The plough and the tractor

This text constitutes the starting point for the various reflections contained in this volume, and served as a theoretical framework in the congress where the first versions of the texts were presented and debated. It raises, using the analogy of the contrast between the plough and the tractor, some of the problems faced by national languages in the contemporary world, in which the forms of life that gave rise to languages and gave meaning to their diverse characterization have gradually disappeared, endangering linguistic diversity itself.

Given the purpose and context in which this introductory text was written, and exceptionally, the text does not include bibliographical references within it, nor a final bibliography list — that is, in short, all the bibliography cited throughout the volume. The poetic fragments included in the text have been translated, given their intended significant contribution to the discourse.