This paper investigates the structure of syntactic peripheries in the colloquial speech produced by three groups: native users of Spanish, native users of Swedish, and Swedish very advanced users of L2 Spanish. The main aspect addressed is the distribution of left- and right-periphery constituents across three categories defined in semantic terms, viz. denotative, indexical and non-referential (pragmatic) expressions. Our research questions concern (1) to what extent two typologically distinct languages such as Spanish and Swedish differ in this respect, (2) to what extent the Spanish L2 productions align with native use, and (3) whether any transfer from Swedish occurs in the Spanish L2 formulations. The analysis shows important divergences between Spanish and Swedish native use, not only with regard to the size of the respective peripheries but also in the distribution across the three semantic categories. Thus, although in all three groups the proportion of pragmatic constituents is much larger than for the two other categories, this gap is considerably wider in the Swedish L1 data. As regards the Spanish L2 data, a high degree of alignment with native use can be reported, and hardly any transfer from Swedish can be found in these highly proficient L2 speakers. However, a certain overrepresentation of indexical expressions can be observed in the L2 data.

Este estudio se propone comparar la estructura de las periferias sintácticas tal y como se presenta en el habla coloquial de tres grupos: usuarios nativos de español y de sueco, así como usuarios suecos de español L2 muy avanzados. El aspecto que nos interesa es si la distribución de los constituyentes periféricos sobre diferentes categorías semánticas incide en la producción de los tres grupos comparados. Concretamente queremos medir en qué proporciones van representadas expresiones (1) denotativas, (2) indexicales y (3) no referenciales (pragmáticas) en las dos periferias sintácticas, la izquierda, así como la derecha. Más exactamente nos importa saber:-en qué medida dos lenguas tipológicamente distintas - el sueco y el español - se diferencian al respecto;-en qué medida la producción de español L2 se adapta al uso nativo;-si en el español L2 se nota transferencia de la L1 sueca.

El análisis muestra que el español L1 y el sueco L1 difieren notablemente con respecto a la extensión de las respectivas periferias, y también en lo que se refiere a la distribución de los constituyentes periféricos sobre las tres categorías semánticas. Así, aunque en los tres grupos de estudio la proporción de constituyentes pragmáticos supera la de los otros dos tipos, ese desnivel se ve mucho más pronunciado en sueco L1. Con respecto al español L2, los datos arrojan un fuerte grado de alineamiento con el español L1 y no hay prácticamente ninguna manifestación de transferencia del sueco en esos hablantes muy proficientes. Destaca, sin embargo, una cierta sobrerrepresentación de los constityuentes indexicales en la L2.

Léxico y semántica offers ten chapters that explore the lexicon and its semantic structures from varied perspectives, all profoundly characterized by multidisciplinarity, transversality combined with a holistic research focus, such that the themes of the lexicon and semantics have been approached from a focus which begins with etymology and philology, passes through morphology and syntax in relation to the generation of meaning, and touches on computational linguistics and translation studies. The languages of study are not limited to the more common European varieties, to those related through evolution or via geographical proximity, but we further offer a de-centering through the representation of Swedish, Japanese and Arabic.

Léxico y semántica es un libro de 10 capítulos que exploran el léxico y sus vertebraciones semánticas desde varias perspectivas. Una de sus características fundamentales es la pluridisciplinareidad y la transversalidad con una tendencia investigadora holística. De hecho, el tema del léxico y de la semántica ha sido abordado desde la óptica etimológica y filológica hasta la lingüística computacional y la traductología pasando por la morfología y la sintaxis en su relación con la significación. Tampoco se ha cernido a lenguas comunes, emparentadas o de la misma zona geográfica, sino que están representadas otras “extracentrales” como el sueco o el japonés y el árabe.

De hecho, desde la perspectiva etimológica se han presentado contribuciones sobre la parasíntesis preposicional y preverbiación, así como las formaciones parasintéticas verbales. El aspecto diacrónico de la semántica, marginada hasta muy finales de los años 60, es la visión con la cual se ha enfocado el cambio léxico, las series etimológicas y la tensión entre innovación y tradición en los cambios léxico-semánticos.

Desde esta misma perspectiva diacrónica, junto con las teorías lingüísticas de la recepción, se ha estudiado la recepción de las piezas léxicas y el cambio semántico, así como la opacidad etimológica y el deslizamiento significativo. Estos cambios etimológicos, deslizamientos y desviaciones semánticos solo se pueden estudiar de forma productiva diacrónicamente para el lexicón, y diacrónica y pragmáticamente para el léxico en uso.

El estudio del léxico, desde este enfoque, cumple con dos requisitos fundamentales en las descripciones lingüísticas: la dimensión histórica general y diacrónica y la sincrónica actual; la sistémica léxica (de diccionario) y la usual social (lenguaje en uso). Así es como se puede entender que podamos encontrar en esta obra no solo el léxico latino y español, sino un glosario de 1600, además de ejemplos del japonés y del árabe. Asimismo, existen igualmente descripciones conceptuales y terminológicas referidas al léxico y al contacto de lenguas en los lenguajes de especialidad, especialmente el inglés y el francés. En estos análisis terminológicos se pueden apreciar características definitorias muy marcadas, particularmente en lo referente al registro tecnocientífico y el lenguaje jurídico.

Las onomatopeyas, elementos semiléxicos condicionados semánticamente, se han estudiado desde el punto de vista de la lingüística contrastiva no centrándose exclusivamente en el aspecto intralingüístico, sino también extralingüístico.

La distribución semántica de los constituyentes periféricos de izquierda y de derecha es igualmente una de las grandes aportaciones de este libro donde el corpus de análisis es una compilación de producciones lingüísticas de estudiante suecos y españoles.

Se ha estudiado igualmente el cambio de significado en la traducción y la problemática que genera la traducción de los fraseologismos religiosos en el marco de la interpretación judicial, con implicaciones que van más allá del significado convencional de diccionario para incidir en los condicionamientos ideológicos del significado.

El léxico de las emociones y el discurso fraseológico está igualmente presente en está obra abordándose el tema desde la perspectiva cognitiva.

No falta, por supuesto, la perspectiva informática y computacional del procesamiento del lenguaje natural, específicamente cuando implica la traducción automática, y últimamente la interpretación automática. De hecho, uno de los acercamientos a los análisis semánticos es la exploración de la traducibilidad de casos específicos del lenguaje natural por algunos programas de traducción automática.

This study investigates levels of oral proficiency in French, German and Spanish attained by Swedish speaking students in lower secondary school. A total of 122 students performed two tasks: one production task and one interaction task. The oral performances were rated using scales from the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. The rating was done in successive steps by researchers in the project and external raters. The results show that slightly less than half of the students’ performances were rated at or above the expected proficiency level at the end of lower secondary school (A2.1). While there was no difference in rated levels between the two tasks, the performances by the students of German were significantly more often rated at or above the A2.1 level than the performances by students of French and Spanish. In the article, we discuss the results in relation to the few previous studies available on the topic, as well as some aspects of the learning conditions that might contribute to the interpretation of the results. In addition, certain structural phenomena regarding language education in Sweden are briefly considered in relation to equity at a general level. 

The present study investigates how the L2 learning experience shapes multilinguals' motivation to improve their writing skills in Spanish, a language they study at university level. Within the Second Language Motivational Self System Theory (L2MSS), the L2 learning experience is often neglected when it comes to interpreting and discussing findings on motivation. We propose that the analysis of the L2 learning experience should acknowledge both formal and informal settings, such as the family context, in order to research why and how a person chooses to develop certain linguistic abilities like writing. Given that the L2 learner experience is spatially and temporally bound, the concept of sensitivity to initial conditions, i.e., the conditions or changes that may trigger the learner to move towards enhanced language learning, will be adopted to research the L2 learning experience. The aim of the study is twofold. First, to investigate the Spanish learning experience as a function of the initial conditions referred to by the participants. Second, to research how the Spanish ideal and ought-to selves are related to the students’ motivation to use and learn or maintain Spanish skills. The data consist of a questionnaire answered by multilingual university students of Spanish (n=21) and written autobiographical narratives. The participants belong to two groups: one group of Spanish heritage language learners (n=10) and one group of native-Swedish speaking L3 Spanish learners (n=11). Overall, family reasons, previous school experiences, high proficiency in Spanish, previously acquired languages, contact with the linguistic communities, language use and context are all aspects tightly connected to the students’ motivation to learn, maintain and develop Spanish language proficiency. The L2 learning experience, as a wider construct dependent on the sensitivity to initial conditions, must be considered to understand the complex nature of multilingual literacy development. 

The present study contrasts the written production of threegroups of Spanish users: native speakers, L2 Spanish languageusers, and users of Spanish as heritage language (HL). Thelatter group constitutes the focus of our study and they aredefined as individuals who have been exposed to a HL in their closest environment since childhood while simultaneouslyor sequentially being in contact with a dominant language(Montrul, 2010). Their linguistic skills vary, as elements such astheir educational level in the HL or their level of contact withthis language will have an impact on their linguistic repertoire.The corpus is composed of 75 prospectus reports for capstoneprojects, which are explored in terms of their rhetoric anddiscursive organization, syntactic complexity, and use of textualconnectives. Findings allow the construction of academic writing competency profiles for each linguistic group.

Reports and studies repeatedly indicate that foreign languages other than English are facing major challenges in European educational systems (European Commission 2012). While young learners’ motivation to learn a second foreign language (SFL) is often reported to be low (Tholin and Lindqvist 2009), studies have only recently started to take emotional factors into account in order to better understand how young learners experience foreign language learning and use. Learners’ emotions might particularly influence younger learners’ behaviour such as mitigating their willingness to communicate despite being engaged and motivated learners (MacIntyre 2002; Teimouri 2017). In this study we therefore examined 9th grade Swedish SFL (French, German and Spanish) learners’ (N=120) foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA; Horwitz et al 1986), their SFL motivation (Dörnyei 2009; Gardner and Lambert 1972), and their willingness to communicate (WTC; McCroskey and Baer 1985). As only few studies have examined motivations and emotions of students who study different SFLs, we also asked to what extent emotions and motivation are language-specific or learner-general in SFL learners within the same educational system. Results indicate that differences between learners of different SFLs are few and that FLCA together with learners’ motivation is the strongest predictor for their willingness to communicate. Results indicate further that there are persistent gender differences between girls’ and boys’ emotions and motivations in SFL learning. Taken together the findings of our study point to the importance of including emotions into studying motivation and use of SFLs also in younger learners.

This study aims to compare the discursive construction of Chilean migrants who arrived in Sweden from the 1970s until recently regarding their own linguistic trajectories at the micro level of social activity, the meso level of sociocultural institutions and communities and the macro level of ideological structures. The analysis of the latter level is based on Critical Discourse Studies, in particular, the strategies of de/legitimisation and the macro strategies of perpetuation or transformation The research questions concern (a) the semiotic resources used in multilingual contexts of action and interaction (at a micro level), (b) expressions of belonging and language identity (at a meso level) (c) and the de/legitimisation of events, processes and social actors in the construction of different ideologies (at a macro level). The method is qualitative and interpretative and is based on critical discourse analysis. The findings showed that the de/legitimisation of policies is associated with access to and acquisition of L2 (Swedish) and maintenance of L1 (Spanish). Well-prepared teachers, the communicative setting of the multicultural language classroom and the linguistic mediators were legitimised, while the process of adaptation and volunteers without sufficient preparation were delegitimised. Societal changes were identified as macro strategies that resulted in the transformation or perpetuation of what was being legitimised or delegitimised.

El primer estudio europeo sobre competencias lingüísticas (European Survey on Language Competences) mostró cifras alarmantes sobre el bajo nivel de español LE/L2 de los alumnos suecos en contraste con su alto dominio del inglés. El proyecto de investigación TAL (Teaching, Assessment, Learning) (2015-2018) surgió para investigar estos resultados en el contexto de la enseñanza de segundas lenguas. El presente estudio muestra las experiencias y opiniones de los docentes de español LE/L2 desde la óptica de su perfil laboral y formativo en el contexto escolar sueco. 114 docentes de español LE/L2 participaron en la encuesta del proyecto. Los resultados constatan la escasez de profesionales cualificados y una actitud indiferente hacia el aprendizaje de la lengua, en comparación con el inglés, por parte de los estudiantes y de la sociedad circundante. Algunas de las necesidades identificadas para mejorar la situación laboral de los profesionales del español en Suecia son: reducir el número de estudiantes por clase, eliminar la precariedad laboral, junto con la situación de pluriempleo, y crear una oferta formativa específica sobre la enseñanza del español. Los resultados obtenidos se comparan con el estudio global sobre los profesionales del español de Muñoz-Basols, Rodríguez-Lifante y CruzMoya (2017).

The first European Survey on Language Competences showed very low levels of proficiency in L2 Spanish among Swedish students in contrast to their high proficiency in English. The TAL (Teaching, Assessment, Learning) research project (2015-2018) emerged to investigate the reasons for this finding. This article studies the experiences and opinions of L2 Spanish teachers in Swedish schools from the perspective of their work and training. After surveying 114 Spanish language teachers, a shortage of qualified professionals was confirmed and we found an indifferent attitude towards language learning on the part of students and the surrounding society, compared to English. We also identified ways to improve the working conditions of Spanish language professionals in Sweden by reducing the number of students per class, eliminating job insecurity and the need to hold multiple jobs, and creating a specific training offer on the teaching of Spanish. The results are compared with those obtained globally on Spanish language professionals by Muñoz-Basols, Rodríguez-Lifante and Cruz-Moya (2017).