Jorge Antonio Leoni de León

In this paper, we describe the evolution of the term maje ('dude, guy') from its introduction int... more In this paper, we describe the evolution of the term maje ('dude, guy') from its introduction into the Spanish of Costa Rica in the mid-twentieth century to its current use; the definitions compiled in various lexicographical works that have registered the term at specific moments of its evolution constitute our starting point. Thus, we explain the change of its original use, limited to the juvenile jargon and masculine underworld, as synonym of 'idiot' (Nunca falta un maje que lo haga 'There will always be a moron who does it'), up to its contemporary use, which presents two remarkable characteristics: (1) loss of the voiceless velar fricative /x/ in intervocalic position (so that maje becomes mae) and (2) extension of its use without gender distinction (El mae vino 'The dude came', La mae se quedó 'The dude (female form) stayed'). In the course of this research, we detected two new usages of mae: (1) in reference to animated non-human beings (Le di de comer al gato; el mae no quiso las croquetas 'I fed the cat; it did not want the croquettes') and (2) in reference to objects with a certain degree of animation (Cargué el teléfono, pero el mae no encendió 'I charged the phone, but it did not turn on'). As part of this evolutionary process, we describe the appearance of a third instance of mae, preceded by a masculine or feminine determinant, which we identify as a pronominal phrase: Vi a Ana, la mae sale con Carlos ('I saw Ana, she is dating Carlos'). These forms, refractory to modifiers with prenominals (*La buena mae no me habla 'The good woman does not speak to me'), recover the full nominal sense of 'person' if they are modified by postnominal adjectives (El mae guapo no vino 'The handsome guy did not come').

Jorge Antonio Leoni de León & Sergio Cordero Monge (2020). Mae, una innovación apelativa en el español de Costa Rica. En: Gabriel, Christoph / Pešková, Andrea / Selig, Meisenburg (eds.): Contact, variation and change. Studies in honor of Trudel Meisenburg (Studienreihe Romania 35). Berlin: Erich Schmidt, 343–361. [URL: https://esv.info/978-3-503-19168-0 ]

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Epistemological and Theoretical Foundations in Language Policy and Planning: Introduction

Springer International Publishing eBooks, 2023

Computational linguistics in Costa Rica: an overview

by Jorge Antonio Leoni de León, Diego Burgos, and Antonio de Leon

Proceedings of the NAACL HLT 2010 Young …, Jan 1, 2010

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Books by Jorge Antonio Leoni de León

Epistemological and Theoretical Foundations in Language Policy and Planning

by Federico Gobbo, Michele Gazzola, David Cassels Johnson, and Jorge Antonio Leoni de León

This book advances the growing area of language policy and planning (LPP) by examining the episte... more This book advances the growing area of language policy and planning (LPP) by examining the epistemological and theoretical foundations that engendered and sustain the field, drawing on insights and approaches from anthropology, linguistics, economics, political science, and education to create an accessible and inter-disciplinary overview of LPP as a coherent discipline. Throughout the book, the authors address LPP from different perspectives, exploring the interface between planning in theory and its practical problems in implementation. This volume will be of interest to students and scholars with an interest in LPP in particular, and educational, social, and public policy more broadly.