Colombian Spanish
 | This article possibly contains original research. (September 2019) |
| Colombian Spanish | |
|---|---|
| Español colombiano | |
| Pronunciation | [espaˌɲol kolomˈbjano] |
| Native to | Colombia |
Native speakers | 46,393,500 in Colombia, all users (2014)[1] L1 users: 46,300,000 (2015) L2 users: 93,500 (2015) |
Indo-European
| |
Early forms | |
| Dialects | Bogotan (Rolo) Spanish alphabet) |
| Official status | |
Official language in |  Colombia |
| Regulated by | Academia Colombiana de la Lengua |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | es |
| ISO 639-2 | spa[2] |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | None |
| IETF | es-CO |
 Spanish Dialects in Colombia. | |
Colombian Spanish (Spanish: español colombiano) is a grouping of the varieties of Spanish spoken in Colombia. The term is of more geographical than linguistic relevance, since the dialects spoken in the various regions of Colombia are quite diverse. The speech of the northern coastal area tends to exhibit phonological innovations typical of Caribbean Spanish, while highland varieties have been historically more conservative. The Caro and Cuervo Institute in Bogotá is the main institution in Colombia to promote the scholarly study of the language and literature of both Colombia and the rest of Spanish America. The educated speech of Bogotá, a generally conservative variety of Spanish, has high popular prestige among Spanish-speakers throughout the Americas.[3]
The Colombian Academy of Language (Academia Colombiana de la Lengua) is the oldest Spanish language academy after Spain's Royal Spanish Academy; it was founded in 1871.[4]
Although it is subject to debate by academics, some critics argue that El desierto prodigioso y prodigio del desierto, written in the New Kingdom of Granada during the 1600s by Pedro de Solís y Valenzuela, is the first modern novel of the Spanish America.[5]
Phonology
- The phoneme /x/ is realized as a glottal [h] "in all regions [of Colombia]"[6] (as in southern Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, the Caribbean coast of Venezuela, the Spanish-speaking islands of the Caribbean, the Canary Islands, and southern Spain—as well as occasionally in Ecuador, Chile, Peru, and Northwest Argentina). A notable exception is the Pastuso Spanish of Nariño Department, where the phoneme is realized as velar [x].
- As in most other American dialects, most of Colombian Spanish has Santander and around Pasto (inland Nariño), where [ʎ] can still be heard. Until the 20th century, most Andean Colombian dialects maintained /ʎ/, including Bogotá (now, only some older speakers retain the traditional distinction). In the southern parts of Antioquia and Norte de Santander Departments, ⟨ll⟩ represents [ʒ] instead, which still contrasts with the [ʝ] represented by ⟨y⟩.[7] This type of distinction also occurs in the Andeanregions of Ecuador.
- As in most of the Americas, the Canary Islands and most of Andalusia, Colombia has s̺], made with the tip of the tongue against the alveolar ridge, is current in many Andean regions, especially in Antioquia Department (Medellín).[8]That trait (unique in the Americas) is to be associated with a large number of northern Spanish settlers in Andean Colombia.
- The approximant that is characteristic of most other dialects: pardo [ˈpaɾdo], barba [ˈbaɾba], algo [ˈalɡo], peligro [peˈliɡɾo], desde [ˈdezde] (dialectally [ˈdehde] or [ˈdedːe], rather than the [ˈpaɾðo], [ˈbaɾβa], [ˈalɣo], [peˈliɣɾo], [ˈdezðe] (dial. [ˈdehðe] etc.) of most other dialects. A notable exception is Nariño Department[8] and most Costeño speech (Atlantic coastal dialects),[citation needed] which feature the soft, fricative realizations that are common in other dialects.
- In contrast, intervocalic /b/, /d/, and /ɡ/ are consistently realized as approximants [
- In some parts of Cundinamarca and Boyacá, the voiceless stops /p/, /t/, and /k/ can be aspirated.[10]
- Some speakers from Boyacá may aspirated fricatives.[11]
Vowels
As most other Spanish dialects, standard Colombian Spanish has five vowels: two high vowels (/
Personal pronouns
- Much of the population in Colombia, especially in Bogotá, is known for using usted (the second-person singular pronoun considered formal in most varieties of Spanish) between friends, family members, and others whose relationship would indicate the use of tú or vos in most other dialects.[13][14]
- Characteristic regional usages of pronouns include Paisa Region and the Valle del Cauca Department and using of su merced (literally "your grace") in Cundinamarca and Boyacá Departments. Voseo is nonstandard and is prohibited in schools, and its use is decreasing and occurs in informal conversations. In the Eastern Highlands, such as in Bogotá, voseo was common until the 19th century, when it began to decline.[15]
- The second-person plural pronoun vosotros and its corresponding verb forms (-áis/-éis), which are common in Spain, are, as in the rest of the Americas, considered archaic and so are restricted to ecclesiastical language.[16]
- There are marked differences in the use of subject personal pronouns (overt vs. null subjects) between the highlands and coast. The highland varieties have overall pronominal rates of approximately 22-26%. The coastal varieties have higher pronominal rates. For instance, the overall pronominal rate in Barranquilla is 34.2%.[17]
Diminutives
- In Colombian Spanish, the diminutive forms -ico, -ica, rather than the more conventional -ito, -ita, are often used in words whose stem ends with "t": gato ("cat") → gatico ("kitty"). That is often seen in Cuban, Venezuelan, and Costa Rican Spanish as well.[18]
- The diminutive form can be applied not only to
- Redundant diminutives are used in which the diminutive ending is applied to both the noun and the adjective in the same phrase: el chocolate caliente ("the hot cocoa") becomes el chocolatico calientico ("the nice little cup of hot chocolate").
- The emphatic diminutives are used in which two diminutive endings are applied to the same word to emphasize the sentence. For example, with ahora ("now"), Váyase ahora mismo ("Get out right now") becomes Váyase ahoritica mismo ("Get the heck out right now!"). Also, with bueno ("good"), El carro está bueno ("The car is in good condition") becomes El carro está buenecitico ("The car is in tip-top condition").
Common expressions
- Paradoxically, in intrafamily speech, it is common for husband and wife to address each other as mijo and mija (from mi hijo "my son" and mi hija "my daughter"), and sons and daughters are lovingly called papito ("daddy") and mamita ("mommy").[citation needed]
- A common greeting in Colombia is ¿Quiubo? (sometimes written as qui'iubo or kiubo), a contraction of the older, still-used greeting ¿Qué Hubo?. That phrase, used by younger generations, is usually contracted to ¿Qu'iubo? (sometimes written as ¿Kiubo?). The phrase uses the preterite form of the verb haber, whose present-tense form, hay, means "there is" or "there are." Thus, ¿Qué Hubo translates literally to "what was there?" or "what has there been?" It is used like "what's up?" in English. It originated in the Paisa dialect but has spread throughout Colombia, and it is considered throughout Latin America and the Spanish-speaking world to be a very stereotypical of Colombia.
Slang words
Slang speech is frequent in popular culture. In the Paisa Region and Medellín, the local slang is named "Parlache."[21] Many slang expressions have spread outside their original areas and are now commonly understood throughout the country.[22]
Many of the words have been popularized by the Colombian media, such as Alonso Salazar's book, No nacimos pa' semilla,
Some slang terms, with their literal translations and meanings, include the following:
- abrirse ("to split up"): to leave.
- aporrear: to accidentally fall.
- ave María pue: ("well, Hail Mary"): Used to show surprise, especially in the Paisa region.[24]
- bacán, bacano, bacana: Relative to parties god Bacchus, someone or something cool, kind, friendly.
- barra ("[gold] bar"): one thousand Colombian pesos.
- berraco ("boar"): (1) difficult; (2) an exceptionally capable person; (3) to be angry.
- brutal: extremely cool, really awesome (only for things). ¡Esa película fue brutal! – "That movie was so cool!"
- caliente ("hot"): dangerous.
- camello ("camel"): a job. Hard work. ¡Eso fue un camello! – "That was hard work."
- cantaleta: a telling off or nagging.
- catorce ("fourteen"): a favor.
- charlar: to chat, sometimes to gossip or joke.
- charro: funny in an amusing manner. ¡Esa pelicula fue muy charra! – "That movie was very funny."[25]
- chévere: cool, admirable.
- chicanear: to boast, to show off.
- chimba: cool; ¡Que chimba, parce! – "How cool, man!", especially in the Paisa region.[26]
- chino: (from the Chibcha word for child"): child.
- cojo ("lame, wobbly"): weak or lacking sense.
- comerse a alguien ("to eat somebody"): to have sex.
- dar papaya ("to give papaya"): to expose yourself to unnecessary risk.
- farra: Party.[27]
- filo ("sharp"): hunger.
- fresco ("fresh"): "Be cool!"
- golfa: a promiscuous woman.
- gonorriento: worst of the worst person (considered low-class).
- guayabo: a hangover (resaca in other parts of Latin America). Ay, estoy enguayabado. Dame un cafecito, porfa. – "Oh, I'm hungover. Give me some coffee please".[28]
- grilla: ("cricket") A prostitute or escort, so called for the way the call out to men on the street (in Valle del Cauca: a low-class person
- jeta: mouth, in a vulgar term.
- levantar: (1) to pick up a woman or a man (example: Me levanté una vieja anoche — "I picked up a girl last night"); (2) to beat someone up.
- ligar ("to tie"): to give money, to bribe (in Valle del Cauca: to woo someone
- llave ("key"): friend (considered low-class).
- locha: laziness.[29]
- lucas: with same usage of the word barra (considered low-class).
- mamar: to suck off. Also, to annoy, irritate. Estoy mamado de esto. "I'm tired of this situation."
- mañe: trashy, lacking class.
- mariconadas: joking around (Deje las mariconadas – "Stop joking around").
- marica ("faggot"): a term of endearment used among friends. Depending on the tone of voice, it can be understood as an insult. Maricón is a harsher, less-friendly variant.
- mierda ("shit"): fecal matter.
- mono(a) ("monkey"): a person with blonde hair or/and light skin or/and light eyes.[30]
- mostro: friend (considered low-class).
- onces ("elevenses"): merienda, similar to British Elevenses.
- paquete ("package"): one million Colombian pesos, also used as an insult.
- parar bolas ("to stop balls"): to pay attention.
- parce or parcero: "comrade" (derived from parcelo, slang for owner of a plot of land (parcela)). Originally used as "cell mate" (sharing the same plot of land), its usage devolved into "partner in crime". Used only in criminal circles from the late 1970s, it is now used openly in almost every urban center. It is especially common in the Paisa dialect. Also, it has a drug trafficking-related background: traffickers adapted the Brazilian Portuguese word parceiro ("partner, friend or fellow").
- perder el año ("lose the year"): (1) to flunk (fail to be promoted to the next grade) in school; (2) to die.
- pilas ("batteries"): a word used for warning.
- plata ("silver"): money.[31]
- plomo ("lead"): bullets.
- pola ("from Policarpa Salavarrieta"): a word used as a beer synonymous. In 1910, the Colombian beverage company, Bavaria, launched a special beer to commemorate 100 years of Colombian independence, the beer's name was "La Pola" and after that, the name was used as a colloquial way to say beer.[32]
- porfa (from por favor): please.
- quicas (slang for "fat girls"): breasts (considered low-class).
- ratero (from rata "rat"): robber.
- rumbear ("to rumble"): to make out; to go clubbing (leading to making out).
- sapo ("toad"): informant, snitch, tattletale.
- sardino, sardina ("sardine"): a young person.
- sereno (also chiflón): a mild disease or indisposition; associated with cold breezes (example: Me entró el sereno — "I think I got sick").
- sisas: yes (considered low-class).
- soroche: fainting (example: Me dió soroche — "I passed out"). Soroche also translates to altitude sickness.
- taladro ("drill"): a man who has sex with boys.
- teso: (1) expert, "hardcore" (someone who is very good at doing something); (2) difficult or tricky.
- tinto: a black coffee cup.[33]
- tombo: police officer.
- tragado ("swallowed"): having a crush on someone.
- trillar ("to thresh"): to make out; it is also used to indicate that something has been overused (example: Ya esta trillado eso – "That is overused")
- tirar ("to throw, to shoot"): to have sex.
- vaina ("case"): a loose term for "things", refers to an object or to a complicated situation.
- video: (1) a lie, (2) an overreaction, (3) a problem.
- vieja ("old woman"): woman, female friend, mom.
- viejo or viejito ("old man"): dude, male friend, dad.
Dialects
John M. Lipski groups Colombian dialects phonologically into four major zones.[34] Canfield refers to five major linguistic regions.[8] Flórez proposes seven dialectal zones, based on phonetic and lexical criteria.[35] Still others[who?] recognize eleven dialect areas[citation needed], as listed below.
Caribbean dialect
The Caribbean or Coastal (costeño) dialect is spoken in the
Island dialect
This is the dialect spoken on the
Word-final /r/, when followed by a vowel-initial word, is usually realized as a tap, an approximant, or the lateral [l], as in amo[ɾ~ ɹ ~ l] eterno ("eternal love"). If it is when followed by a consonant or a pause, it may be realized as any of those sounds or as a trill or elided, as in amo[r ~ ɾ ~ ɹ ~ l ~ ∅] paterno ("paternal love").
That phonetic characteristic is not exclusive to Colombians, whose ancestry is traced back to the Spanish period before the British invasion, under British territorial rule, and the recovery of Spanish control. It is also used by Raizals, by whites of British descent, and by descendants of mainland Colombians. The dialect of native Spanish-speakers in the area is closer to the Nicaraguan dialect of the Caribbean coast, reflecting the geographical location of the archipelago, off the coast of Nicaragua. Similar to Chocano and Isleño, there is a strong African influence in this dialect, owing to a large population of Afro-descendants in the region.
Chocó or Pacific dialect
This dialect extends beyond the
Cundiboyacense dialect
The Cundiboyacense dialect is spoken mainly in the departments of Cundinamarca and Boyacá (Cundiboyacense High Plateau). It uses the expression sumercé or su merced (literally "your grace") often as a formal second-person singular pronoun. The pronoun usted is used when two people speak in an informal situation. Tuteo (the use of the pronoun tú) is usual in conversation between a man and woman of similar ages. Occasionally, the pronoun usted may be used briefly in extremely-informal speech between couples or family members or to reprehend someone, depending on the tone of voice.
Rolo dialect
"Rolo" (a name for the dialect of Bogotá) is also called cachaco. It is an area of strong ustedeo, the familiar use of the pronoun usted. The dialect follows many patterns similar to those of the Cundiboyacense dialect[36] (preservation of syllable-final [s], preservation of /d/ in the -ado ending, preservation of the ll/y contrast (i.e., no yeísmo),[37] etc.),[38] but it has only marginal use of the formal second-person pronoun sumercé.
Llanero or Eastern plains dialect
Llanero covers a vast area of the country with a low population density. It is spoken in the eastern plains of the country from the Cordillera Oriental (the eastern mountain range of the Andes). It has a characteristic influence of inland Colombian settlers.
Opita dialect
The Opita dialect is spoken mostly in the departments of
Paisa dialect
The
.Pastuso dialect
The
Santanderean dialect
Santanderean is spoken mostly in the northeastern part of the country in Santander and Norte de Santander Departments. There is a strong use of ustedeo in both informal and formal contexts.
Valluno dialect
The Valluno dialect, or (the use of the pronoun vos instead of other dialects, which use tú), with its characteristic verb forms.
The Valluno dialect has many words and phrases not used outside of the region. People commonly greet one another with the phrase "¿Q'hubo vé, bien o qué?". Also, it is common to be asked "¿Sí o no?" when assessing agreement to rhetorical statements. Thong sandals are referred to as chanclas, and plastic bags (bolsas elsewhere) are called chuspas. As in other areas, a chocha is another crude word for "vagina", and chucha refers to an opossum. A pachanguero is someone who dances or parties all night long.
Andrés Caicedo was the main writer to depict the vernacular usage of language accurately.[40]
References
- ^ Spanish → Colombia at Ethnologue (21st ed., 2018)
- ^ "ISO 639-2 Language Code search". Library of Congress. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
- ^ Lipski (1994:205–207)
- ^ "La Academia Colombiana de la Lengua celebra el 150.º aniversario de su fundación".
- ^ "La Novela en la Colonia" (PDF). The Savrvs. 38 (2). May–August 1993.
- ^ Canfield (1981:34)
- ^ Peña Arce (2015:190)
- ^ a b c d Canfield (1981:36)
- ^ Lipski (1997:124)
- ISSN 0040-604X. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
- ^ Díaz Romero, Camilo Enrique (November 2017). "Sobre las realizaciones alofónicas aspiradas y debucalizadas de los fonemas fricativos del español hablado en Boyacá, Colombia: observaciones fonéticas y fonológico-tipológicas exploratorias" [On the aspirated and debuccalized allophonic realizations of the fricative phonemes of the Spanish spoken in Boyacá, Colombia: exploratory phonetic and phonologic-typological observations]. In Marrero Aguiar, Victoria; Estebas Vilaplana, Eva (eds.). Tendencias actuales en fónetica experimental. Cruce de disciplinas en el centenario del "Manual de Pronunciación Española" (Tomás Navarro Tomás) [Current trends in experimental phonetics. Crossroads of disciplines on the centennial of the "Manual of Spanish Pronunciation" (Tomás Navarro Tomás)] (in Spanish). Madrid: Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia.
- ISBN 978-1-57473-418-8.
- ^ Ringer Uber (1985)
- ^ Lipski (1994:213–214)
- ^ )
- ISBN 2902618476.
- ISBN 9781626161702.
- ^ Lipski (1994:214)
- ^ "How To Speak Colombian Spanish". Colombian Spanish. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
- ^ Breve Diccionario de Colombianismos (3a ed.). Bogotá: Academia Colombiana de la Lengua. 1996. p. 13.
- ^ "Parlache". rincondelvago.com. 30 August 2004.
- ^ "Antioquia University- Communications Portal". udea.edu.co.
- ^ Alonso Salazar, No nacimos pa' semilla: La cultura de las bandas juveniles de Medellín (CINEP: 1990)
- ^ Gaviria Piedrahíta, Moisés (28 September 2016). ""Ave María Pues", ¿Cuál es su origen?". Colomba Me Gusta. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
- ^ "Speak Spanish as a native: useful Colombian slang". Colombia Spanish. Colombia Spanish. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
- ^ Zannie, Marisa (6 August 2019). "Frases y palabras que solo los Colombianos entienden". El Universal. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
- ^ "Speak Spanish as a native: useful Colombian slang". Colombia Spanish. Colombia Spanish. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
- ^ "Speak Spanish as a native: useful Colombian slang". Colombia Spanish. Colombia Spanish. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
- ^ "Speak Spanish as a native: useful Colombian slang". Colombia Spanish. Colombia Spanish. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
- ^ "Speak Spanish as a native: useful Colombian slang". Colombia Spanish. Colombia Spanish. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
- ^ "Speak Spanish as a native: useful Colombian slang". Colombia Spanish. Colombia Spanish. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
- ^ "Esta es la razón por la que le dicen pola a la cerveza". El Tiempo. 31 January 2022. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
- ^ "Speak Spanish as a native: useful Colombian slang". Colombia Spanish. Colombia Spanish. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
- ^ Lipski (1994:209)
- ^ Flórez (1964:73)
- ^ Lipski (1994:207)
- ^ Canfield (1981:35)
- ^ Garrido, Marisol (2007), "Language Attitude in Colombian Spanish: Cachacos vs. Costeños", LLJournal, 2 (2), archived from the original on 2012-04-23, retrieved 2011-11-04
- ^ "SOBRE ALGUNAS FORMAS DE PRONUNCIAR MUCHOS COLOMBIANOS EL ESPAÑOL DATOS Y PROBLEMAS" (PDF). Cvc.cervantes.es. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
- )
Sources
- Canfield, D. Lincoln (1981), Spanish Pronunciation in the Americas, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 34–38, "Colombia", ISBN 978-0-226-09262-1
- Díaz Collazos, Ana María (2015), Desarrollo sociolingüístico del voseo en la región andina de Colombia, Berlín: De Gruyter, ISBN 978-3-11-040414-2
- Flórez, Luis (1964), El español hablado en Colombia y su atlas lingüístico: Presente y futuro de la lengua española, vol. 1, Madrid: OFINES, pp. 5–77
- ISBN 978-0-582-08761-3
- ISBN 9780669398441.
- Low, Peter (2015), Colombian Spanish: Phrases, Expressions and Tips to Help You Speak Like a Local, Travelloco Publishing, ISBN 978-1-5262-0248-2
- Peña Arce, Jaime (2015). "Yeísmo en el español de América. Algunos apuntes sobre su extensión" [Yeísmo in the Spanish spoken in America. Some notes on its extension]. Revista de Filología de la Universidad de la Laguna (in Spanish). 33: 175–199. Retrieved October 5, 2021.
- Ringer Uber, Diane (1985), "The Dual Function of usted: Forms of Address in Bogotá, Colombia", Hispania, 68 (2): 388–392, JSTOR 342216
External links
- Colombia, capital del idioma español 25 de marzo de 2007
- Jergas de habla hispana Spanish dictionary specializing in slang and colloquial expressions, featuring all Spanish-speaking countries, including Colombia
- How to speak Colombian Spanish Sample conversations and guide to common Colombian expressions, vocabulary, and phrases
- El voseo en la literatura colombiana de los siglos XIX y XX, Ana María Díaz Collazos
- Colombian Spanish Blog A series of English-language posts explaining slang terms and phrases used by Colombians.