Languages to buy and sell. Business names in a central Peninsular community

Abstract

This chapter is concerned with linguistic diversity in business names across the Spanish town of Salamanca. Going from the urban center to the periphery, it examines three areas that are relatively differentiated according to average household income and immigrant population rate, among other indicators. The analysis shows that the use of English and other European languages is characteristic of the highly commercially-oriented town center, while the most peripheral area shows the emergence of Arabic and dialectal features of Latin American Spanish, in line with recent migratory flows. Business names in the intermediate area sometimes combine Spanish and English features. The results are qualitatively interpreted as being indexical of three different metaphorical directions of language choice, namely outward, upward and inward.