The Writer's Reference Guide to Spanish / Edition 1

by David William Foster, Daniel Altamiranda, Carmen de Urioste

Overview

Writers and editors of Spanish have long needed an authoritative guide to written language usage, similar to The MLA Style Manual and The Chicago Manual of Style. And here it is! This reference guide provides comprehensive information on how the Spanish language is copyedited for publication.

The book covers these major areas:

• Language basics: capitalization, word division, spelling, and punctuation.
• Language conventions: abbreviations, professional and personal titles, names of organizations, and nationalities.
• Bibliographic format, particularly how Spanish differs from English.
• Spanish language forms of classical authors' names.
• Literary and grammatical terminology.
• Linguistic terminology.
• Biblical names and allusions.
• A dictionary of grammatical doubts, including usage, grammatical constructions of particular words and phrases, verbal irregularities, and gender variations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780292725126
Publisher:	University of Texas Press
Publication date:	01/01/2000
Edition description:	1 ED
Pages:	284
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

David William Foster is Chair of the Department of Languages and Literature and Regents' Professor of Spanish, Interdisciplinary Humanities, and Women's Studies at Arizona State University. Daniel Altamiranda has taught at the Universidad de Buenos Aires and Arizona State University. Carmen de Urioste is Assistant Professor of Spanish at Arizona State University.

Table of Contents

• Preface

1. Punctuation
2. Spelling and Word Division
   • Spelling Rules and Variations
   • Accents
   • Prefixes
   • Word Divisions
3. Gender and Number Forms
   • Gender
   • Number
4. Word Formation
   • Affective Suffixes and Spelling Changes
   • Compound Words
   • Prefixes and Suffixes
5. Capitalization
   • General Rules
   • Calendar and Time Designations
   • Religious Names
   • Titles of Publications
6. Titles of Persons
7. Professions and Occupations
8. Terminology
   • Geographical Terms
   • Names of Organizations
   • Historical Terms
9. Citation of Books, Periodicals, and Other Works
   • Monographs
   • Periodicals
   • Book Chapters
   • Bibliography Preparation
10. Abbreviations

• Appendix 1. Anonymous Spanish Classics
• Appendix 2. Latin Authors
• Appendix 3. Greek Authors
• Appendix 4. Latin Expressions
• Appendix 5. Literary and Dramaturgical Terminology
• Appendix 6. Linguistic Terminology
• Appendix 7. Common Biblical Allusions and References
• Appendix 8. Common Classical Allusions and References
• Appendix 9. Common Literary Allusions and References
• A Dictionary of Spanish Grammatical and Lexical Doubts
• Bibliography of Special Terminology
• Bibliographical References
• Index

What People are Saying About This

Dick Gerdes

The importance of this book...is indisputable....Its usefulness will apply to an audience far beyond students of Spanish; it will, in fact, become a companion text, like the MLA Style Manual, to a larger audience of users running the gamut from bilingual writers, i.e., fiction writers and journalists, to editors who are unsure about proper usage.
— Dick Gerdes, Professor and Chair of Modern and Classical Languages, George Mason University

Editorial Reviews

The authors (currently or formerly affiliated with Arizona State Univ.) intend to provide an English-language guide for writers and editors working in Spanish for publication. Not a grammatical reference, this work addresses issues of style, lexical and grammatical ambiguities, citation formats, and topics like gender, plurals, and capitalization. Regional variations are discussed, and various lists of terms are given, such as professions, abbreviations, and Latin expressions. The bibliography of special-terminology dictionaries is sure to be helpful. Unfortunately, while some superfluous material is included (like several appendixes of common allusions), there are some glaring omissions. The authors state that their purpose is to "cover material that is problematical with reference to Spanish-language citations" and refer readers to the major style manuals for other details. The reader is left to assume that any untreated topic--such as citing direct quotes within the text or the use of footnotes--does not vary from customary English usage. Therefore, a stand-alone style guide for Spanish is still lacking. Recommended for academic libraries.--Anna Youssefi, Univ. of Houston Libs. Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\

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