It took years to draft the questionnaire for the Atlas Lingüístico de la Península Ibérica [Linguistic Atlas of the Iberian Peninsula] (ALPI), where the concepts being investigated were collected through surveys. Navarro Tomás explains that, in order to speed up the process, the intervention of Menéndez Pidal would have been needed. However Menéndez Pidal’s workload was rather intense at this time, and as a result most of the task fell to Navarro Tomás. During the initial phase, Amado Alonso worked with Navarro Tomás in drafting the questionnaire, with the collaboration of Angel Lacalle; but Alonso’s departure for Buenos Aires to direct the Philological Institute discouraged Navarro Tomás and set everything back. Finally, in 1930, the three notebooks that formed the definitive questionnaire were printed: Notebook I for phonetics, morphology and syntax; and two different notebooks to study lexicon. These notebooks were developed taking into account the questionnaires the Atlas Linguistique de la France (ALF) and those of the Atlas of Italy and Switzerland (AIS). Of the two notebooks dedicated to the lexicon, the Notebook II E was longer, while the Notebook II G was more restricted.
In order to obtain materials related to phonetics, Notebook I included:
una serie de conceptos designados con denominación unánime en todo el territorio. Figuran en la misma sección los puntos de morfología y sintaxis que se consideraron susceptibles de someter a interrogatorio. Los resultados probaron las ventajas de introducir esta novedad. Quedó formado el cuestionario por un cuaderno de fonética y gramática con 411 puntos y otro de vocabulario con 833.
[a series of concepts designated with uniform terms in the whole territory. In the same section are included morphology and syntax points that seemed suitable for interviews. The results proved the advantages of introducing this novelty. The questionnaire consisted of one notebook with 411 phonetics and grammar points, and another notebook with 833 vocabulary points.]
(Navarro Tomás 1975: 13-14)
As has been noted, two versions were made of Notebook (II), dedicated to lexicon: (II) E, which had 50 pages, and (II) G, 27 pages. At most of the survey points, they used the more extensive questionnaire, which includes many questions which in turn are subdivided into several, varied, open ended questions. The surveys were only conducted using Notebook (II) G in 35 localities. We also know that the survey questionnaire was backed up by the use of an album of illustrations and some objects.
The Introduction of the ALPI reviews the main contents of the lexical questionnaire:
Se hacían preguntas referentes a la configuración del terreno, meteorología y astronomía, flora, fauna, cría y aprovechamiento de los animales domésticos, ganadería, matanza del cerdo, el cuerpo humano y sus enfermedades, la familia con el nacimiento, la boda y la muerte, los vestidos y las comidas tradicionales, la casa con los muebles y los utensilios de cocina, las diversas labores agrícolas, la siega y la trilla, la vid y el vino, las medidas tradicionales de superficie, de líquidos, de áridos, etc, la apicultura, la confección de quesos, los oficios antiguos como el albañil, el carpintero, el herrero, el molinero, el zapatero, etc.
[Questions were asked related to the configuration of the land, meteorology and astronomy, flora, fauna, raising and making use of domestic animals, livestock, pig slaughtering, the human body and its illnesses, the family along with birth, weddings and death, traditional dress and food, the home along with the furniture and kitchen utensils, varied agricultural tasks, harvest and threshing, vineyards and wine-making, traditional measures of surfaces, liquids, of dry goods, etc., bee-keeping, cheese-making, and traditional trades such as bricklaying, carpentry, blacksmithing, milling, shoemaking, etc.]
For its interest, the questionnaires that were used as a basis for the surveys of the atlas are included here:
