Spanish and Portuguese Across Time highlights the range possible for scholars trained in a department of linguistics and literature, and shows that these disciplines need not be mutually
exclusive. It covers a diverse range of topics, which nevertheless retain a common focus, on the dynamic nature of languages and the social forces that shape them across time, place, and
borders. Themes in Part I - Linguistics and Literature: Translation, Society, and Language Variation - include the literary representation of speech, social, and regional variation, and some
history on linguistic devices used in the service of social criticism. The work here demonstrates how linguistic principles can offer productive angles to the study of literature, and that
literary sources can serve as data for linguistic analysis. The papers in Part II - Language Change, Language Contact, and Language Users - continue the focus on the interface between
language and social factors, with both historical and present-day data on speech and speakers’ behavior.
