Dialects scorned in a handbook of dialectology. A critical analysis of some papers published in Alvar (dir., 1996)

Linguistics adheres to a descriptive position towards variation. That position contends that no linguistic reasons exist in order to consider that a given dialect is better or worse than other dialects, for all of them are equally effective ways of communication. On the contrary, the prescriptive perspective brings to the fore an asymmetric view of variation which assumes the existence of correct and incorrect varieties. This paper discusses a quite surprising and unexpected fact, i.e. a strong prescriptivist stance in some of the chapters of a renowned handbook of dialectology that describes the varieties of Spanish. The paper provides a critical analysis of those chapters and shows that they reveal a number of linguistic prejudices that denigrate and scorn several varieties of Spanish