The first mention of the Spanish language dates back to the 2nd century BC and it appeared on the Iberian Peninsula and has now spread to several continents. It is spoken by more than 400 million people in different countries of the world. Such a phenomenon as Latin American Spanish appeared due to the arrival of the conquistadors in America. Then the conquered countries began to speak the language of the invaders, mixed with local dialects. This is the same Spanish language, it is not distinguished separately, but is called a dialect or “national language variants”.

About 300 million Spanish-speaking people live on the territory of 19 Latin American countries, for half of them it is a second language, there is also a local one. There are many Indians among the population, there are Uruguayans, Guaranis, their number ranges from 2% (in Argentina) to 95% in Paraguay. For them, Spanish has not become their native language, many do not even know it at all. In some countries, archaisms have been preserved - words, appeals and turns of speech that have not been used for a long time.

Today, in addition to Spain itself, Spanish is spoken in Mexico, the countries of Central America - Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panama, Nicaragua. In the Antilles, there are 3 states with the predominant use of the language - Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Costa Rico. On the mainland of South America, there are also countries that use Spanish as the main or second language - Colombia, Ecuador, Chile, Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia. The Rioplat region of the mainland is occupied by the states: Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, a lot of Spanish-speaking people live on their territory (more than 90% of Argentines speak Spanish).

Reasons for language differences in different countries of Latin America

The territory of modern Peru was inhabited for a long time by colonialists, mostly of noble origin, so the Spanish language in this country is closest to the original one. At the same time, unskilled workers and peasants lived in Chile and Argentina, who spoke more without complex turns and words, just like a worker. Therefore, the Spanish language in Chile - its Chilean version - is very different from classical pure.

In countries where the predominantly Guarani Indians lived, the original Spanish was heavily mixed with the local language, borrowing from them the features of colloquial speech, pronunciation and vocabulary. This option is most evident in Paraguay. But on the territory of modern Argentina lived the Spanish colonialists, and local residents, as well as immigrants, who made up to 30% of the total population. So the pure language was diluted with both the dialect of the locals and the peculiarities of the conversation of visitors, in particular Italians.

Lexical Features

The vocabulary of the Spanish language has been undergoing changes since the beginning of its existence, borrowing words and meanings from different languages ​​and dialects. The conquest of the territory of modern Latin America was no exception. When the Spaniards came here, the bulk of the population were Indians and local tribes with their own linguistic characteristics. The colonialists, in turn, brought their families, black slaves and their own peculiarities of speech. Thus, all the changes in the vocabulary that happened to Spanish on the territory of these countries can be divided into 2 main groups:

• Local words included in the Spanish lexicon denoting some features of the life and life of the indigenous inhabitants of the mainland, as well as Anglo-Saxon, Italian or American concepts;
• Spanish words that have changed in the course of life in the countries of Latin America.

A separate category of words - archaisms, or "Americanisms" appeared due to the transition of some concepts into the lexicon of local residents from the Spanish language. Their peculiarity lies in the fact that in Spain they have not been used for a long time or have changed greatly, turning into a new word.

For example, the word "pollera" used in Latin America means "skirt", but in Spain it is not used at all. This also includes prieto (black color) and frazada (blanket), which in Spanish will sound like negro and manta, respectively.

Thanks to the Indians and other peoples living on the mainland, many words hitherto unknown to the Spaniards came into the Spanish language.

• Scholars call them indigenisms.
• For example, papa (potato), caucho (rubber), llama (llama), quina (quina) and tapir (tapir) were not known to the Spaniards at all before coming to South America.

And from the territory of modern Mexico, from the Aztec language Nahuatl came the concepts used by Mexicans today - cacahuete (peanut), hule (rubber), petaea (snuffbox). Many words came from the need to designate objects and plants unfamiliar to the Spaniards before.

Phonetic differences between languages

In the pronunciation of some words and letters, one can also find differences between classical Spanish and its Latin American version. Their appearance is due to the same reasons as new concepts - some sounds in the language of the indigenous people simply did not exist, they did not hear them, and some were pronounced in their own way. In general, the pronunciation in the American version is softer and more melodic, the words are pronounced less abruptly and more slowly.

Jorge Sanchez Mendez, linguist and scientist, describes the general sound of the Spanish language in different countries of Latin America:

• Catalan (classical) - sounds harsh and authoritative, words are pronounced hard, firmly;
  In the Antilles on the contrary, all sounds are pronounced softly, speech is fluid, flowing;
  Andalusian variant- brighter, more sonorous and lively;
  In Mexico speak softly and slowly, speech unhurried, cautious;
  In Chile and Ecuador- melodious, melodic, sounds soft and calm;
  but the conversation on the territory Rio de la Plata seems slow, calm and unhurried.

The main differences in pronunciation are recorded by the Institutes for the Study of Language, have their own names and are as follows:

1. The same pronunciation of the letters "r" and "l" if they are at the end of a syllable. This feature is typical for the population of the countries of Venezuela and Argentina, some regions of the states - Puerto Rico, Colombia, on the shores of Ecuador. For example, calamares in transcription looks like this -, soldado sounds, and the word amor reads like.
2. Yeismo Phonetic Phenomenon- the sound of the letters ll in combination, like "y", or like "zh" - in Argentina. For example, the word "calle" is translated as "street" and is pronounced in Spain - in Latin American countries and - in Argentina. It is found in Mexico, Colombia and Peru, in Chile and in the west of Ecuador, as well as on the Caribbean coast.
3. Changing the pronunciation of the letter "s" if it is at the end of a syllable, this feature is called aspiration. As for example in the words: este (this one) will sound like, mosca (fly) is pronounced. Sometimes the letter is simply lost and not pronounced - from las botas (boots) are obtained.
4. Seseo - phonetic feature b, found in almost all countries of Latin America and consists in pronouncing the letters “s” and “z”, and sometimes “c”, like [s]. For example, pobreza sounds like, zapato -, and entices would be pronounced like this -.
5. Transfer of stress in some words to an adjacent vowel or another syllable: pais is read both in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking countries.

These are the most common differences, there are many more small ones that involve different pronunciations of the same word. Despite these differences, representatives of states in South America have no difficulty understanding the Spaniards and each other.

word formation

Hispanics more often than Spaniards use suffixes in words, the main ones being -ico/ica and -ito/ita. For example, platita (money) comes from plata, ranchito (rancho) comes from rancho, ahorita (now) comes from ahora, and prontito (soon) comes from pronto. In addition, some nouns have a different gender than in classical Spanish. For example, the word actor in Spain is masculine and pronounced comediante, and in Latin America it is feminine comedianta, the call in Spain la lamada is feminine, in Latin American countries ell lamado is masculine.

The same applies to animals, for which the Catalan language uses one word and most often it is masculine. And in Latin America, women were also added to them: tigre, husband. - tiger, female (tiger), caiman, husband. - caimana, female (cayman), sapo, husband. - sapa, female (toad).

Basically, new words are formed by using a root of non-Spanish origin and adding suffixes and prefixes to it. Common American concepts are taken as a basis, adapted to a specific situation and nationality. Word-forming particles, or suffixes, are added to them, which give them a completely different meaning: -ada, -ero, -ear, -menta.

All of them have their own history, "nationality" and meaning. For example, the suffix -menta is actively used in the word formation of the Venezuelan dialect, it has a general meaning: papelamnta - a pile of papers, perramenta - a pack of dogs. The suffix -io has the same meaning for the countries of Uruguay and Argentina - tablerio - a pile of stones.

In the words picada (path), sahleada (saber strike), nicada (company of children), "-ada" has a collective meaning or denoting belonging to something. More examples, gauchada (an act characteristic of a gaucho), ponchada (the amount of things that fit on a poncho) and so on.

But the suffix -ear creates new verbs or American nouns: tanguear - to dance tango, jinitear - to ride and other examples. The Spanish language in South America is more mobile, lively and developing than its European counterpart. Here there is a constant replenishment of the vocabulary, the formation of new concepts and turns, due to the movement of the population on the mainland and the arrival of immigrants.

Grammar differences

The grammar features characteristic of Latin America have their own system and are the result of many years of language evolution. The Spaniards have a concept of "grammatical gender" applied to inanimate objects.

In the Latin American version, there are words with the same meaning, but of a strictly opposite gender. In Spain - el color (color), el fin (end), la bombilla (light bulb), la vuelta (surrender), and in South American countries - la color, la fin el bombillo, el vuelto.

Plural endings are also systematically different in different countries: café (1 cafe) - cafes (several cafes), te (tea) - tes (several types of tea), pie (leg) - pies (feet), and in Latin America they will be called: cafeses, teses, pieses, respectively.

• Peculiarities.
• Words that have only the plural (scissors, trousers, pincers) in the South American version are used in the singular: tijeraz - tiera (scissors), bombachas - bombacha (trousers) and tenazas - tenaza (pincers). If the noun ends with the letters -ey, then according to the rules of the Spanish language, their plural is formed by adding the ending "-es", while in Latin America the ending is simplified: buey (bull) - bueyes / bueys, or rey (king) - reyes /reys.

In addressing people, the Spaniards use the pronoun "you" - vosotros, in Latin America they turn to strangers - ustedes. And the pronoun "you" sounds like "vos" in South America and like "tu" in Europe.

As a conclusion

The result of the comparison is the understanding that the Spanish language is alive and colloquial, therefore it develops, breathes and absorbs new words, concepts and phrases. It depends on the national, territorial, cultural characteristics of the people who speak it. All differences are the result of the natural process of evolution and in no way affect the understanding of representatives of different countries of the Spanish dialect.

If you decide to learn a language, then you do not need to know these features and memorize them in order to travel to any country in Latin America. The classic version of Spanish is enough, you will be able to communicate with the locals, and the presence of “your own” words is typical for each language, Russian is no exception. In each region of our country, there are several dozen phrases and concepts that are used only within a small area, but this does not prevent us from understanding each other, even living in different regions of the Russian Federation.

Many have heard that in Argentina they speak a little differently, not like in Spain, i.e. has its own dialect of Spanish. In this article, I wanted to give information about what this “Argentinean Spanish” is…

Over the past centuries, the Argentine dialect of Spanish has received many borrowings from the languages ​​spoken by immigrants in Argentina: English, Italian, Portuguese and French.

The formation of the Argentine version began in 1537, when the first Spanish settlement was founded in Argentina-Asuncion. Further, during the Napoleonic reign, distant Argentina began to attract the attention of Britain, at that time there was an infusion of English into the formation of the so-called "Argentinean".

At the beginning of the 19th century, Argentina gained independence and became one of the leading agricultural producers in the world, and, thanks to this, many immigrants from the United States and Canada arrived in the country. And at the beginning of the 20th century, the population of Argentina was replenished by immigrants from Slavic countries, however, they did not affect the formation of the language.

Below is a photo of the Port in Buenos Aires in the 19th century

Oddly enough, but in the speech of the Argentines you can find many words and borrowings from the Quechua language, the language of the indigenous population of Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, which was official in these territories before the arrival of the Spaniards. To date, the Quechua language is spoken by about 12 million inhabitants of Argentina, using the Quechu script based on the Spanish alphabet.

Argentinean Spanish has two major dialects, Lumfardo and Castellano, and only Castellano is officially recognized. Lumfardo is the slang of the criminalized outskirts of Buenos Aires, in other words, thug language.

Argentine Spanish differs from the classical version of Castellano in much the same way that the dialects of the border regions of Russia and Ukraine differ from the Russian language. Some words and expressions are quite interesting, but sometimes difficult to understand due to differences in pronunciation, but communication is quite real.

However, the Argentine Spanish in Buenos Aires is quite different from the pronunciation in other cities of the country. For example, take the word castellano. A double ale is pronounced "zh" in Buenos Aires, and "le" in other regions, as in Spain. Also in Argentina, they do not pronounce the interdental sound th, which is transmitted by the letters s or z.

By the way, due to this, for a Russian-speaking person, the Argentine dialect of Spanish is even easier to pronounce than the classic Castilian version.

The formation of Argentine Spanish on the basis of many immigrant languages ​​brought not only differences in phonetics. While pronunciation doesn't always get in the way of comprehension, the different meanings of words can make life very difficult for a visitor to Argentina who speaks classic Spanish.

However, there are some nuances that will immediately give out in Argentina not a local resident. Moreover, the most serious of them at first glance is quite funny - it's just one word - coger. For the Spaniard, it means "to take" and is used in many constructions quite often. The Argentine will try not to use coger once again, because in Argentina it means to have sex. :) Moreover, this is not a decent verb at all. So if you want to coger un taxi (take a taxi), it's better to say tomar un taxi.

The most frequently used words from the list of other words include: mantequilla (oil), which in the Argentine version would be manteca, melocotón (peach) - turning into durazno, patata(potato) - in Argentine papa. However, the list of vocabulary differences is much longer.

Another feature of the Argentine dialect is the stress on the last syllable in verbs that are used in the singular in the imperative mood. Spanish has almost no stress on the last syllable, and this trait of Argentine Spanish was "gifted" to the locals by their immigrant ancestors from France. For example, in the Spanish version - tómalo, and in the Argentinean - tomalo.

Also, in the Argentinean version, the word tu is missing - instead they use the form vos, which is called a phenomenon « Voseo". Another example of differences in this regard:

vos cantas - tú cantas - you sing

vos sos- tú eres - "you are"

The above phenomenon « Voseo" existed in Spain in the Middle Ages. The form "vos" was considered more formal and respectful than the form "tú" , at the same time, the appeal to "tú" was somewhat disparaging. When the honorific form of address "vuestra merced" ("Your Grace") arose, which then changed: vuesa merced > vusted > usted, forms "vos" and "tú" began to be used in the same meaning, and, further, the form "tú" replaced the form "vos"; but in most of Latin America, including Argentina, the form has been preserved "vos", but not "tu".

Argentine Spanish is difficult to confuse with the classic version of the language. Moreover, due to the different meanings of many words, translators from Argentinean Spanish are highly valued in the international linguistic labor market, especially those who specialize in simultaneous translation.

But for a non-professional, these differences between these dialects are not as global as it seems at first glance. A person who knows classical Spanish can easily communicate with a resident of Argentina.

If you are interested in learning exactly the Argentinean version of the Spanish language, which many people think is much more beautiful than the Spanish Castellano, write to me by mail or call me, I will tell you where and when the lessons of the Argentinean version of the Spanish language take place in Podolsk.

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It is one of the most widely spoken languages ​​on the planet and is represented on almost all continents, this is due both to the colonial past of Spain and to the active settlement of the Spaniards around the world in the 20th century. The civil war that shook the country in the 20th century became a catalyst for the active movement of the Spaniards around the world, and many supporters of communism, fleeing from fascist persecutors, ended up even in the Soviet Union.

Spanish speaking countries

Based on the fact that a Spanish-speaking country is considered with a fairly large number of people for whom Spanish is native, then in the world you can count more than forty countries that meet this criterion.

First of all, of course, Spanish is the official language. But there are twenty-two other countries in which Spanish is officially recognized. The community of Spanish-speaking countries traditionally includes states where the language has official status.

The list of Spanish speaking countries is as follows:

• Argentina;
• Chile;
• Colombia;
• Bolivia;
• Costa Rica;
• Cuba;
• Dominican Republic;
• Ecuador;
• Guatemala;
• Honduras;
• Mexico;
• Nicaragua;
• Panama;
• Paraguay;
• Peru;
• Puerto Rico;
• Salvador;
• Uruguay;
• Venezuela;
• Spain;
• Philippines.

The Spanish-speaking countries of Africa include the Saharan Arab Democratic Republic. The dominant position of the Spanish language in these countries was achieved thanks to the aggressive colonialist policy of Spain, which lasted for four centuries. During this time, Spanish-speaking countries appeared in all parts of the world, and the language spread from Easter Island, which is now under the control of the Chilean Republic, to the countries

Jewish influence

However, not only colonialism contributed to the spread of the language around the world. There were other events, no less tragic, that influenced this process.

In 1492, the Spanish Queen Isabella shocked the large Jewish community of her country with a decree of incredible cruelty: all Jews had to leave the country or receive holy baptism, which, of course, was unacceptable to orthodox Jews. Death awaited those who disobeyed.

Within three months, many Jewish families left the kingdom, carrying with them, in addition to personal belongings, also the language and culture of the Spanish kingdom. So the Spanish language was brought to the territory of the Ottoman Empire, and then to the State of Israel.

In addition, numerous Spanish and Jewish settlers brought the language to Morocco, where it was safe for a long time due to the traditional religious tolerance of the Islamic rulers.

Spanish in the USA

The United States constitution does not contain a word about the state language, and most states do not have special laws regulating this issue. However, along with English, Spanish is widely used in the country, therefore, although the United States is not considered a Spanish-speaking country, in some states Spanish is also used in public institutions.

A large number of Hispanic Americans is associated not only with migration, as it may seem, but also with the historical events of the nineteenth century, when Mexico and the United States actively competed for influence in North America.

The result of this confrontation was a devastating war that lasted two years from 1846 to 1848. As a result of the war, more than a million square kilometers of land were alienated from Mexico, which accounted for almost half of the territory of the losing country. Along with these lands, the United States also got Spanish-speaking citizens. Since then, Spanish has been the second most spoken language in many southern states, and in some states Spanish is spoken by the majority of the population.