Chilean Spanish
Chilean Spanish '' is any of several varieties of Spanish spoken in most of Chile. Chilean Spanish dialects have distinctive pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, and slang usages that differ from those of standard Spanish. The Royal Spanish Academy recognizes 2,214 words and idioms exclusively or mainly produced in Chilean Spanish, in addition to many still unrecognized slang expressions.
Variation and accents
In Chile, there are not many differences between the Spanish spoken in the northern, central and southern areas of the country, although there are notable differences in zones of the far south—such as Aysén, Magallanes, and Chiloé—and in Arica in the extreme north. There is, however, much variation in the Spanish spoken by different social classes. In rural areas from Santiago to Valdivia, Chilean Spanish shows the historical influence of the Castúo dialects of Extremadura, but some authors point to the Spanish province of Andalusia and more specifically to the city of Seville as an even greater influence on the historical development of Chilean Spanish. In general, the intonation of Chilean Spanish is recognized in the Spanish-speaking world for being the fastest-spoken accent among Spanish dialects and with tones that rise and fall in its speech, especially in Santiago and its surroundings; such intonation may be less strong in certain areas of the north of the country and more pronounced in southern areas; Chileans speak slowly for foreign settlers and tourists, including native Spanish speakers to understand the Chileans easily.As result of past German immigration there are a few German influences in the vocabulary, accent, and pronunciation of southern Chile. Speakers of Chilean Spanish who also speak German or Mapudungun tend to use more impersonal pronouns. Dialects of southern Chile are considered to be have a melodic intonation relative to the speech in Santiago. A survey among inhabitants of Santiago also shows that people in the capital consider southern Chilean Spanish to be variously affected by Mapudungun, have poor pronunciation, be of rural character and, in the case of Chiloé, to be rich in archaisms. The same study does also show a perception that the speech of northern Chile is influenced by the Spanish spoken in Peru and Bolivia.
The Chilean Spanish dialect of Easter Island, most especially the accent, is influenced by Rapa Nui language.
Phonology
There are a number of phonetic features common to most Chilean accents, but none of them is individually unique to Chilean Spanish. Rather, it is the particular combination of features that sets Chilean Spanish apart from other regional Spanish dialects. The features include the following:- Yeísmo, the historical merger of the phoneme with . For speakers with yeísmo, the verbs cayó 's/he fell' and calló 's/he fell silent' are homophones, both pronounced. Yeísmo characterizes the speech of most Spanish-speakers both in Spain and in the Americas. In Chile, there is a declining number of speakers who maintain the distinction, mainly in some Andean areas, south of Santiago.
- Like most other American dialects of Spanish, Chilean Spanish has seseo: is not distinguished from. In much of the Andean region, the merged phoneme is pronounced as apicoalveolar, a sound with a place of articulation intermediate between laminodental and palatal. That trait, unique in the Americas, is associated with a large number of northern Spanish settlers in Andean Chile.
- Syllable-final is often aspirated to or lost entirely, another feature common to many varieties of Spanish in the Americas, as well as the Canary Islands and the southern half of Spain. Whether final aspirates or is elided depends on a number of social, regional, and phonological factors, but in general, aspiration is most frequent before a consonant. Complete elision is most commonly found word-finally but carries a sociolinguistic stigma. Thus, los chilenos ' Chileans' can be.
- The velar consonants,, and are fronted or palatalized before front vowels. Thus, queso 'cheese', guía 'guide', and jinete 'rider/horseman' are pronounced respectively,, and. Also,, it is pronounced or in other phonological environments and so caja 'box' and rojo 'red' are pronounced ~ and ~ respectively.
- Between vowels and word-finally, commonly elides or lenites, as is common throughout the Spanish-speaking world); contado 'told' and ciudad 'city' are and respectively. Elision is less common in formal or upper-class speech.
- The voiceless postalveolar affricate is pronounced as a fricative by many lower-class speakers and so Chile and leche. That pronunciation is greatly stigmatized. Other variants are more fronted and include the alveolar affricate or an even more fronted dental affricate, mostly in the upper class. Thus, Chile and leche are pronounced or.
- Word-final // is pronounced as a velar nasal only in north Chilean dialects.
- Unstressed word-final vowels are often devoiced.
- Consonant cluster can be pronounced , this is an influence of Mapudungun.
Syntax and grammar
- Doubling the object clitics me, te, se, lo, la and le before and after the verb is common in or lower-class speech. For example, 'I'm going to go' becomes me voy a irme. 'I'm going to give them to you' becomes te las voy a dártelas.
- Queísmo is socially accepted and used in the media, and dequeísmo is somewhat stigmatized.
- In ordinary speech, conjugations of the imperative mood of a few of verbs tend to be replaced with the indicative third-person singular. For example, the second-person singular imperative of poner 'to put', which is pon, becomes pone; that of hacer 'to do', which is haz, becomes hace; and that of salir 'to exit', sal, becomes sale: hace lo que te pedí 'do what I asked'. However, that is not done in formal speech. Chileans also replace the etymological second-person singular imperative of the verb ir 'to go', ve, with the second-person singular imperative of andar 'to walk', anda, and ve is reserved for the verb ver 'to see': ve la hora 'look at the time'.
- Another feature to note is the lack of use of the possessive nuestro 'our', which is usually replaced by de nosotros 'of us': ándate a la casa de nosotros, literally 'go to the house of us', instead of ándate a nuestra casa 'go to our house'.
- It is very common in Chile, as in many other Latin American countries, to use the diminutive suffixes -ito and -ita. They can mean 'little', as in perrito 'little dog' or casita 'little house', but can also express affection, as with mamita 'mummy, mommy'. They can also diminish the urgency, directness, or importance of something to make something annoying seem more pleasant. So, if someone says espérese un momentito literally 'wait a little moment', it does not mean that the moment will be short, but that the speaker wants to make waiting more palatable and hint that the moment may turn out to be quite long.
Pronouns and verbs
In Chile there are at least four grades of formality:
- Pronominal and verbal voseo, the use of the pronoun vos :
This occurs only in very informal situations. It is always considered rude and insulting but is tolerated and enjoyed as part of friendly bonding and banter. However, with even a slight change in intonation, it can change from a tone of friendly banter to a form of insult to a heated argument, even among friends.
- Verbal voseo, the use of the pronoun tú:
This is the predominant form used in the spoken language. It is not used in formal situations or with people one does not know well.
- Standard tuteo:
This is the only acceptable way to write the intimate second-person singular. Its use in spoken language is reserved for slightly more formal situations such as child-to-parent, teacher-to-student, or peer-to-peer relations among people who do not know each other well.
- The use of the pronoun usted:
This is used for all business and other formal interactions, such as student-to-teacher but not always teacher-to-student as well as "upwards" if one person is considered to be well respected, older or of an obviously higher social standing. Stricter parents will demand this kind of speech from their children as well.
The Chilean voseo conjugation has only three irregular verbs in the present indicative: ser 'to be', ir 'to go', and haber 'to have'.
Ser
In Chile, there are various ways to say 'you are' to one person.- Vo soi
- Vo erí
- Tú soi
- Tú erí
- Tú eres
- Usted es
Conjugation
A comparison of the conjugation of the Chilean voseo, the voseo used in Latin American countries other than Chile, and tuteo follows:- Rioplatense Spanish prefers the voseo verb forms.
Vocabulary
Argentine and Rioplatense influence
In Chilean Spanish there is lexical influence from Argentine dialects, which suggests a covert prestige. Lexical influences cut across the different social strata of Chile. Argentine summer tourism in Chile and Chilean tourism in Argentina provide a channel for influence on the speech of the middle and upper classes. The majority of the population receive Argentine influence by watching Argentine programs on broadcast television, specially football on cable television and music such as rock and cumbia on the radio as well. Chilean newspaper La Cuarta regularly employs slang words and expressions that were originated in the lunfardo slang of the Buenos Aires region. Usually Chileans do not recognize the Argentine borrowings as such, claiming they are Chilean terms and expressions due to the long time since incorporated. The relation between Argentine dialects and Chilean Spanish is one of asymmetric permeability, with Chilean Spanish adopting sayings from Argentine variants but usually not the reverse. Lunfardo is an argot of the Spanish language that originated in the late 19th century among the lower classes of Buenos Aires and Montevideo that influenced "Coa", an argot common among criminals in Chile, and later colloquial Chilean Spanish.; Argentine slang loanwords
Mapudungun loanwords
The Mapudungun language has left a relatively small number of words in Chilean Spanish, given its large geographic expanse. Many Mapudungun loans are names for plants, animals, and places. For example:Quechua loanwords
The Quechua language is probably the Amerindian language that has given Chilean Spanish the largest number of loanwords. For example, the names of many American vegetables in Chilean Spanish are derived from Quechua names, rather than from Nahuatl or Taíno as in Standard Spanish. Some of the words of Quechua origin include:French, German and English loanwords
There are some expressions of non-Hispanic European origin such as British, German or French. They came with the arrival of the European immigrants in the 19th and 20th centuries. There is also a certain influence from the mass media.Sample
Here is sample of a normal text in carefully spoken Latin American Spanish and the same text with a very relaxed pronunciation in informal lower-class Chilean Spanish:| Text | ¡Cómo corrieron los chilenos Salas y Zamorano! Pelearon como leones. Chocaron una y otra vez contra la defensa azul. ¡Qué gentío llenaba el estadio! En verdad fue una jornada inolvidable. Ajustado cabezazo de Salas y ¡gol! Al celebrar resbaló y se rasgó la camiseta. |
| Pronunciation | |
| Pronunciation | |
| Translation | "How those Chileans Salas and Zamorano ran! They fought like lions. They beat again and again against the blues' defense. What a crowd filled the stadium! In truth it was an unforgettable day. A tight header from Salas and... goal! Celebrating, Salas slid and ripped his shirt." |