Rioplatense Spanish
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Rioplatense Spanish (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell, {{#invoke:IPA|main}}), also known as Rioplatense Castilian,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> or River Plate Spanish,<ref>Saab, Andrés. (2009). "On verbal duplication in River Plate Spanish". Selected papers from Going Romance. Nice 2009.</ref> is a variety of Spanish<ref>Orlando Alba, Zonificación dialectal del español en América ("Classification of the Spanish Language within Dialectal Zones in America"), in: César Hernández Alonso (ed.), "Historia presente del español de América", Pabecal: Junta de Castilla y León, 1992.</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=":0">Alvar, Manuel, "Manual de dialectología hispánica. El español de América", ("Handbook of Hispanic Dialectology. Spanish Language in America."). Barcelona 1996.</ref> originating in and around the Río de la Plata Basin, and now spoken throughout most of Argentina and Uruguay.<ref>Resnick, Melvyn: Phonological Variants and Dialects Identification in Latin American Spanish. The Hague 1975.</ref> This dialect is widely recognized throughout the Hispanosphere due to its strong influence from Italian languages, a result of significant historical Italian immigration to the region.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> As a consequence, it has incorporated numerous Italian loanwords—giving rise to the lunfardo argot—and is spoken with an intonation similar to that of the Neapolitan language from Southern Italy.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
It is the most prominent dialect to employ voseo (the use of vos in place of the pronoun tú, along with special accompanying conjugations) in both speech and writing.<ref name=":1">Template:Citation</ref> Many features of Rioplatense Spanish are also shared with the varieties spoken in south and eastern Bolivia, as well as in Paraguay, particularly in regions bordering Argentina. It also strongly influences the fronteiriço, a pidgin spoken in Uruguay's border regions with Brazil, as a result of continuous interaction between the communities of both nations.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
As Rioplatense is considered a dialect of Spanish and not a distinct language, there are no credible figures for a total number of speakers. The total population of these areas would amount to some 25–30 million, depending on the definition and expanse. Template:Culture of Argentina Template:Culture of Uruguay
LocationEdit
Rioplatense is the predominant Spanish variety spoken in both Argentina and Uruguay. In the former, it is primarily centered in major urban areas such as Buenos Aires, Rosario, Santa Fe, La Plata, Mar del Plata and Bahía Blanca—along with their surrounding suburbs and the regions connecting them, whereas in the latter, it is spoken nationwide, where it takes the form of Uruguayan Spanish.<ref>Particularities of the Spanish language in Uruguay</ref>
Beyond these core areas, Rioplatense Spanish extends to regions that, while not geographically adjacent, have been culturally influenced by these linguistic centers, including parts of Paraguay and the border regions of Brazil and Uruguay.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It serves as the linguistic standard in audiovisual media across both Argentina and Uruguay.<ref name=":0" />
HistoryEdit
The Spanish language was introduced to the region during the colonial era. The Río de la Plata Basin, which originally formed part of the Viceroyalty of Peru, was granted its own status as the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata in 1776.<ref name=":1" /> Following the independence of both nations in the first half of the 19th century, the language spoken in the area—criollo Spanish—was largely unaffected by external linguistic influences and varied primarily due to regionalisms.
From the 1870s until the mid-1960s, large waves of European immigrants, primarily from Italy and Spain, began to arrive in Uruguay and Argentina.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> As a result, the ethnic and cultural composition of both countries, which were in the process of consolidating as nation-states, was profoundly influenced by the cultures of the new arrivals. The language adopted various features from the native languages of these immigrants, such as Neapolitan and Sicilian, which played a significant role in shaping Rioplatense.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>
European immigrationEdit
Several languages, especially Italian, influenced the historical criollo Spanish of the region because of the diversity of the settlers and immigrants to Argentina and Uruguay:
- 1870–1890: mainly Northern Italian, Spanish, Basque, and Galician speakers, with some others from France, Germany, and more European countries.
- 1910–1945: again from Spain, Southern Italy, Portugal and, in smaller numbers, from across the remainder of Europe; Jewish immigration—mainly from Russian Empire and Poland from the 1910s until after World War II—was also significant.
- English and Welsh speakers were not as numerous, but made up a substantial number as well, with many Welshmen setting up colonies that still stand to this day.
Influence of indigenous populationsEdit
Due to the disappearance of the indigenous population in Uruguay during the early years of the country as an independent state and the absence of a lasting cultural legacy from these peoples, there was no significant influence of native languages on Uruguayan Spanish.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In contrast, in Argentina, there was a strong interaction with the languages of the indigenous peoples of the northern regions.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> Therefore, words from Guarani, Quechua, and other indigenous languages were incorporated into the local form of Spanish, and then spread.
Some words of Amerindian origin commonly used in Rioplatense Spanish are:
- From Quechua:
- guacho or guacha (orig. wakcha "poor person, vagabond, orphan"); the term for the native cowboys of the Pampas, gaucho, may be related.
- choclo/pochoclo (pop + choclo, from choqllo, corn) – "popcorn" in Argentina
- From Guaraní: pororó – "popcorn" in Uruguay, Paraguay and some Argentine provinces.
- See Influences on the Spanish language for a more comprehensive review of borrowings into all dialects of Spanish.
Linguistic featuresEdit
PhonologyEdit
Rioplatense Spanish distinguishes itself from other dialects of Spanish by the pronunciation of certain consonants.
- Like many other dialects, Rioplatense features {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}: the sounds represented by {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (historically the palatal lateral {{#invoke:IPA|main}}) and {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (historically the palatal approximant {{#invoke:IPA|main}}) have fused into one. Thus, in Rioplatense, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} "he fell down" is homophonous with {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} "he became silent". This merged phoneme is generally pronounced as a postalveolar fricative, either voiced {{#invoke:IPA|main}} (as in English measure or the French {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) in the central and western parts of the dialect region (this phenomenon is called {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) or voiceless {{#invoke:IPA|main}} (as in English shine or the French {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), a phenomenon called {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} that originated in and around Buenos Aires<ref>Charles B. Chang, "Variation in palatal production in Buenos Aires Spanish". Selected Proceedings of the 4th Workshop on Spanish Sociolinguistics, ed. Maurice Westmoreland and Juan Antonio Thomas, 54–63. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project, 2008.</ref> but has expanded to the rest of Argentina and Uruguay.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Both {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (those from Buenos Aires) and Montevideans perceive those speaking with {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} as originating from their own country and those speaking with {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} originating from the opposite country, despite the fact that {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} is common in both.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
- As in most American dialects, also, Rioplatense Spanish has seseo ({{#invoke:IPA|main}} and {{#invoke:IPA|main}} are not distinguished, both being pronounced as {{#invoke:IPA|main}}). Thus, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ("house") is homophonous with {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ("hunt"). {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} is common to other dialects of Spanish in the Americas, Canarian Spanish and Andalusian Spanish.
- In popular speech, the fricative {{#invoke:IPA|main}} has a very strong tendency to become "aspirated" before another consonant or a pause. (The resulting sound depends on what the following consonant is, although describing it as a voiceless glottal fricative, {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, would give a clear idea of the mechanism.Template:Sfnp) {{#invoke:IPA|main}} may also be aspirated at the end of a word preceding another word that begins in a vowel, though this is less common.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Such word-final intervocalic {{#invoke:IPA|main}}-aspiration is most frequent in northern Argentina.Template:Sfnp For example, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} "this is the same" is commonly pronounced something like {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, but in {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} "the blue eagles", the final {{#invoke:IPA|main}} in {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} and {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} might stay {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, as no consonant follows ({{#invoke:IPA|main}}), though it might still be aspirated as well ({{#invoke:IPA|main}}).
- The phoneme {{#invoke:IPA|main}} (written as Template:Angle bracket before Template:Angle bracket or Template:Angle bracket, and as Template:Angle bracket elsewhere) is never glottalized to {{#invoke:IPA|main}} in the Atlantic coast.Template:Sfnp That phenomenon is common to other coastal dialects in Hispanic American Spanish, but not the Rioplatense dialect. Rioplatense speakers always realize it as {{#invoke:IPA|main}}.
- Weakening the final {{#invoke:IPA|main}} before consonants through aspiration is the norm. However, this elision may be seen as a feature of uneducated speakers. In some contexts—when singing, for example—the level of aspiration may vary.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Some speakers may also drop the final {{#invoke:IPA|main}} sound in verb infinitives.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
- Many Argentinians merge {{#invoke:IPA|main}} into {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, meaning that {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} "unsociable" and {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} "uranium" are pronounced the same.Template:Sfnp
- Template:IPAblink is a relatively common allophone of {{#invoke:IPA|main}}. Some speakers employ it in emphatic pronunciation, especially when pronouncing words spelled with Template:Angbr.Template:Sfnp
In Rioplatense Spanish, syllable-final {{#invoke:IPA|main}} is almost invariably aspirated to {{#invoke:IPA|main}} before a following consonant.<ref name="Nunez2022">Template:Cite journal</ref> Among speakers from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, this aspiration—often culminating in deletion—extends to all coda environments, including before vowels and at utterance-final pause.<ref name="FdW1974">Template:Cite book</ref> Frequent deletion of word-final {{#invoke:IPA|main}} in the same speech style further simplifies codas and favours a consonant–vowel (CV) rhythmic pattern in rapid informal speech.<ref name="Gilbert2016">Template:Cite conference</ref>
- {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}
- "If you want to go, then go. I'm not going to stop you."
- {{#invoke:IPA|main}}
IntonationEdit
Rioplatense Spanish, especially the speech of all of Uruguay and the Buenos Aires area in Argentina, has intonation patterns that resemble those of Italian dialects. This correlates well with immigration patterns, since both Argentina and Uruguay have received large numbers of Italian settlers since the 19th century.<ref>Particularities of the Spanish language in Uruguay</ref>
According to a study conducted by National Scientific and Technical Research Council of Argentina<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Buenos Aires and Rosario residents speak with an intonation most closely resembling Neapolitan. The researchers note this as a relatively recent phenomenon, starting in the beginning of the 20th century with the main wave of Southern Italian immigration. Before that, the porteño accent was more like that of Spain, especially Andalusia,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and in case of Uruguay, the accent was more like Canarian dialect.
Pronouns and verb conjugationEdit
One of the features of the Argentine and Uruguayan speaking style is the {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}: the usage of the pronoun {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} for the second person singular, instead of {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}. In other Spanish-speaking regions where {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} is used, such as in Chile and Colombia, the use of voseo has at times been considered a nonstandard lower speaking style, whereas in Argentina and Uruguay it is standard.
The second person plural pronoun, which is {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} in Spain, is replaced with {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} in Rioplatense, as in most other Hispanic American dialects. While {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} is the formal second person singular pronoun, its plural {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} has a neutral connotation and can be used to address friends and acquaintances as well as in more formal occasions (see T–V distinction). {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} takes a grammatically third- person plural verb.
As an example, see the conjugation table for the verb {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (to love) in the present tense, indicative mode:
Person/Number | Peninsular | Rioplatense |
---|---|---|
1st sing. | lang}} | lang}} |
2nd sing. | lang}} | lang}} |
3rd sing. | lang}} | lang}} |
1st plural | lang}} | lang}} |
2nd plural | lang}} | lang}}<ref group="2pl">{{#invoke:Lang|lang}} is used throughout most of Hispanic America for both the familiar and formal. In Spain, outside of Canary Islands and Andalusia, it is used only in formal speech for the second person plural.</ref> |
3rd plural | lang}} | lang}} |
<references group="2pl" />
Although apparently there is just a stress shift (from {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} to {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), the origin of such a stress is the loss of the diphthong of the classical {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} inflection from {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} to {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}. This can be better seen with the verb "to be": from {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} to {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}. In vowel-alternating verbs like {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} and {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, the stress shift also triggers a change of the vowel in the root:
Peninsular | Rioplatense |
---|---|
lang}} | lang}} |
lang}} | lang}} |
lang}} | lang}} |
lang}} | lang}} |
lang}} | lang}} |
lang}} | lang}} |
For the {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} verbs, the Peninsular {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} forms end in {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, so there is no diphthong to simplify, and Rioplatense {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} employs the same form: instead of {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}; instead of {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (note the alternation).
Verb | Standard Spanish | Castilian in plural | Rioplatense | Chilean | Maracaibo Voseo | English (US/UK) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cantar | tú cantas | vosotros cantáis | vos cantás | tú cantái | vos cantáis | you sing |
Correr | tú corres | vosotros corréis | vos corrés | tú corrí | vos corréis | you run |
Partir | tú partes | vosotros partís | vos partís | tú partí | vos partís | you leave |
Decir | tú dices | vosotros decís | vos decís | tú decí | vos decís | you say |
The imperative forms for {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} is formed by dropping the final -r from the infinitive and stressing the last syllable. Thus the form is identical to stressing the last syllable of all regular imperative forms in Peninsular:
- Hablá más fuerte, por favor. "Speak louder, please" (habla in Peninsular)
- Comé un poco de torta. "Eat some cake" (come in Peninsular)
However, irregular verbs in Peninsular are not identical except for stress:
- Vení para acá. "Come over here" (ven in Peninsular)
- Hacé lo que te dije. "Do what I told you" (haz in Peninsular)
The verb ir (to go) is not used in this form except for the Argentine province of Tucumán, where it's conjugated ite. The corresponding form of the verb andar (to walk, to go) substitutes for it.
- Andá para allá. "Go there" (ve in Peninsular)
The plural imperative uses the {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} form (i. e. the third person plural subjunctive, as corresponding to ellos).
As for the subjunctive forms of {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} verbs, while they tend to take the {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} conjugation, some speakers do use the classical {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} conjugation, employing the {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} form minus the i in the final diphthong. Many consider only the {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} subjunctive forms to be correct.
- Espero que veas or Espero que veás "I hope that you see..." (Peninsular veáis)
- Lo que quieras or (less used) Lo que quierás/querás "Whatever you want" (Peninsular queráis)
In the preterite, an s is sometimes added, for instance (vos) perdistes. This corresponds to the classical {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} conjugation found in literature. Compare Iberian Spanish form vosotros perdisteis.
Other verb forms coincide with {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} after the i is omitted (the {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} forms are the same as {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}).
- Si salieras "If you went out" (Peninsular salierais)
Standard Spanish | Rioplatense / other Argentine | Chilean | Maracaibo Voseo | Castilian in plural | English (US/UK) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
lo que quieras | lo que quieras/querás | lo que querái | lo que queráis | whatever you want | |
espero que veas | espero que veas/veás | espero que veái | espero que veáis | I hope you can see | |
no lo toques | no lo toqués | no lo toquís | no lo toquéis | don't touch it | |
si salieras | si salierai | si salierais | if you went out | ||
si amaras | si amarai | si amarais | if you loved | ||
vivías | vivíai | vivíais | you lived | ||
cantabas | cantabai | cantabais | you sang | ||
dirías | diríai | diríais | you'd say | ||
harías | haríai | haríais | you'd do |
UsageEdit
In the old times, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} was used as a respectful term. In Rioplatense, as in most other dialects which employ {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, this pronoun has become informal, supplanting the use of {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (compare you in English, which used to be formal singular but has supplanted the former informal singular pronoun thou). It is used especially for addressing friends and family members (regardless of age), but may also include most acquaintances, such as co-workers, friends of one's friends, etc.
Usage of tensesEdit
Although literary works use the full spectrum of verb inflections, in Rioplatense (as well as many other Spanish dialects), the future tense tends to use a verbal phrase (periphrasis) in the informal language.
This verb phrase is formed by the verb ir ("to go") followed by the preposition a ("to") and the main verb in the infinitive. This resembles the English phrase to be going to + infinitive verb. For example:
- Creo que descansaré un poco → Creo que voy a descansar un poco (I think I will rest a little → I think I am going to rest a little)
- Mañana me visitará mi madre → Mañana me va a visitar mi madre (Tomorrow my mother will visit me → Tomorrow my mother is going to visit me)
- La visitaré mañana → La voy a visitar mañana (I will visit her tomorrow → I am going to visit her tomorrow)
The present perfect (Spanish: Pretérito perfecto compuesto), just like pretérito anterior, is rarely used: the simple past replaces it. However, the Present Perfect is still used in Northwestern Argentina, particularly in the province of Tucumán.
- Juan no ha llegado todavía → Juan no llegó todavía (Juan has not arrived yet → Juan did not arrive yet)
- El torneo ha comenzado → El torneo empezó (The tournament has begun → The tournament began)
- Ellas no han votado → Ellas no votaron (They have not voted → They did not vote)
But, in the subjunctive mood, the present perfect is still widely used:
- No creo que lo hayan visto ya (I don't believe they have already seen him)
- Espero que lo hayas hecho ayer (I hope you did it yesterday)
In Buenos Aires a reflexive form of verbs is often used – "se viene" instead of "viene'', etc.
Influence beyond ArgentinaEdit
In Chilean Spanish there is plenty of lexical influence from the Argentine dialects suggesting a possible "masked prestige"<ref name=salram/> otherwise not expressed, since the image of Argentine things is usually negative. Influences run across the different social strata of Chile. Argentine tourism in Chile during summer and Chilean tourism in Argentina would influence the speech of the upper class. The middle classes would have Argentine influences by watching football on cable television and by watching Argentine programs in the broadcast television. La Cuarta, a "popular" tabloid, regularly employs lunfardo words and expressions. Usually Chileans do not recognize the Argentine borrowings as such, claiming they are Chilean terms and expressions.<ref name=salram/> The relation between Argentine dialects and Chilean Spanish is one of "asymmetric permeability", with Chilean Spanish adopting sayings of the Argentine variants but usually not the other way around.<ref name=salram>Template:Cite journal</ref> Despite this, people in Santiago, Chile, value Argentine Spanish poorly in terms of "correctness", far behind Peruvian Spanish, which is considered the most correct form.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Some Argentine words have been adopted in Iberian Spanish such as pibe, piba<ref name="pibe">Template:Cite book</ref> "boy, girl", taken into Spanish slang where it produced pibón,<ref name="pibón">Template:Cite book</ref> "very attractive person".
See alsoEdit
- Diccionario de argentinismos (book)
- Immigration to Argentina
- Immigration to Uruguay
- Lunfardo, Buenos Aires slang argot
- Vesre, reversing the order of syllables within a word
- Names given to the Spanish language
- Cocoliche, a pidgin of Italian and Spanish formerly spoken by Italians in Greater Buenos Aires.
- South American Spanish
- Spanish dialects and varieties
- Voseo
ReferencesEdit
Further readingEdit
External linksEdit
- Template:In lang Diccionario argentino-español
- Jergas de habla hispana Spanish dictionary specializing in slang and colloquial expressions, featuring all Spanish-speaking countries, including Argentina and Uruguay.
- Dahl, Ivar (1944). Español bonaerense (transcripción semiestrecha) Le Maître Phonétique, pág. 11.
- Jones, Daniel and Dahl, Ivar (1944). Castellano bonaerense, en Fundamentos de escritura fonética. London, University College. https://thesaurus.caroycuervo.gov.co/index.php/rth/article/view/3324
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