The History of Spanish

List of figures; List of maps; List of tables; Preface for students; Preface for instructors; Acknowledgments; 1. Why do Spanish speakers say el arte but las artes? The value of studying the history of Spanish; 2. Is it wrong to say cantastes instead of cantaste? A linguist's attitude and approach to language; 3. How and why do languages change and how do linguists know?; 4. Did /f/ change to /h/ in Spanish because of Basque? Four moments of language contact in the history of Spanish; 5. Why is Spanish also called Castilian? The standardization process and its effects; 6. How did FESTA become fiesta but FESTÎVUM became festivo? Regular vowel changes; 7. How did ACÛTUM become agudo? Regular consonant changes; 8. Why is 'milk' leche but 'Milky Way' is Via Láctea? Special tonic vowel changes; 9. Why fieldad but lealtad? Special consonant changes; 10. Why do Spanish speakers sometimes say andé instead of anduve? Morphological changes; 11. Why is mano feminine and día masculine? Changes in case, declension, number, and gender; 12. Why do Spanish speakers sometimes say más malo instead of peor? Origins of nominal elements; 13. Why are there so many verb tenses in Spanish? Origins of verbs; 14. Why is comeré the future of comer but sabré is the future of saber? How regular sound change and analogy lead to regular and irregular forms; 15. Do you say veo el gato or veo al gato? Syntactic changes; 16. How did MÛSCŬLUM 'little mouse' become Spanish muslo 'thigh'? Semantic changes; 17. Why perro 'dog' instead of can? Lexical changes; Appendix: Selections from old Spanish texts; El Auto de los Reyes Magos; Cantar de mio Cid; Razon feita d'amor; Milagros de Nuestra Señora; Calila e Dimna; Glossary of terms; Works cited; Word index; Subject index.