“The greatness and perfection of our language”: celebration of castilian in 18th- century linguistic work’s prologues.

«La grandeza y perfección de nuestra lengua»: Alabanzas del español en peritextos del siglo XVIII

Abstract

The 18th century represents a crucial period of notable complexity in the political landscape of the Iberian Peninsula. Spain entered the century as a world power with an imperial past behind it, whose vivid memory would remain clear in the collective memory of its citizens for a long time. However, the politically critical scenario that began to take shape after the War of Succession greatly contributed to the spread of tensions, exacerbated by the gradual rise of France and its language, whose ascent began to threaten the hegemony that Castilian had enjoyed until then. In an effort to counteract the Transpyrenean influence, Spanish intellectuals dedicated themselves to writing defenses and exaltations of Spanish, choosing the peritexts of their works as privileged spaces for their praises. The aim of the present work is to analyze the linguistic and rhetorical strategies employed in the defenses of Castilian in six peritexts of linguistic works published throughout the 18th century, showing how, in certain instances, these praises trascend the purely linguistic dimension to become true apologies for the nation.