Gat vell : Dites marineres

This work in Valencian language presents a great variety of aspects due to the complexity and audacity of the task in which the author focuses. Its pages bring together the disciplinary fields of anthropology, ethnography, linguistics, toponymy, history, geography... The introduction begins directly by situating the reader in the environment of folklore and popular culture. The space in which it is located is defined from the beginning with a well-established state of the question as far as 'folklore' is concerned. The finalist intention of this theoretical journey is fulfilled with the assumption of the concept of Oriol (2002: 23) as 'acts of eminently communicative character of all social groups'. From this perspective, Llorca Ibi has compiled and analysed the "Valencian marine phraseology": as an oral transmission of popular cultural knowledge that presents fixed structures and which use is inscribed in a specific professional field. But, the author points out, another of the values of the work comes from the fact that the situational environments which gave rise to these expressions have been completely transformed today. 

A second chapter, still, places the reader in the referential axes on which to understand the pages of the body of the text. The author refines as he delves into the determination of what "sea popular culture" means to him. Once again he frames his work in an account of the investigation in this regard, placing himself in the area of Valencian ethno-poetics. In this field he recognizes the existence of ethnolinguistic studies since the beginning of the twentieth century. But not so deep, systematized and analytical works which provide a global description of the oral productions of those communities that coexist with the sea. In addition to linguistic studies, Llorca Ibi also gives an account of the production focused on gastronomy, history, religiosity and even the narrative writing located in the seafaring world. 

Two more elements make up the scaffolding that supports "Gat well": the explanation of the applied methodology, and the objectives established for the research. With respect to the first, the complexity of the task has required a methodology integrating various procedures. The author explains that, for each point of study, specific techniques have been adopted to facilitate the compilation and systematisation of the materials. Field work has been carried out, by means of rigorous oral interviews in order to preserve the reliability of oral sources and documents. Other linguistic formulations have been extracted from specific conversations with different informants, both seafarers and non-professional subjects, but always linguistically or to their living environment close. Finally, data have been also obtained from the works mentioned in the bibliography on the state of the question. 

A nuance that also includes Llorca Ibi is the element of the genre. It is interesting to point out the appreciation he makes regarding the predominance of man in the seafaring world. However, he emphasizes that the presence of women in secondary activities is basic. Above all, the humanistic aspect presides over the study and is recurrently manifested in observations such as, for example, on the suffering and harshness of this seafaring life. 

The second phase of the procedure, once the oral and written documentary material has been collected, focuses on the different methodologies syncretised in the study: ethnolinguistics insofar as the popular culture of the sea transmits a way of life, of acting and of conceiving the specific world. The collected expressions respond to pragmatic purposes (communicative, educational or expressive), which occasionally also reach a literary value. The philological method has been applied for the adequate interpretation of the words and terminology of this world of the sea. Geolinguistics, to determine the areas in which the terms are most active or relevant, as well as the influences received and exerted by the different coastal communities. Sociolinguistics, on the other hand, has made it possible to evaluate phraseology as unifying the seafaring community and its identity vis-à-vis other professional or social communities, also taking into account the ages of the informants. 

The last element of the introductory part of the work remains to be highlighted: the determination of objectives. In this case, the author lists them according to six points that we are going to summarize here as the following: to conform a corpus of marine formulas, to organize and classify this corpus according to coherent criteria, to contrast it with those of other social and geographical groups, to elaborate conclusions according to the results obtained and to explain the richness of the Valencian marine culture.

From this point, he develops the study of the elements that make up the corpus obtained, which is presented taxonomically organized according to the following categories: the sun, the moon and the stars; the sky; the wind: the wind and its names and the struggle of the winds; the sea and its states; ropes and "cabuyería"; boats, navigation, fishing; people; places; historical references; marine inhabitants. And he ends by giving an account of the conclusions. 

So much for the balance of the epistemological content of this book. But the list of elements that have made it worthy of the Bernat Capó Prize in its twentieth edition does not end here. It is not only phraseological material that it provides us. The compilation of graphic documentation constitutes a visual catalogue in itself, complementary to the taxonomy in which the contents have been arranged. It is not only necessary to emphasize the beauty and quality of the images in all the aspects. Furthermore, it must be said that they offer the aesthetics of the technique of the black and white, alternating with the wealth of shades of the photographs in color. In addition, the diachronic component is also complete in the graphic aspect, since current photographs appear along with others from different times, as well as engravings and maps.