Guatemalan Spanish ( es, Español guatemalteco) is the national variant of
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
spoken in the
Central America
Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...
n country of
Guatemala
Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...
. About 13.7 million of the 17 million population speak Spanish. It includes the use of the
second-person singular
personal pronoun
Personal pronouns are pronouns that are associated primarily with a particular grammatical person – first person (as ''I''), second person (as ''you''), or third person (as ''he'', ''she'', ''it'', ''they''). Personal pronouns may also take dif ...
alongside the standard Spanish second-person singular pronouns and to form a three-level system of second-person singular address.
Phonetics and phonology
*The presence of
Seseo
In Spanish dialectology, the realization of coronal fricatives is one of the most prominent features distinguishing various dialect regions. The main three realizations are the phonemic distinction between and ('), the presence of only alveo ...
wherein there is no distinction between and . Seseo is common to all of Latin American Spanish, and the
Andalusian and
Canarian Spanish
Canarian Spanish (Spanish terms in descending order of frequency: , , , or ) is a variant of standard Spanish language, Spanish spoken in the Canary Islands by the Canary Islanders. The variant is similar to the Andalusian Spanish variety spoken ...
varieties within Spain.
* is realized as glottal .
* Syllable-final is only occasionally aspirated, and only when before consonants or a pause. It's weakened less often than in any other Central American dialect.
* Word-final is pronounced velar .
*As Guatemala was part of
First Mexican Empire
The Mexican Empire ( es, Imperio Mexicano, ) was a constitutional monarchy, the first independent government of Mexico and the only former colony of the Spanish Empire to establish a monarchy after independence. It is one of the few modern-era, ...
, Guatemalan dialect adopted the
voiceless alveolar affricate
A voiceless alveolar affricate is a type of affricate consonant pronounced with the tip or blade of the tongue against the alveolar ridge (gum line) just behind the teeth. This refers to a class of sounds, not a single sound. There are several type ...
and the cluster (originally ) represented by the respective digraphs and in loanwords of Nahuatl origin, ''
quetzal'' and ''tlapalería'' ('hardware store'). Even words of Greek and Latin origin with , such as and , are pronounced with : , (compare , in Spain and other dialects in Hispanic America).
*The
alveolar trill
The voiced alveolar trill is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents dental, alveolar, and postalveolar trills is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is r. ...
is often
assibilate
In linguistics, assibilation is a sound change resulting in a sibilant consonant. It is a form of spirantization and is commonly the final phase of palatalization.
Arabic
A characteristic of Mashreqi varieties of Arabic (particularly Levanti ...
d to a fricative . Syllable-final may also be assibilated, often sounding somewhat like or , though that's less common among younger and urban speakers. In central Guatemala, is often pronounced as an affricate, almost like the English . This is more common after consonants, as in 'between'. It's not as frequent in Guatemala as in Costa Rica or the Andes and is less common among younger and urban speakers.
Grammar
Guatemalan Spanish uses , alongside and as second-person singular pronouns.
In Guatemala and
El Salvador
El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...
, indefinite articles are commonly placed before a possessive pronoun, as in .
Very rarely a demonstrative can go before the possessive pronoun, like .
This construction was occasional in
Old Spanish
Old Spanish, also known as Old Castilian ( es, castellano antiguo; osp, romance castellano ), or Medieval Spanish ( es, español medieval), was originally a dialect of Vulgar Latin spoken in the former provinces of the Roman Empire that provided ...
and still found in
Judaeo-Spanish
Judaeo-Spanish or Judeo-Spanish (autonym , Hebrew alphabet, Hebrew script: , Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: ), also known as Ladino, is a Romance languages, Romance language derived from Old Spanish language, Old Spanish. Originally spoken in Spain ...
, but its frequency in El Salvador and Guatemala is due to similar constructions being found in various
Mayan languages
The Mayan languagesIn linguistics, it is conventional to use ''Mayan'' when referring to the languages, or an aspect of a language. In other academic fields, ''Maya'' is the preferred usage, serving as both a singular and plural noun, and as ...
.
Vocabulary
A number of words widely used in Guatemala which have
Mayan
Mayan most commonly refers to:
* Maya peoples, various indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica and northern Central America
* Maya civilization, pre-Columbian culture of Mesoamerica and northern Central America
* Mayan languages, language family spoken ...
or other native origins, in particular names for flora, fauna and
toponyms
Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...
. Some of these words are used in most, or all, Spanish-speaking countries, like ''chocolate'' and ''aguacate'' ("avocado"), and some are only used in Mexico and most Central American countries, like Guatemala and El Salvador. The latter include ''guajolote'' "turkey" < Nahuatl ''huaxōlōtl'' (although ''chompipe'' is also used; ''pavo'' is also used, as in other Spanish-speaking countries); ''papalote'' "kite" < Nahuatl ''pāpālōtl'' "butterfly"; and ''jitomate'' "tomato" < Nahuatl ''xītomatl'' . For a more complete list see
List of Spanish words of Nahuatl origin
Documented Nahuatl words in the Spanish language (mostly as spoken in Mexico and Mesoamerica) include an extensive list of words that represent (i) animals, (ii) plants, fruit and vegetables, (iii) foods and beverages, and (iv) domestic appliance ...
. Local words include
There are also many words unique to Central America, for example, ''chunche'' or ''chochadas'' or ''babosadas'' means "thing" or ''stuff'' in some places. The words used to describe children (or kids) vary among the countries in Central America; in Guatemala they are often called ''patojos''. Cipotes is also used in Guatemala in the eastern departments. In the western and northern departments of Guatemala "chamacos" is used to say children or kids. In Guatemala and Honduras the word ''güiros'' is also used. In Guatemala (also in Honduras and El Salvador) people with money are said to have ''pisto'', a term originally used by
Maya peoples
The Maya peoples () are an ethnolinguistic group of Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica. The ancient Maya civilization was formed by members of this group, and today's Maya are generally descended from people ...
in Guatemala.
See also
*
Languages of Guatemala
Spanish is the official language of Guatemala. As a first and second language, Spanish is spoken by 93% of the population. Guatemalan Spanish is the local variant of the Spanish language.
Twenty-one Mayan languages are spoken, especially in rural ...
*
Central American Spanish
Central American Spanish ( es, español centroamericano or ) 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, ...
Notes
References
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{{Spanish variants by continent
Languages of Guatemala
Central American Spanish