CUMY professor explains the dynamics behind language. // Photo courtesy of José del Valle.

José del Valle, a linguistics professor at the City University of New York (CUNY), gave a presentation entitled “Language and the Construction of Political Identities” on Monday, Nov. 7, in the Leo A. Guthart Cultural Center Theater at Hofstra University. The event was moderated by Vicente Lledó-Guillem, a professor of romance languages and literatures at Hofstra.

During his presentation, del Valle discussed the way people usually think of languages as systems of communication and how it allows us to express our thoughts and convey ideas. He went more in-depth about metalanguage and how this is perceived by society. Del Valle described metalanguage as the “language about language.” 

Describing how language can be used del Valle explained how the spoken word can be used as an artifact to understand the cultural circumstances of a society. Del Valle used a letter from 1492 by Antonio Nebrija, a Spanish author from the late 15th century, as an example.

Before reading the letter, del Valle explained the historical context of this letter, which was written in the same year Christopher Columbus arrived in the Americas. The letter was addressed to Isabella I, the Queen of Castile; Nebrija referred to the natives as “barbarous people and nations of alien languages” and described how they would have to accept the laws of the Spanish conquistadors and “with them [their] language.”

After showcasing Nebrija’s letter, del Valle continued giving examples of how the Spanish crown kept their efforts to maintain their grammar in the way many people in Latin America spoke Spanish with an anecdote.

“I grew up in a linguistically diverse region, and within Spain, there is a lot of linguistic variation,” del Valle said. “When I first traveled to Latin America, it’s not that I became aware of linguistic variation, but I did become aware of how, in Latin America, there are varieties of Spanish. There were ways of speaking Spanish, still the same language, yet they were ways of speaking Spanish that were culturally and politically functional – because people identify that particular way of speaking Spanish with their cultural and national identity.”

These examples showed the students how language plays an important role in understanding the cultural realities of society. 

“I thought the presentation was fantastic,” said Eric Scalise, a senior French and Spanish double major. “Also, just thinking about the way he perceived the world from a linguistic standpoint – I think it is something that students, on a superficial level, really don’t know too much about, and I think that’s a shame because it is so interesting to see and think about how we perceive the world based on what languages we’re speaking and what regions of the world we’re coming from.”

Although this presentation was geared toward the students in attendance, the even noderator were engaged with del Valle’s findings and student involvement.

“I decided to invite him for several reasons: first of all, because I am very interested in his field of research. He has a background in philology, as well as politics of language and cultural studies,” Lledó-Guillem said. “Second, I knew students were going to enjoy and understand his talk. I wanted students to realize that university education is not only about attending classes –which is still important, don’t get me wrong, but also having the opportunity to meet and hear scholars talk about their fields of research”

One student enjoyed learning the background of how languages are created.

“I thought that the presentation was beautiful,” said Abigail Salgado, a sophomore biology major. “It was great to know the background of how language is incorporated into the Spanish role, how grammar affects all of it and the metalanguage of it all.”

Del Valle ended the presentation by telling students that everyone modifies the way they speak based on what social situation they are in, to be able to connect with others.

“Languages change because social life is dynamic,” del Valle said. “Social life is constantly changing, and human beings adapt the language that they use to new social conditions. We modify the way we speak, depending on the social condition. If there are social or political changes, the way we speak it’s going to change as well.”