UniversidaddeCádiz

The event featured an address by Professor Francisco Carriscondo and a round table presenting the advances developed within the Observatory

The Observatory of Andalusian Speech (OHA) at the University of Cádiz held an academic session to present the main research lines and studies carried out within this scientific space. Integrated into the Research Institute on Studies of the Hispanic World (IN-EMHis), the Observatory marks on 4 December its second anniversary, consolidating its position as a reference in the analysis and promotion of the linguistic richness of Andalusian Spanish. The chosen date carries a special symbolism: in addition to commemorating the creation of the Observatory, it coincides with the Day of the Andalusian Flag, a date of institutional significance for its role in the construction of Andalusia’s autonomous identity.

The session began with institutional greetings from Marieta Cantos, Director of IN-EMHis; Teresa Bastardín, Director of the Observatory of Andalusian Speech; Juan Pedro Martín, Vice-Dean for Internationalisation of the Faculty of Arts; and Víctor Gaviño, Director of the Department of Philology. In their remarks, all highlighted the Observatory’s growing projection and its value as a space for transferring knowledge from the university to society.

Marieta Cantos emphasised the potential of the OHA “from an academic, literary and civic perspective.” She underlined the importance of research having a real social dimension and stressed the value of citizen participation, both in contributing lexical material and in documenting syntactic and phonetic features. For his part, Víctor Gaviño noted that the work of the Observatory exemplifies a way of “linking knowledge transfer to the territory and to research within a living and dynamic field such as language.”

The Director of the Observatory, Teresa Bastardín, highlighted the achievements reached during these two years, noting that the research undertaken has made it possible to bring to light the variations and richness of Andalusian speech. Bastardín also introduced the guest speaker, Professor Francisco Carriscondo Esquivel of the University of Málaga and external collaborator of the OHA, praising “his integrative vision of speech and its impact beyond the local sphere.”

In his lecture, Carriscondo focused on the influence of Andalusianist theories on the development of Spanish in the Americas, particularly within the field of Hispanic lexicography. He invited students to reflect on the historical and linguistic connections between Andalusian Spanish and the varieties of Spanish spoken in Latin America, stressing that “the Atlantic position of Cádiz is a natural invitation to this kind of study.” He also encouraged them to delve deeper into these lines of research—still in development—which help build bridges between the Andalusian linguistic past and the contemporary forms of Spanish on the international stage.

Following the lecture, a round table was held to present the main advances achieved within the Observatory. Alongside Teresa Bastardín, the session featured contributions from researchers Miguel Ángel Cárdenas and Estela Pérez (University of Cádiz), as well as Margarita Fernández and Miguel Silvestre (Rey Juan Carlos University). During their interventions, they shared ongoing projects and methodological reflections on the study of Andalusian speech, reaffirming the role of the OHA as a collaborative, interdisciplinary and academically open space.