Central American Spanish
Español centroamericano
Pronunciation[espaˈɲol sentɾoameɾiˈkano]
Native toGuatemala
El Salvador
Honduras
Nicaragua
Costa Rica
Belize
Chiapas (Mexico)
Native speakers
Native: 39 million (2018)[1]
L2: 4 million (2018)[1]
Early forms
DialectsGuatemalan
Honduran
Salvadoran
Nicaraguan
Costa Rican
Latin (Spanish alphabet)
Official status
Official language in
 Guatemala
 El Salvador
 Honduras
 Nicaragua
 Costa Rica
Regulated byAcademia Guatemalteca de la Lengua
Academia Hondureña de la Lengua
Academia Salvadoreña de la Lengua
Academia Nicaragüense de la Lengua
Academia Costarricense de la Lengua
Language codes
ISO 639-1es
ISO 639-2spa[2]
ISO 639-3–
GlottologNone
IETFes-GT
es-BZ
es-HN
es-SV
es-NI
es-CR

Central American Spanish (Spanish: español centroamericano or castellano centroamericano) 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:

  • /s/ at the end of a syllable or before a consonant is pronounced like [h] 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.[3]
  • j (/x/), is aspirated; it is soft as the /h/ in English (e.g.: Yahoo).[3]
  • /ʝ/ (⟨y⟩ or ⟨ll⟩) frequently disappears when in contact with /i/ or after /e/.[3]
  • Word final /n/ is velarized, being pronounced as a velar nasal [ŋ].[3]
  • Both central Guatemala and central Costa Rica have a tendency to assibilate /r/.[3]
  • 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

In this map of voseo countries, the spread of the dialect is clearly illustrated.

The most common form for the second person singular in Central America is vos. However, usted is the dominant second person singular pronoun. Vos is used in Spanish-speaking Central America, with the exception of Panama, among family members, close friends, and in informal contexts. When addressing strangers, usted is used. The Panamanian department of Chiriquí and the Mexican state of Chiapas are two regions were vos is commonly heard. The imperative is formed by dropping the final -R of the infinitive, and then adding an acute accent to the final vowel to retain the stress.

The use of voseo enjoys low prestige and is often considered incorrect. Officially, all of Central America is tuteante, however Sandinista Nicaragua adopted voseo as a symbol of nationalism. Educated Costa Ricans are also more comfortable using vos, and negative attitudes towards voseo have been changing as of late.[3]

Verb Meaning Vos
ser"to be"sos
ir"to go"andá
hablar"to speak"hablá
callar"to become silent"callá
soltar"to release/let go"soltá
comer"to eat"comé
mover"to move"mové
venir"to come"vení
poner"to put"poné
salir"to leave"salí
tener"to have"tené
decir"to say"decí
pedir"to ask (for)/order"pedí

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.

Infinitive Vos Tú
oiroísoyes
venirvenísvienes
decirdecísdices
dormirdormísduermes
sentirsentíssientes
salirsalíssales
concluirconcluísconcluyes
poderpodéspuedes
quererquerésquieres
movermovésmueves
tenertenéstienes
pensarpensáspiensas
contarcontáscuentas
jugarjugásjuegas
cantarcantáscantas
errarerráserras

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.[4]

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:

Inflection of amar
Person/NumberPeninsularC. American
1st sing.yo amoyo amo
2nd sing.tú amasvos amás
3rd sing.él amaél ama
1st pluralnosotros amamosnosotros amamos
2nd pluralvosotros amáis²ustedes aman
3rd pluralellos amanellos aman
(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:

Inflection of perder
PeninsularC. American
yo pierdoyo pierdo
tú pierdesvos perdés
él pierdeél pierde
nosotros perdemosnosotros perdemos
vosotros perdéisustedes pierden
ellos pierdenellos pierden

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, 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, it is often deemed incorrect.

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

In the old times, vos was used as a respectful term. In Central American Spanish, as in most other dialects which employ voseo, this pronoun has become informal, displacing tú. It is used especially for addressing friends and family members (regardless of age), but may also include most acquaintances, such as coworkers, friends of one's friends, people of similar age, etc.

Usage of tenses

Although literary works use the full spectrum of verb inflections, in 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 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.[5] 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:

Colloquial Terms That Vary By Country[4]
English term Nicaragua Guatemala Jutiapa,

Guatemala

 El Salvador Honduras Costa Rica Panama
children chavalos patojos cipotes cipotes, güirros, chiguin güilas, carajillos
corner store venta, pulperia tienda, bodega tienda, bodega tienda pulpería (trucha in the north) pulpería, abastecedor tienda
soda / pop gaseosa agua gaseosa gaseosa, soda fresco gaseosa, refresco, fresco soda

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Spanish at Ethnologue (21st ed., 2018) Closed access icon, Combining with Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica
  2. ↑ "ISO 639-2 Language Code search". Library of Congress. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Lipski, John M. (2008). "Central American Spanish in the United States". Varieties of Spanish in the United States. Georgetown University Press. pp. 142–149. ISBN 9781589016514.
  4. 1 2 Lonely Planet Central America on a Shoestring by Tom Brosnahan, Carolyn Hubbard and Barbara Reioux
  5. ↑ "Honduras slang". Archived from the original on 2010-05-29. Retrieved 2008-03-28.
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