A History of the Spanish Language through Texts examines the evolution of the Spanish language from the Middle Ages to the present day. Pountain explores a wide range of texts from poetry, through newspaper articles and political documents, to a Bunuel film script and a love letter. With keypoints and a careful indexing and cross-referencing system this book can be used as a freestanding history of the language independently of the illustrative texts themselves.

Including chapters on Latin American Spanish, US Spanish, Judeo-Spanish, and Creoles, the book looks at the spread of Castilian as well as at linguistically interesting non-standard developments. Pountain explores a wide range of texts from poetry, through newspaper articles and political documents, to a Bunuel film script and a love letter.

A History of the Spanish Language through Texts presents the formal history of the language and its texts in a fresh and original way. The book has user-friendly textbook features such as a series of keypoints and a careful indexing and cross-referencing system. It can be used as a freestanding history of the language independently of the illustrative texts themselves.

Christopher J. Pountain is a University Lecturer in Romance Philology at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Queens' College. He has over twenty years' experience of teaching Spanish and Romance linguistics. His publications include Using Spanish (CUP, 1992) and Modern Spanish Grammar (Routledge, 1997).