Mexico and Central America

what is a pseudo-cleft?

a structure that divides a sentence into two parts in order to highlight one piece of information

-in Spanish it typically uses a free relative clause introduced by lo que, cuando, done, quien/con queen followed by a form of ser and the element being emphasised

what is the basic pattern of a pseudo-cleft?

free relative clause + ser + focused element

-lo que to highlight what happened or what someone did

-cuando used to highlight a time

-con quien used to highlight a person involved in a relation

what are the historical considerations for Mexican Spanish?

-February 1519 Herman cortes lands at Veracruz with 500 men

-reaches tenochtitlan in november

-after two-year long siege, the Aztecs surrendered on august 13th 1521

-Mexico City built on site of tenochtitlan

what type of Spanish is Mexican Spanish?

-modern era has very few Andalusian-type features

-the proportion of Andalusians among early settler in ‘new spain’ overall 40.6% not that much lower than the figure for Cuba, Panama and Hispaniola

what was the cultural level of colonial Mexico City?

-conquested in 1521

-a los ochos anos tenia sede catedral

-en 1535 comineza a ser corte de virreyes

-se hace cabeza de arzobispado en 1547

-en 1530 empieza a tener imprenta, la primera del ‘nuevo mundo’

-inaugura pomposamente su universidad en 1533

what other phonetic aspects does Mexican Spanish have?

-reduction of unstressed vowels

[ˈtɾastəs] or [ˈtɾasts] trastes

[ˈpintʃəzɣaˈβatʃəs] pinches gavachos

-assibilation of tap /r/ common in rural areas

[ˈkaʂta] carta

does Mexican Spanish use voseo?

-confined to chiapas

-verb forms are the same as in Guatemalan voseo (rioplatense)

a brief history of Central American Spanish

-originally a single administrative unit

-lay outside the main lines of communication

-characerised by archaism and linguistic drift away from standard Spanish

-excludes Spanish in eastern Panama and Caribbean lowlands of Nicaragua/honduras

what is Central American pronunciation?

-word and syllable final /s/ reduced (except in central Guatemala and central Costa Rica)

-assibilated tap /r/ and /r/

-nasals may be velarised in word-final position and before /n/

/x/ > [h]

-/s/ may be debuccalised in syllable initial position

how does Central America use voseo?

-strongly voseante

-guatemala and El Salvador tu used to indicate solidarity without familiarity

-south east of Costa Rica: vos verb endings dissimilated, maracucho pattern

what distinct syntax elements does Central America have?

-elliptical use of hasta: será publicado hasta fines de ano

-archaic indefinite possessive structure: una mi hermana

-emphatic es: me pegó fue en la mano

why might Mexico City have exerted a standardising influence?

-it became a major administrative and cultural centre extremely early (cathedral, printing press, university, viceregal court)

-continuous elite contact with Spain ensured prestige norms were reinforced in the capital and spread outward

explain what assibilation of tap /r/ means

Assibilation = rhotics realised with frication, producing [ʐ] or [ʂ] or even a devoiced English-style [ɹ], i.e. [ɹ̥]:

carretera → [kaʐeˈteɾa] / [kaʂeˈteɾa]

trabajo → [tʂaˈβaxo] / [tɹ̥aˈβaxo] / [tʃɹ̥aˈβaxo]