Caliche (linguistics)

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Caliche is a collection of slang words that is most commonly used in El Salvador and Honduras. Caliche employs techniques of Nahuatl word construction, such as combining parts of two words to form a new one.

There are also numerous variations that include the term vergón, derived from a the slang word for penis (verga), is used to describe something 'cool'. Originally the meaning of the word "verga" is a kind of whip used to hit horses so that they can go faster. Other variations include vergazo, vergonada, and vergonísimo. A number of slang, mostly vulgar terms, also have the general meaning of 'a lot', though have individually distinct meanings when used in another context. For example, vergo and cachimbo. In certain regions of the Bajo Lempa region, in the southern part of Usulután, the verb espriar has come into common usage among younger Salvadorians when they want to indicate 'to drink alcohol'. Since they often do it under the guise of drinking Sprite, the verb espriar is used as a euphemism.

Since the civil war in El Salvador human migration and displacement have changed the linguistic landscape. Those Salvadorians who lived in refugee camps in Panamá, for example, returned to El Salvador using terms like guirro,^{[citation needed]} a Panamanian term for a little kid, instead of the Salvadoran bicho, which is considered offensive in other contexts.

Salvadorans also make heavy use of the voseo, but may elect to use the more common tu while abroad or while speaking to non-Salvadorans.^{[citation needed]}

Salvadorans peasants often pronounce /s/ and /f/ as /h/. For example, "fuiste" would be pronounced as "huiste" and "pues si" as "puehi". Also, /s/ may sound as if pronounced with a lisp. This lisp commonly pronounced by the eastern part of El Salvador's people. (San Miguel, San Vicente, Usulutan, La Union).

It is also common to drop the initial /d/ in common words, such as "dónde," which then becomes "ónde".

Although many Salvadorans, regardless of their social status, often omit the last "s" of any word that is preceded by another word that starts with a consonant especially: p,t,g,etc or some of the indicative pronouns as long as they have a consonant after the s, such as : "esto, esta" his will be pronounced:"ehto, ehta"..Words like "eso, esa" there is vowel after the "S" so it will be pronounced normally.

Some people in the more rural areas add an 'm' to the ends of words that end is 's'. For example, instead of saying "Vamos, pues", it would sound like "vamos puesm".