Rosarigasino (also known as Gasó) is a

language game A language game (also called a cant, secret language, ludling, or argot) is a system of manipulating spoken words to render them incomprehensible to an untrained listener. Language games are used primarily by groups attempting to conceal their ...

(in the form of a

rhyming A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds (usually the exact same phonemes) in the final stressed syllables and any following syllables of two or more words. Most often, this kind of rhyming (''perfect rhyming'') is consciously used for a musica ...

slang A slang is a vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in everyday conversation but avoided in formal writing and speech. It also often refers to the language exclusively used by the members of pa ...

) traditionally associated with the city of

Rosario Rosario () is the largest city in the central provinces of Argentina, Argentine province of Santa Fe Province, Santa Fe. The city, located northwest of Buenos Aires on the west bank of the Paraná River, is the third-most populous city in the ...

, , even though very few people, if any, currently employ it. It is similar to the much more common game of ''jeringonza''. The exact origins of this language remain uncertain, but scholars and historians agree that it was created in the early 20th century by local prisoners to communicate with each other without being understood by guards. ''Rosarigasino'' functions by adding two

syllable A syllable is a basic unit of organization within a sequence of speech sounds, such as within a word, typically defined by linguists as a ''nucleus'' (most often a vowel) with optional sounds before or after that nucleus (''margins'', which are ...

s to each word by inserting the sequence ''-gas-'' immediately after the

stress Stress may refer to: Science and medicine * Stress (biology), an organism's response to a stressor such as an environmental condition * Stress (linguistics), relative emphasis or prominence given to a syllable in a word, or to a word in a phra ...

ed vowel and then repeating that vowel, followed by the rest of the word. The term ''rosarigasino'' itself is formed in this way, after the local residents'

demonym A demonym (; ) or 'gentilic' () is a word that identifies a group of people ( inhabitants, residents, natives) in relation to a particular place. Demonyms are usually derived from the name of the place ( hamlet, village, town, city, region, ...

(''rosarino''). Other examples (with the added sounds in bold): :''colectivo'' ("bus") → ''colectigasivo'' :'' Monumento a la Bandera'' ("Flag Memorial") → ''Monumegasento a la Bandegasera'' :''peatonal'' ("pedestrian street") → ''peatonagasal'' :'' Calle Córdoba'' ("Córdoba St.") → ''Cagasalle Cogasórdoba'' In the city of Rosario there is a sort of ''Academia'' or ''Association of Gasó''. Besides, in some places it is possible to purchase manuals or learning books. In 2005, a complete rosarigasino version of Cervantes' novel

Don Quixote de la Mancha , the full title being ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'', is a Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts in 1605 and 1615, the novel is considered a founding work of Western literature and is of ...

was published, entitled ''Don Quijogasote de la Magasancha'' and translated by Bernardo "Chiquito" Reyes. In 2001 the filmmaker Rodrigo Grande made a film named ''"Rosarigasinos"'' using this same term.

References

Culture in Rosario, Santa Fe Spanish slang Language games {{spanish-lang-stub