The Spanish spoken in the Salinas Valley has shown a remarkable degree of resilience, complexity and prowess that merits closer study, according to a pair of CSU Monterey Bay professors.

That’s the conclusion of Dr. Juan José Gutiérrez of the Division of Social, Behavioral and Global Studies, and Dr. Gabriela Zapata of the university’s School of World Languages and Cultures, who are currently conducting research there. Their work is sponsored by a faculty grant.

The project originated with preliminary research by Dr. Zapata on the Spanish language spoken in the Salinas Valley, and Dr. Gutierrez's work on the cultural and social capital of local Spanish-speaking communities.

The resilience of the Spanish language is remarkable and deserves study, according to the researchers, because of the distance of the Salinas Valley from the border and because it shows a second generation of speakers who have not received formal training in the language, yet command a level of Spanish that is comparable to that of children growing up in regions where it is the first language.

According to the researchers, the project explores the specific ways in which the Spanish language plays a role in the economic, cultural and social life of many communities in California.

Dr. Gutierrez was recently interviewed about this work in Querétaro, Mexico, where he was visiting researchers from the University of Queretaro. The Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro is the first university with which CSUMB had a formal student exchange program.

During the interview, Dr. Gutierrez explained that combining fields of expertise – such as linguistics and cultural anthropology – brings perspective to complex research projects such as the work in the Salinas Valley.

Published Jan. 27,2016