Peruvian Coast Spanish

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Peruvian Coast Spanish is the form of the Spanish language spoken in the coastal region of Peru. The Spanish spoken in Coastal Peru has four characteristic forms today: the original one, that of the inhabitants of Lima (also known as Limeños) near the Pacific coast and parts south, (formerly from the old section of the city from where it spread to the entire coastal region); the inland immigrant sociolect (more influenced by Andean languages); the Northern, now nearly extinct variant; and the Southern. The majority of Peruvians speak Peruvian Coast Spanish.

Between 1535 and 1739, Lima was the capital of the Spanish Empire in South America, from where Hispanic culture spread, and its speech became the purest since it was the home of the famous University of San Marcos of Lima.^[1] Also, it was the city that had the highest number of titles of nobility from Castile outside of Spain. Colonial people in Lima became used to living an ostentatious and courtly life style that people in the other capital cities of Spanish America did not experience, with the exception of Mexico City and later the city of Bogotá. On the other hand, they mostly lived from the riches extracted from the inland mines by the Indians.

[edit] Phonetics and phonology

• The Lima accent does not have a strong intonation as the rest of the Spanish-speaking world does. (Some scholars believe that it is because of factors related to climate, rapid speech among youths, or Andean or remote Black influences).^{[citation needed]}

• In Lima there is no loss of syllable-final /s/ before a vowel or the end of a sentence. It is only aspirated in a preconsonantal position. This is unique, by all the social classes in the whole Latin American coast.^{[citation needed]} The pronunciation of ese is soft predorsal.

• There is a clear (but soft) emission of the vibrants /rr/ and /r/. In syllable-final position is never assibilated like Chile, or the Andes.

• The so-called yeismo and seseo occur.

• There is no confusion of /r/ with /l/ in syllable-final position like the Caribbean countries and the lower sociolects of Chile.

• The letters 'j' and 'g 'before 'e' and 'i' are pronounced as a soft palatal [ç]. The jota is velar: /x/ (resembled Castilian) in emphatic or grumpy speech, especially before 'a', 'o' and 'u'. It is never /h/.

• Word-final /d/ is usually unvoiced or turned to /t/.

• Word-final /n/ is routinely velarized (the most highlighted Andalusian trait).

[edit] Grammatical subject

Since the use of 'vos' instead of 'tú' as a familiar form of address was a marker of low social class in post-medieval Spain^{[citation needed]}, it was never used in Lima.

Prescriptive Limeño Spanish has adjusted considerably to more closely resemble the standard Spanish linguistic model, because of the city's disdain of the contact with the Andean world and autochthonous languages for centuries.^{[citation needed]}

However, until the beginning of the 20th century, speech on the Northern Peruvian coast was similar in many ways with how individuals spoke on the Ecuadorian-Colombian coast. The most remarkable variation from the Castilian norm was the presence of 'vos', which was used to refer to one's family and is completely missing today. This part of Northern Peru also had a strong influence on the extinct Muchik or Mochica language.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Inland immigrants variation

The other main variety of Spanish from the coast of Peru is that which appeared after the linguistic influence from the Sierra and of the rural environment into the coastal cities and the former 'Garden City' by the Great Andean Migration (1940-1980).^{[citation needed]}

Its main characteristics are:

• The strong use of diminutives, double possessives and the routine use of 'pues' or 'pe' and 'nomás' in postverbal position.
• The redudant use of verbal clitics, particularly 'lo' (the so-called loismo)
• The bilabization of /f/
• Closed timbre
• Andean tone

[edit] Recent changes

Some modern phenomena can be observed in speech today.

• /s/, is pronounced as [θ], especially in the speech of young men.
• /b/ /d/ and /g/ and intervocalic amongst younger people.
• /y/ is intervocalic, due to northern influences. In the lower class it is generalized.^{[citation needed]}

This popular variety of Coastal Peruvian dialect is not only contributed to by Andean influences but also, of course, by foreign ones: Anglicisms and Argentinisms are all very present in the lexicon.

Finally, young people from Lima's higher socioeconomic strata have also developed a peculiar and mannered form of speaking, noticeable particularly in the way that they alter their tone of speaking.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Some Common Expressions

• Agarrar y + to do something (Agarré y le dije...).
• Parar (en) = to frequently be somewhere or to frequently do something (Paras en la cabina).
• Pasar la voz = to inform (e.g. "spread the word")
• De repente = perhaps, suddenly (depending on context).

[edit] Some Common Words

• Anticucho = typical food consisting almost always of grilled chicken or cow heart.
• Disforzarse = to be anxious.
• Cachaco = police officer or soldier.
• Calato = nude.
• Chicotazo = whiplash.
• Fresco/a (or conchudo/a) = shameless person.
• Fregar (or joder) = to bother, to ruin.
• Gallinazo = a turkey buzzard or black-headed vulture. Scavenger bird of Perú.
• Garúa = tenuous rain.
• Guachimán = adaptation of the English word watchman
• Huachafo = ridiculous, gaudy.
• Jarana = party with folk music.
• Juerga = party.
• Panteón = cemetery.
• Pena = a ghost, roaming in a house after death.
• Pericote = mouse.
• Poto = buttocks.
• Zamparse = to break into a place (as in a waiting line, or crashing a party), or to get drunk.

[edit] Some informal words of extended use

• Aguantar = to wait, to resist.
• Combi = small public transport van (ex. Toyota Hiace).
• Chibolo/a = child, adolescent (despective if the person is older).
• Paltearse = to be scared or confused.
• Pata = male friend, guy.
• Pollada = party where cheap food and drink is served in order to make money (low-class phenomenon similar to a Potluck).

[edit] Contributions by other ethnic groups

Lima also has a sizable Asian population, which is predominantly Chinese. Consequently, Peruvian Coast Spanish has also been somewhat influenced by this group.

[edit] Slang

Some Peruvian slang comes from inverting the syllables of a word. This is mainly associated those of lower socioeconomic status. This can be seen in words like 'fercho', which comes from the word 'chofer', driver, the word 'tolaca', which comes from 'calato'. Slang words do not always have to be the exact inverse of the original word: for example 'mica' comes from the word 'camisa', which means shirt. Or 'jerma' which comes from 'mujer' meaning woman.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] References

[edit] Bibliographic sources

• Caravedo, Rocío: Sociolingüística del español de Lima.- Lima, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, 1990.-
• Caravedo, Rocío: El habla de Lima y los patrones normativos del español.- Lima, Academia de Ciencias y Tecnología, 1993.-
• Caravedo, Rocío: Estudios sobre el español de Lima, I. Variación contextual de la sibilante.- Lima: Fondo editorial PUC, 1983.-
• Caravedo, Rocío: Norma Culta de la ciudad de Lima.- Lima: PUC, Instituto Riva-Agüero, Cuadernos de Trabajo, 1, 1977.-
• Rivarola, José Luis: La Formación Lingüística de Hispanoamérica.- Lima, 1990.-
• Escobar, Alberto: Variaciones sociolingüísticas del castellano en el Perú.- Lima 1978.-
• Granda, German: Estudios de linguistica andina.- Lima Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru, 2001.-
• Malmberg, Bertil: La América hispanohablante: unidad y diferenciación del castellano.- Madrid: Istmo, 1970.-
• Lipski, John M: El español de América.- Madrid: 1994.-
• Lope Blanch, Juan M.: Ensayos sobre el español de América.- México: Universidad Autónoma de México, 1993.-
• Canfield, Delos Lincoln: Spanish pronunciation in the Americas.- Chicago, The University of Chicago, 1981.-
• Canfield, Delos Lincoln: Lima Castilian: The Pronunciation of Spanish in the City of the Kings.- Romance Notes, Fall 1960.-
• Mackenzie, Ian: A Linguistic Introduction to Spanish.- University of Newcastle upon Tyne, LINCOM Studies in Romance Linguistics 35.- ISBN 3-89586-347-5.

[edit] External links

• The Spanish of Peru