Central American Spanish

Central American Spanish ( or ) is the general name of the Spanish language dialects spoken in Central America. More precisely, the term refers to the Spanish language as spoken in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Panamanian Spanish is considered a variety of Caribbean Spanish, it is transitional between Central American and Caribbean dialects.

Phonetics and phonology

Some characteristics of Central American phonology include:
* at the end of a syllable or before a consonant is pronounced like quite often in the three central nations of El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua. This is less frequent in formal speech, like TV broadcasts. In the casual speech of some Salvadoran and Honduran speakers, this may also occur syllable or even word-initially.
* ''j'' (), is aspirated; it is soft as the in English (e.g.: Yahoo).
* ( or ) frequently disappears when in contact with or after .
* Word final is velarized, being pronounced as a velar nasal .
* Both central Guatemala and central Costa Rica have a tendency to assibilate .
* Use of seseo.

Most phonological features of Central American Spanish are similar to Andalusian, Canarian, and Caribbean, and most other coastal Latin American Spanish dialects.

Voseo

The most common form for the second person singular in Central America is . However, is the dominant second person singular pronoun. is used in Spanish-speaking Central America, with the exception of Panama, among family members, close friends, and in informal contexts. When addressing strangers, is used, in a more formal but friendlier environment, might be appropriate. The Panamanian department of Chiriquí and the Mexican state of Chiapas are two regions were is commonly heard.

Voseo originates in a formal form of address (roughly equivalent to modern ''usted'') that eventually began to be used among peers in Spain. While condemned by Antonio de Nebrija on the first Spanish language grammar in 1492, the change in usage was slower, as in the Americas it became associated with lower classes or in despective usage to servants and indigenous persons. Scholar Carlos Gagini claims Spaniards that migrated kept the usage as to pretend noble origins.

The use of enjoys low prestige in formal usage and is often considered incorrect. Officially, all of Central America is , however Sandinista Nicaragua adopted as a symbol of nationalism. Educated Costa Ricans are also more comfortable using , and negative attitudes towards have been changing as of late. Using vos between two acquainted males implies trust, while the usage of tú might be perceived as effeminate; conversely, in a male-female conversation, the usage of tú can be perceived as respectful and polite.

The imperative of verbs used with is formed formed by dropping the final -R of the infinitive, and then adding an acute accent to the final vowel to retain the stress:

The only irregular conjugation in the imperative is the verb ir and ser.

The conjugation of the present tense follows the pattern of replacing the final -R of the infinitive with an -S and adding an acute accent to the previous vowel:

Note how the conjugation of vos presents fewer irregularities compared to tú.

The main difference of the voseo in Argentina is the conjugation of the subjunctive. Rioplatense Spanish prefers the subjunctive forms of tú, whereas in Central America, the vos forms are retained.

The pronoun ''usted'' is used when addressing older, unfamiliar or respected persons, as it is in most Spanish-speaking countries; however, in Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Honduras it is frequently used with younger people, and in Honduras between husband and wife, and friends. In Nicaragua, the pronoun is only used among youth during special or formal occasions or when addressing unfamiliar individuals in a formal manner. It's also used with most, if not all, profanities familiar to the region.Lonely Planet Central America on a Shoestring by Tom Brosnahan, Carolyn Hubbard and Barbara Reioux

Pronouns and verb conjugation

As previously mentioned, one of the features of the Central American speaking style is the voseo: the usage of the pronoun ''vos'' for the second person singular, instead of ''tú''. In some Spanish-speaking regions where ''voseo'' is used, it is sometimes considered a non-standard lower-class or regional variant, whereas in other regions ''voseo'' is standard. ''Vos'' is used with forms of the verb that resemble those of the second person plural (''vosotros'') in Spanish from Spain.

Some people prefer to say "tú" instead of "vos" while conjugating the verbs using the vos forms; for instance: tú cantás, tú bailás, tú podés, etc. This is avoided in Southern Central America, especially in Costa Rica and Nicaragua where is associated with bad education by mixing 2 different pronouns (tú-vos).

The second person plural pronoun, which is ''vosotros'' in Spain, is replaced with ''ustedes'' in C. American Spanish, like most other Latin American dialects. While ''usted'' is the formal second person singular pronoun, its plural ''ustedes'' has a neutral connotation and can be used to address friends and acquaintances as well as in more formal occasions (see T-V distinction). ''Ustedes'' takes a grammatically third person plural verb. Usted is particularly used in Costa Rica between strangers, with foreign people and used by the vast majority of the population in Alajuela and rural areas of the country.

As an example, see the conjugation table for the verb ''amar'' in the present tense, indicative mode:

:(²) ''Ustedes'' is used throughout all of Latin America for both the familiar and formal. In Spain, it is used only in formal speech for the second person plural.

Although apparently there is just a stress shift (from ''amas'' to'' amás''), the origin of such a stress is the loss of the diphthong of the ancient ''vos'' inflection from ''vos amáis'' to ''vos amás''. This can be better seen with the verb "to be": from ''vos sois'' to ''vos sos''. In vowel-alternating verbs like ''perder'' and ''morir'', the stress shift also triggers a change of the vowel in the root:

For the ''-ir'' verbs, the Peninsular ''vosotros'' forms end in ''-ís'', so there is no diphthong to simplify, and Central American ''vos'' employs the same form: instead of ''tú vives'', ''vos vivís''; instead of ''tú vienes'', ''vos venís'' (note the alternation).

The imperative forms for ''vos'' are identical to the plural imperative forms in Peninsular minus the final ''-d'' (stress remains the same):

*''Hablá más alto, por favor.'' "Speak louder, please." (''hablad'' in Peninsular)
*''Comé un poco de torta.'' "Eat some cake." (''comed'' in Peninsular)
*''Vení para acá.'' "Come over here." (''venid'' in Peninsular)

The plural imperative uses the ''ustedes'' form (i. e. the third person plural subjunctive, as corresponding to ''ellos'').

As for the subjunctive forms of ''vos'' verbs, most speakers use the classical ''vos'' conjugation, employing the ''vosotros'' form minus the ''i'' in the final diphthong. However, some prefer to use the ''tú'' subjunctive forms like in Paraguay.

*''Espero que veas'' or ''Espero que veás'' "I hope you can see" (Peninsular ''veáis'')
*''Lo que quieras'' or (less used) ''Lo que querás'' "Whatever you want" (Peninsular ''queráis'')

In the preterite form, an ''s'' is often added, for instance ''(vos) perdistes''. This corresponds to the classical ''vos'' conjugation found in literature. Compare Iberian Spanish form ''vosotros perdisteis''. However, the trailing 's' is deemed incorrect and a ''faux-pas'' in educated use of 'vos'.

Other verb forms coincide with ''tú'' after the ''i'' is omitted (the ''vos'' forms are the same as ''tú'').

*''Si salieras'' "If you went out" (Peninsular ''salierais'')

Usage of tenses

Although literary works use the full spectrum of verb inflections, in colloquial Central American Spanish (as well as many other Spanish dialects), the future tense has been replaced by a verbal phrase ( periphrasis) in the spoken language.

This verb phrase is formed by the verb ''ir'' ("go") followed by the preposition ''a'' and the main verb in the infinitive. This is akin to the English verbal phrase ''going to'' + infinitive verb. For example:

*''Creo que descansaré un poco'' → ''Creo que voy a descansar un poco''
*''Mañana me visitará mi madre'' → ''Mañana me va a visitar mi madre''
*''Iré a visitarla mañana'' → ''Voy a ir a visitarla mañana''

The present perfect (Spanish: ''Pretérito perfecto compuesto''), just like ''pretérito anterior'', is rarely used; so, it's replaced by simple past.

*''Juan no ha llegado'' → ''Juan no llegó todavía''
*''El torneo ha comenzado'' → ''El torneo comenzó''

Lexicon

There are also many words unique to Central America.

For example, ''chunche'' or ''chochadas'' can be used to mean "thing" or "stuff."

In Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, ''chucho'' means dog. In the same three countries, money is called ''pisto'', a term derived from the Spanish dish pisto. However, ''plata'' (lit. "silver") is a common slang word used to mean "money" in all Central American countries except Belize.

Also, local words can vary by country and even department:

See also

* Spanish dialects and varieties
* Guatemalan Spanish
* Salvadoran Spanish
*Honduran Spanish
*Nicaraguan Spanish
* Costa Rican Spanish

References

External links

REAL ACADEMIA ESPAÑOLA DICCIONARIO PANHISPÁNICO DE DUDASHistory of Voseo

Lexicon of Nicaraguan SpanishDropping of ''S'' in word endings in Nicaragua

{{Languages of Costa Rica