Español en contacto: Language Change in a Changing World

SEMINAR: Español en contacto: Language Change in a Changing World || Aaron Santa María (FWO PhD Fellow, Department of Linguistics, Ghent University)

Thursday, 11 September 2025. 1:00-2:30 PM.
CAL AVR, PAV 1, Palma Hall.
REGISTRATION: https://forms.gle/WMPqUWvMSmNBZWKYA
(The event is co-hosted by the UP Department of Linguistics)

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ABSTRACT: Spanish is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world, but its story is not just about numbers—it’s about people, movement, and identity. This talk explores Spanish as a heritage language, focusing on how immigration and language acquisition shape the way it is spoken across generations. We’ll discuss what happens when children grow up hearing Spanish at home but are educated mainly in another language, how bilingualism reshapes grammar and vocabulary, and why heritage speakers often create new, dynamic forms of Spanish. Drawing on examples from communities across the Netherlands and United Kingdom, we will show how contact with other languages leads to both challenges and innovations. Ultimately, we’ll see how heritage Spanish is not a “weakened” form, but a powerful marker of cultural identity and a key driver of language change.

BIO: DEL alumnus Aaron Santa María is a researcher in clinical linguistics, neurolinguistics, and psycholinguistics with a European Joint Master’s degree from the Universities of Groningen, Ghent, and Eastern Finland. He is currently pursuing a PhD at Ghent University, where he studies intra-word code-switching between English and Tagalog using approaches from corpus linguistics, experimental psycholinguistics, and sociolinguistics. He has collaborated with the Centre for Language, Brain and Learning at UiT in Norway and has teaching experience in both Spain and the Philippines (UP Visayas). His research interests also include phonological development, morphosyntax, and language processing.

Source: UPD Department of European Languages Facebook