Language and travel : spanish vocabulary in British travel books

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to offer an interdisciplinary approach to the study of travel writing. 1 In particular, what we attempt to do is to apply a sociolinguistic point of view to a number of travel texts, which, undoubtedly, situate the traveller-and, consequently, the reader-in the fascinating context of intercultural exchange. As Henriquez (1995, p. 33) notes, in their work travel writers 'try to re-shape the cultural exchange between ... races and traditions'. Since culture and language are so closely intertwined, travel accounts could be used as a source to examine the cultural and linguistic influences experienced by writers as a result of their daily contact with the members of the communities they visit.