The Spanish Language: History and Dialects

Posted on Sep 26, 2024 in Latin

Dialects or Geographical Variations

Over time, the Spanish language, like any other language, has diversified across its territories due to:

  • Historical Evolution: Differences between northern and southern regions (Andalusia, Extremadura, Murcia, Canary Islands)
  • Influence of Co-official Languages: In bilingual communities, Castilian has been influenced by co-official languages like Catalan (Catalonia, Balearic Islands, Valencia), Galician (Galicia), and Basque (Basque Country).
  • Regional Influences: Castilian is influenced by Astur-Leonese and Navarrese-Aragonese in their respective territories.

Main Dialect Features

Northern Varieties

  • Distinction between -z and -s sounds
  • Loss of intervocalic -d
  • Extension of yeísmo (pronouncing “ll” as “y”)

Southern Varieties

  • Presence of ceceo (lisp)
  • Aspiration or deletion of final -s in syllables or words
  • Aspiration of -j and -h
  • Confusion of -r and -l

General Features

  • Generalization of yeísmo
  • Use of Diminutives:
    • Galicia: -iño/-iña
    • Asturias: -ín/-ina
    • Aragon: -ico/-ica
    • Northern Varieties: -ito/-ita
    • Southern Varieties: -ino/-ina; -illo/-illa; -ico/-ica

Historical Dialects

The historical dialects are Astur-Leonese and Navarrese-Aragonese. They originated from the evolution of Latin, the first in the Kingdom of León and the second in Aragon. However, they failed to establish themselves as widespread languages due to the prestige and influence of Castilian. These dialects are not variations of Castilian but preserve features of Latin. In Asturias and Aragon, their use is limited to minority language speakers. In both communities, there is a situation of diglossia, where Castilian is the official and prestigious language, while Astur-Leonese and Aragonese are spoken in familiar and everyday settings.

Global Presence of Spanish

Today, Castilian is the official language in all countries of Central and South America, except Brazil, Guyana, and Puerto Rico, where English is the official language. Additionally, Spanish is co-official with English in some areas of the southern United States, such as Texas, Arizona, California, Florida, and New Mexico. In the Americas, we find the highest number of Spanish speakers: 90% versus 10% in Europe. The discovery of the New World in 1492 and its subsequent conquest and colonization by the Spanish during the 16th and 17th centuries led to the introduction of Spanish in these lands. Thanks to miscegenation in America, we speak Spanish.

Spanish in Latin America

Areas

Currently, Spanish is the official language of 19 Latin American countries. In Paraguay, it is the official language along with Guarani; in Peru with Quechua; and in Puerto Rico with English.

  • Dialect features bear a close relationship to Southern varieties.
  • There is great diversity in Hispanic linguistics.

Spanish-Speaking Countries in Latin America

Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Cuba.

Co-official: Puerto Rico, Peru, Paraguay. Unofficial: New York, Chicago, USA.

Current Spanish in Latin America

No one can speak of a homogeneous Spanish, but rather of varieties that are reflected in various learned rules.

The PCAs (Permanent Commission for the Spanish Academy) address the cultural and linguistic differences between Spain and Spanish America. The major language changes occur in phonological and lexical levels.

Phonic Features

The intonation of Spanish in America has a more nuanced melodic intonation than Castilian.

  • The sibilance /s/ is present.
  • Yeísmo, although quite widespread, is not universal.
  • Aspiration or loss of final -s in syllables occurs.
  • Confusion between -r and -l at the end of syllables is observed.

Lexicon

  • Changes in word meanings
  • Presence of indigenous words
  • Retention of archaisms
  • Introduction of many neologisms

Morphosyntactic Features

  • Increased use of diminutives
  • Adverbialization of adjectives
  • Preference for the simple past tense over the compound perfect tense
  • Use of the pronoun vos instead of tú with its corresponding verb forms (common in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and parts of Central America)

Spanish in the World

The Spanish language is expanding. It is the fourth most spoken language in the world and is official in 21 countries. Spanish is spoken in Spain, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea, and in refugee camps in different parts of the world. The Instituto Cervantes is responsible for the dissemination and teaching of the Spanish language and Hispanic culture worldwide.

Language and History

The Pre-Roman Languages

The Basque language (Euskera) is the only pre-Roman language that is preserved on the Iberian Peninsula.

Romanization

The Romans spoke Vulgar Latin, which differed from Classical Latin. The language, customs, and religion of the Romans expanded through a process called Romanization.

The Germanic Invasions

The Germanic invasions eventually ended the Roman Empire and led to the linguistic division of its people. The evolution of Latin culminated in the emergence of the Romance languages.

The Arab Invasion

Eight centuries of contact with Arab culture left abundant traces in the Spanish language, with up to 4,000 words of Arabic origin.

The Origin of Castilian

The glosas are brief Romance annotations written in the margins of some ecclesiastical texts written in Latin to facilitate understanding. Apart from Castilian, other variants of spoken Latin emerged, including Galician-Portuguese, Astur-Leonese, and Catalan. In the south, Christians under Arab rule spoke another Romance language, Mozarabic, which disappeared with the Reconquista.

Castilian in the Middle Ages and the 15th Century

King Alfonso X promoted the work of the Toledo School of Translators, which brought together scholars from different places to translate works written in other languages into Castilian and declare Castilian the official language of his kingdoms. A written literature in Castilian began to develop:

  • The popular epic poetry of the mester de juglaría
  • The learned epic poetry of the mester de clerecía

Castilian expanded its lexicon thanks to the incorporation of many Latin cultismos (learned words).

The 18th and 19th Centuries

Philip V founded the Royal Spanish Academy. The language of these centuries was enriched by the incorporation of numerous galicismos (words of French origin), which arrived in Spain at a time when French influence was felt throughout Europe and affected all aspects of social life. Anglicismos (words from English) also began to enter the language.

Castilian Today

It is one of the four most widely spoken languages in the world.