Abstract

This article discusses the meanings of bilingualism in Jorge de Montemayor’s Diana. This microanalysis aims to demonstrate the centrality of this no­vel within the aesthetic framework of Iberian baroque. In a close reading analysis, the fleeting love story between the two Portuguese shepherds, Duarda and Danteo, located in the last book of the Siete Libros de la Diana, is viewed as a strategic mise en abyme for the construction of a ‘modern’ perspective on the baroque universe of the «libros de pastores», and the consequent transition from bucolic lyricism to bucolic narrative. This will be the central argument for this reflection, anchored on a plural vision of the interconnections between Portugal and Spanish literature in the «Siglo de Oro».

Abstract

In Catalonia, in a short period of time, statistics have raised from the 1% recorded ten years ago to the current 13% of students of foreign’s origin. This change has increased linguistic diversity regarding student’s background. However, more than a 50% are from Hispanic origin and the majority have Spanish as their mother tongue. In this case, and strictly from a linguistic point of view, the linguistic immersion programs used in Catalonia to teach Catalan to Spanish students maintain their validity. The article compares Catalan learning in two Spanish-speaking populations of 253 and 157 pupils of autochthonous and foreign origin at the end of childhood education. Results indicate that differences between both populations are related to family factors such as the mother’s educational level, individual ones, time spent in Catalonia, and scholar factors, such as percentage of allophone students in their classroom.