El uso diglósico del latí­n en los villancicos a San Pedro Nolasco de Sor Juana Inés la Cruz

Abstract

In the villancicos to Saint Peter Nolasco, Sor Juana combines a high variety of contemporary latin language –the epigraph (Matthew, 22, 20-21) of the dedication to the Virgin– with a low variety –the bachelor’s latinajos in the ensaladilla–. Taking Ferguson’s model as a conceptual background, it is observed that the determining factor of this diglossia is the opposition functionality/dysfunctionality of each variety within its respective context. The analysis of that opposition’s connotations enables the understanding of this singular latin diglossia as an evidence of the tension, characteristic of religious villancico, between popular culture and elite culture.