Uruguayan Spanish

Uruguayan Spanish or Uruguayan Castilian (Spanish: Español uruguayo o castellano Uruguayano) is Spanish variety spoken in Uruguay and by the Uruguayan diaspora. Uruguayan Spanish is rioplatense Spanish but it differs with the rioplatense spoken in Argentina in a few words. For example, "championes" instead of the Argentine word "zapatillas".

Lexic influences

• Strong influence of Italian and its dialects because of the big Italian communities (Montevideo and Paysandú). The platinean "tonada" (the way of speaking the language) is very different compared to other Latin American countries and Spain because it's very similar to Italian. There are many Italian words incorporated in the language (nona, cucha, fainá, chapar, parlar, festichola, etc.) and of Italian derivation (for example: mina derived from femmina, or pibe from pivello).

• Some influence of Portuguese from Brazil, as a variant of Rocha, with bilingualism or the fusion of the two languages Portuñol.

"Voseo"

In Montevideo, and the whole south region, the "tú" pronoun is changed by the "vos" pronoun with an acute accent verb conjugation. In the rest of the country "tú" is used more commonly instead of "vos". In some cases "tú" is used, but with the corresponding conjugation to "vos", like: "tú tenés", instead of "tú tienes" or "vos tenés".

However, "usted" is used in very formal contexts, for example when speaking to government authorities.

"Tuteo"

In Rocha and in some parts of Maldonado is used the tuteo a lot more than the "voseo".

See also

• Languages of Uruguay
• Rioplatense Spanish

References

External links