on a corpus of sociolinguistic interviews

Abstract

Despite the increasing interest in Equatorial Guinea observed in the academic field, it continues to have a quite limited representation and a rather marginal status in Hispanic linguistic studies. In Spanish lexicography, Equatorial Guinea has received little attention too, despite the undoubted existence of unique words and meanings which characterise the Equatoguinean variety of Spanish. In this article, we offer a critical approach to the eccentric position that the Equatoguinean lexicon occupies in traditional Hispanic linguistics. To do so, we base on a corpus of 24 sociolinguistic interviews conducted in Madrid with people of Equatoguinean origin. In special, we study a selection of metalinguistic terms used by the interviewees that refer to how Equatoguineans speak Spanish: the verbs castizar, inculcar, disparar and chapurrear, as well as the nouns disparate(s) and guineo / guíneo. In addition, we include an excursus on the appearance of the linguistic concepts lengua, idioma and dialecto. All the terms studied are exemplified by illustrative excerpts from the interviews. The main interest of the study lies in the combination of the lexical-semantic analysis of the terms mentioned with a subsequent theoretical-ideological interpretation of the results. Starting from a series of concrete words, this multiple approach allows us to observe various challenges which characterise traditional Hispanic dialectology and which are also reflected in lexicology. In particular, we draw attention to the problems faced when studying more eccentric varieties of the language on the basis of analytical guidelines, theories and ideologies built around varieties considered more “standard” and “normative” than others.