Guatemalan Spanish

Guatemalan Spanish ( es, Español guatemalteco) is the national variant of Spanish spoken in the Central American country of Guatemala. About 13.7 million of the 17 million population speak Spanish. It includes the use of the second-person singular personal pronoun 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 wherein there is no distinction between and . Seseo is common to all of Latin American Spanish, and the Andalusian and Canarian Spanish 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, Guatemalan dialect adopted the voiceless alveolar affricate 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 is often assibilated 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, 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 and still found in Judaeo-Spanish, but its frequency in El Salvador and Guatemala is due to similar constructions being found in various Mayan languages.

Vocabulary

A number of words widely used in Guatemala which have Mayan or other native origins, in particular names for flora, fauna and toponyms. 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. 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 in Guatemala.

See also

* Languages of Guatemala
* Central American Spanish

Notes

References

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{{Spanish variants by continent

Languages of Guatemala
Central American Spanish