Isogloss maps for Iberian Peninsula Spanish, according to ALPI.

Last time updated: January 2007.

Using the ALPI surveys data (ALPI = Linguistic Atlas of the Iberian Peninsula), several maps have been made in a semi-automated way, depicting some of the better known phonetic differences in Spanish, as spoken in Spain minus the Canary Islands. Data has been taken both from the only published volume among 10 planned of this work, and from the internet site created by professor David Heap : www.alpi.ca . If possible, new maps will be added.

The ALPI study object are all Romance languages in the peninsula, that is, all but Basque. However this web page deals only with the Spanish language. To keep consistency with the ALPI layout, the Astur-Leonese and Aragonese areas are included, but no particular theory about this languages being dialects of Spanish or not is favoured.

The surveys in the Spanish-speaking area, from which the ALPI was made, were conducted between 1930 and 1936. From that time on, a lot of changes have happened, like massive internal migrations in the peninsula, media influence, evolution from a mainly rural to a mainly urban society, and lately a migratory wave from the rest of the world. For that reason, data in this Atlas must be understood just as a picture of a certain historical moment when dialectal differentiation of Spanish was relatively high and relatively stable. Other studies about the subject have been made later, but none with such large scope, and therefore the ALPI is still an invaluable reference point for Spanish dialectology.

Isogloss Maps

Versi�n en espa�ol :   Mapas de isoglosas del castellano en la pen�nsula Ib�rica, a partir del ALPI.

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