Peruvian Coast Spanish
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Peruvian Coast Spanish is the form of the Spanish language spoken in the coastal region of Peru. The Spanish spoken in Coastal Peru has three characteristic forms of speech. The first one is that of the Limean inhabitants of the near area to the sea and south, the Central or Lima form whose origin was in the old section of the city, from where it extended to the whole coastal region. The second is its provincial immigrant sociolect, and the third is its northern variant, almost extinct. In the southern section of the coast, the speech is related more to the Andean dialect.
Between 1535 and 1739, Lima was the capital of the Spanish Empire in South America, from which culture spread, and its speech became the purest since it was the home of the famous University of San Marcos of Lima. Also, it was the city that had the highest number of titles of nobility from Castile outside of Spain. Colonial people in Lima became used to living an ostentatious and courtly life style that people in the other capital cities of Spanish America did not experience, with the exception of Mexico City and later the city of Bogotá. On the other hand, they lived for the richness extracted from the inland mines by the Indians. Since it has large Japanese and Chinese populations, many Spanish words came from their languages.
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[edit] Phonetics and phonology
- The Lima accent does not have a strong intonation as the rest of the Spanish-speaking world does. (Some scholars believe that it is because of climate factors; young people tend to speak too fast, and the lower class and outcast boys' tonal curve is from Andean or remote Black origin).
- In Lima there is no loss of syllable-final /s/ before a vowel or the end of a sentence. It is only aspirated in a preconsonantal position. This is unique, by all the social classes in the whole Latin American coast. The pronunciation of ese is soft predorsal.
- There is a clear (but soft) emission of the vibrants /rr/ and /r/. In syllable-final position is never assibilated like Chile, Mexico or the Andes.
- The so-called yeismo and seseo occur.
- There is no confusion of /r/ with /l/ in syllable-final position like the Caribbean countries and the lower sociolects of Chile.
- The letters 'j' and 'g 'before 'e' and 'i' are pronounced as a soft palatal [ç]. The jota is velar: /x/ (resembled Castilian) in emphatic or grumpy speech, especially before 'a', 'o' and 'u'. It is never /h/.
- Word-final /d/ is usually unvoiced or turned to /t/.
- Word-final /n/ is routinely velarized (the most highlighted Andalusian trait).
[edit] Grammatical subject
Since the use of 'vos' instead of 'tú' as a familiar form of address was a marker of low social class in Spain, it was never used in Lima.
Proper Limean speech has adjusted considerably to more closely resemble the standard Spanish American linguistic norm, because of the city's lack of contact with the Andean world and autochthonous languages for centuries.
However, until the beginning of the 20th century, speech on the Northern Peruvian coast was similar in many ways with how individuals spoke on the Ecuadorian-Colombian coast. The most remarkable variation from the Castillian norm was the presence of vos, which was used to refer to one's family and is completely missing to-day. This part of Northern Peru also had a strong influence on the now-extinct Muchik or Mochica language.
[edit] Inland immigrants variation
The other main variety of Spanish from the coast of Peru is that which appeared after the penetration of the linguistic habits of the Sierra and of the rural environment into the coastal cities and the former 'Garden City' by the Great Andean Invasion (1940-1980).
This language could be catalogued as undereducated, and is the form which is spoken today by the youth and the great majority of residents of the capital.
Its main characterisitics are:
- The strong use of diminutives, double possessives and the routinely use of 'pues' and 'nomás' in postverbal position.
- The redudant use of verbal clitics, particularly 'lo' (the so-called loismo)
- The bilabization of /f/
- Closed timbre
[edit] Recent changes
Some modern phenomena can be observed in speech to-day.
- /s/, is pronounced as [θ], especially in the speech of young men.
- /b/ /d/ and /g/ and intervocalic amongst younger people.
- /y/ is intervocalic, due to northern influences. In the lower class it is generalized.
This popular variety of Coastal Peruvian dialect is not only contributed to by Andean influences but also, of course, by foreign ones: Anglicisms, Mexicanisms and Argentinisms are all very present in the lexical level.
Finally, young people belonging to the highest economic stratum in Lima have also developed a peculiar and mannered form of speaking, noticeable particularly in the way that they alter their tone of speaking.
Some Common Expressions
- Agarrar y + to do something (Agarré y le dije...).
- Parar (en) = to frequently be somewhere or to frequently do something (Paras en la cabina).
- De repente = perhaps.
Some traditional phrases in Lima
- Anticucho = typical food consisting almost always of grilled chicken or cow heart.
- Disforzarse = to be anxious.
- Cachaco = soldier.
- Calato = nude. (many times the syllables are inverted and calato is said 'tolaca'. This applies to many other words.)
- Chicotazo = lash.
- Fresco/a (or conchudo/a) = shameless person.
- Fregar = to bother, to ruin.
- Gallinazo = typical fowl.
- Garúa = tenuous rain.
- Guachafo = ridiculous, gaudy.
- Jarana = party.
- Juerga = party.
- Panteón = cemetery.
- Penar = to roam in a house after dying.
- Pericote = mouse.
- Zamparse = to be introduced abruptly in a place or to get drunk.
Some informal words of extended use
- Aguantar = to wait, to resist.
- Chibolo/a = child, adolescent.
- Paltearse = to be astounded, to be embarrassed.
- Pata = male friend, guy.
- Pollada = party where chicken is served.
Ways of Speaking
As it was mentioned before, much Peruvian slang comes from inverting the syllables of a word. This can be seen in the word 'fercho', which comes from the word 'chofer', driver. Another example is the word 'tolaca', which comes from 'calato'. Slang words do not always have to be the exact inverse of the original word: for example 'mica' comes from the word 'camisa', which means shirt.
[edit] Bibliographic sources
- Caravedo, R.: Sociolingüística del español de Lima.- Lima, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, 1990.-
- Caravedo, R.: El habla de Lima y los patrones normativos del español.- Lima, Academia de Ciencias y Tecnología, 1993.-
- Caravedo, Rocío: Estudios sobre el español de Lima, I. Variación contextual de la sibilante.- Lima: Fondo editorial PUC, 1983.-
- Caravedo, Rocío: Norma Culta de la ciudad de Lima.- Lima: PUC, Instituto Riva-Agüero, Cuadernos de Trabajo, 1, 1977.-
- Escobar, Alberto: Variaciones sociolingüísticas del castellano en el Perú.- Lima 1978.-
- Malmberg, Bertil: La América hispanohablante: unidad y diferenciación del castellano.- Madrid: Istmo, 1970.-
- Granda, German: Estudios de linguistica andina.- Lima Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru, 2001.-
- Lipski, Jhon M: El español de América.- Madrid: 1994.-
- Lope Blanch, Juan M.: Ensayos sobre el español de América.- México: Universidad Autónoma de México, 1993.-
- Mackenzie, Ian: A Linguistic Introduction to Spanish.- University of Newcastle upon Tyne, LINCOM Studies in Romance Linguistics 35.- ISBN 3-89586-347-5.
