Mexico / Central America

Scope of Mexican Spanish

Excludes Yucatán peninsula, deep south and coasts

Coasts have more of a carribean Spanish

Historical considerations

February 1519 Hernán Cortés lands at Veracruz with 500 men.

Reaches Tenochtitlán in November

After a two-year long siege, the Aztecs surrnedered on August 13th, 1521

Mexico city built on the site of Tenochtitlán, an extension of castille packed with high ranking clergy and aristocracy

Type of Spanish in Mexico (modern)

In the modern era, it has very few Andalusian-type features:

conservation of final consonants

intervocalic consonants maintained

distinction between s and ch

conservation of s in any position, without aspiration

Type of Spanish in Mexico (earlier in the past)

more of an andalusian accent

for example deletion (aspiration?) of /s/

s is omitted in data written by 16th century scribes

Standardizing effect of Mexico City? (THEORY)

Initial colonizers thought to have come mostly from Andalusia (where ships would sail from)

According to Boyd-Bowman, the proportion of Andalusians among early settlers in New Spain overall (40.6%) is not thta much lower than the figure for Cuba, Panama and Hispaniola

Cultural level of Colonail Mexico City

[transalte slide]

Other Phonetic Aspects

Reduction of unstressed vowels (pronounced as ə or not at all)

Assibilation of /ɾ/ common in rural areas

[‘kaʂta] carta

Voseo (Mexico)

Voseo confined to Chiapas

The verb forms used are the same as in Guatemalan voseo (i.e. rioplatense pattern)

Central America - general

Originally a single administrative unit

Lay outside the main lines of communication

Characterized by archaism and linguisitc drift away from standard Spanish

Excludes Spanish in Eastern Panama and Carribean lowlands of Nicaragua / Honduras.

Pronunciation - Central America

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

Assibilated /ɾ/ and /r/.

Nasals may be velarized in word-final position and before /n/:

[bas’to᷈ŋ] bastón

/x/ → /h/

/s/ may be debuccalized in syllable-initial position:

[‘hanta] santa

Voseo - Central America

Strongly voseante (River Plate pattern)

Guatemala and El Salvador: tù used to indicate solidarity (without familiarity)

South east of Costa Rica: vos verb endings dissimilated, maracucho pattern.

Syntax - Central America

Elliptical use of hasta:

Será publicado hasta fines de año - It won’t be published until the end of the year.

Archaic indefinite possessive structure:

Una mi hermana

Emphatic es:

Me pegó fue en la mano.

(looks like a reduced pseudo-cleft, but isn’t