Sabine River Spanish
Sabine River Spanish | |
---|---|
Adaeseño, Adaesano | |
Pronunciation | [aðaeˈseɲo], [aðaeˈsano] |
Native to | United States |
Region | Sabine Parish, Louisiana, Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, Nacogdoches County, Texas |
Native speakers | (< 100 cited 1980s)[1] |
Early forms | Early Modern Spanish
|
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | – |
Glottolog | adae1234 Adaeseño Spanish |
The Sabine River is marked in lighter blue ■ on the right. The Neches River is marked in darker blue ■ on the left. |
Sabine River Spanish is a variety of the Spanish language spoken on both sides of the Sabine River between Texas and Louisiana. It has been spoken by a few communities descended from the 18th-century colonists who established Los Adaes and Nacogdoches. Due to its historical origins, it has a mostly conservative phonology with a vocabulary derived from rural Mexican Spanish. It is facing language death as it has not been passed onto children for several generations.
Classification
Sabine River Spanish was formed from rural Mexican Spanish, in spite of the common belief in
History
The Sabine River Spanish communities were founded as part of a Spanish effort to settle the eastern edge of Texas and adjoining areas of Louisiana in the 1700s. Nacogdoches was founded as part of this settlement and so was Los Adaes.
The Spanish language was preserved in the Sabine River communities until the 20th century due to isolation and, in Texas at least, ethnic solidarity. The Louisiana communities had less ethnic solidarity but greater social isolation due to their distance from population centers, poverty, racial differences from the surrounding population, and the fact they spoke a "foreign" language.[3] The establishment of public schooling exerted strong linguistic pressure on these communities to learn and exclusively speak English, and the arrival of modern infrastructure such as electricity, paved roads, telephones, and the Kansas City Southern Railway through Zwolle reduced their isolation.[4][5] This stopped the intergenerational transmission of Spanish, with most Spanish-speaking residents choosing not to teach their children the language. In this way the Spanish language has largely died out in a single generation along the Sabine River.
This dialect is currently moribund. As of the 1980s, there were no more than 50 individuals with significant active competence in Spanish on either side of the river.[1] Stark (1980) estimated the presence of just ten people who still speak Spanish fluently in the Zwolle-Ebarb area, who were mainly in their seventies and eighties.[5]
Geographic distribution
The Sabine River area's Spanish dialect is found on either side of the Toledo Bend Reservoir along the Sabine River. Most of the Spanish speakers in the Louisiana side were found around Zwolle, Ebarb and Noble, and in the Spanish Lake community near Robeline. In Texas they are concentrated in the Moral community west of Nacogdoches.[6]
The Louisiana and Texas communities differ in terms of ethnic identification. Louisiana residents have diverse appearances, some being very pale and others vary dark-complexioned,[7][8] and have experienced a re-surfacing of American Indian identity.[9] As a result, they may identify ethnically as either Spanish, Indo-Spanish, or simply American Indian.[8] The Louisiana residents have been called "Meskin", "Chonche", and "Red Bones" by their Anglo-American neighbors.[9] Louisiana residents reject any identification as "Mexican", while Moral residents freely use the term mexicano and even occasionally call their dialect mexicano.[1] In Moral there is no identification with Native American culture, despite the open acknowledgement of many trigueño, or 'dark-complexioned' residents.[10]
Dialects
Different studies and surveys have focused on different Spanish-speaking communities in the area. Stark (1980) focuses on the variety spoken in Zwolle and Ebarb; four of her five informants have lived most of their lives in Ebarb, with one later moving to Zwolle, while one lived most of his life near Zwolle. Pratt focused on all the Louisiana dialects, calling them Adaeseño.[11]
In terms of differences between the different varieties, Pratt (2000) finds that the Adaeseño varieties in Louisiana are generally homogenous.[12] Lipski (2008) says that the Moral dialect "may reflect some aspects of Mexican Spanish from the first decades of the nineteenth centuries" while the Louisiana dialects are derived from eighteenth-century Mexican Spanish.[13] This would be because Nacogdoches experienced a period of growth between 1821 and 1836.[14] The current Moral dialect has more speakers and is also more heavily influenced by modern Mexican Spanish, due to a higher frequency of contact with Mexican Spanish speakers.[15]
Gregory (1996) mentions a greater number of French loanwords in the speech of the communities closer to Natchitoches.[9]
Phonology
Sabine River Spanish, being derived from northern Mexican Spanish, is rather phonologically conservative, generally retaining consonants and avoiding neutralizations. English influence is noted as well, and there are various phonological misidentifications, analogical forms and sporadic variations.
Fricatives
/s/ is occasionally
The phoneme /f/ becomes a weak [h] before /w/, so afuera 'outside' is pronounced [aˈhwera].[18][19] Otherwise, /f/ is a voiceless labiodental fricative [f]. /x/ is typically pronounced [h] as well.[20] One speaker, again the oldest and most fluent in Spanish from Pratt (2000)'s survey, pronounced trajeron 'they brought' as [tɾuˈʃweɾon]. This allophone doesn't appear elsewhere in her survey.[21]
Nasals
This variety does not velarize final -/n/,[10] though /n/ may occasionally be elided between vowels or at the end of a phrase. When it's elided, the preceding vowel is nasalized.[22]
The voiced palatal nasal, represented by ⟨ñ⟩, is typically pronounced as a nasal palatal approximant [j̃] which nasalizes the preceding vowel in informal speech, eg: año [ãj̃o] 'year',[23][24] though Pratt (2000) failed to find this approximant pronunciation in the speech of her oldest, most fluent informant.[24] A similar pronunciation is found in Brazilian and Angolan Portuguese.
/m/ shows no irregularity.[19]
Voiceless stops
/t/ is occasionally
Liquids
The lateral consonant /l/ is occasionally elided before other consonants.[26] In phrase-final and word-final position, elision of -/ɾ/ is relatively frequent, especially in verb infinitives.[10][26] Word-final -/ɾ/ occasionally becomes /l/ before a word starting in a vowel.[26]
Lipski reports that the opposition between the
In informal speech, /r/ can be elided before a denti-alveolar stop /t/ or /d/, or before a pause, thus: cardenal [kaðeˈnal] 'cardinal (bird)', carta [ˈkarta] 'letter', salir [saˈli] 'to leave'.[29]
Voiced obstruents
The voiced obstruents /b/, /d/, /g/ show some deviation from standard pronunciation. /b/ may be pronounced as a fricative even at the beginning of a phrase or after a nasal. The labiodental fricative allophone [v], according to Pratt (2000), typically corresponds to a written, etymological ⟨v⟩, but it can be realized when pronouncing other words as well.[30][31] /b/ is often elided when it's before another consonant, as in obtuvo [oˈtuvo] 'obtained'. It's also frequently elided in también 'also', typically pronounced [taˈmjen].[31] /b/ is occasionally pronounced as a velar fricative [ɣ] when before [o] or [u].[32]
/d/ is rarely realized as a
/g/ is realized as a
The approximant /ʝ/, spelled ⟨y⟩ or ⟨ll⟩ is frequently elided in contact with /i/ and after /e/, for example gallina 'hen' becomes [gaˈina], silla 'chair' becomes [ˈsi.a] and sello 'stamp' becomes [ˈse.o].[10][42] One speaker, the oldest and most fluent in Spanish in Pratt (2000)'s survey, often adds an epenthetic [ʝ] between sequences of /i/ and /o/ or /i/ and /a/, as in tío [ˈti.ʝo] 'uncle'.[16] One speaker dropped [j] in the diphthong /ie/ after another consonant while speaking informally, saying [ˈrendas] for riendas 'reins' and [ˈtera] for tierra 'land'. He also dropped /ʝ/ after /i/ or /e/, thus saying [voˈtea] for botella 'bottle'.[41]
Vowels
The vowel system in Zwolle-Ebarb contains the same 5 vowels as other Spanish varieties. Vowels are nasalized when they're between nasal consonants or before [j̃]. Additionally, /e/ and /o/ are typically mid vowels, [e̞] and [o̞], but they can be lightly raised after palatal sounds.[43] /e/ is often raised in many words, but it is not raised in word-final position, as is common in some other dialects.[44] Unstressed vowels, especially /a/, are often reduced to a schwa.[10] /o/ often becomes /u/, especially at the ends of words, and including in the conjunction o 'or'.[45] Hiatus between vowels tends to be avoided, either by the formation of diphthongs or by the deletion of some of the vowels involved. Also, the clusters /uar/ and /uer/ are frequently interchanged.[44]
Clusters
There is a tendency to simplify clusters and to drop consonants before
Stark (1980) reports that the word-initial nasal is dropped in words starting with /njV/, so nieto 'grandchild' is realized [ˈjeto], although this was not found in Pratt (2000).[48]
Grammar
The grammar of Sabine River Spanish reflects its origins in nonstandard, rural Mexican speech, as well as influence from English and morphological reduction due to language death. Archaic forms such as trujo/truje for trajo/traje 'brought', vido/vide for vio/vi 'saw', mesmo for mismo 'same', muncho for mucho 'a lot', and asina/ansina for así 'like this/that' are widespread. Many verb forms formed as a result of morphological leveling such as cierraron for cerraron 'they closed', dijieron for dijeron 'they said', cocinear for cocinar 'to cook', and tenimos for tuvimos 'we had' are common.[49]
Mexicanisms such as mero instead of mismo, like in Mexican Spanish, is common, also there's the expression ya mero for "almost". De nosotros 'of us' has almost completely replaced nuestro 'ours', as in some forms of Mexican and Caribbean Spanish. Nomás is frequently used instead of sólo or solamente, like in Mexican Spanish. Estar is very frequently used in place of ser. Que tanto and que tan are frequently used instead of cuanto or cuan.[49]
Dr. Comfort Pratt has found that Adaeseño, despite its mostly Mexican providence, uses
P'atrás expressions are widespread, as in other Spanish varieties in contact with English.[49] As a result of language death and its speakers' greater fluency in English, gender and number agreement are greatly weakened. In addition, use of the subjunctive mood, the simple, or synthetic future tense, and the conditional tense is greatly reduced. The remaining speakers of Adaeseño generally prefer analytic constructions.[50]
Vocabulary
Many Mexicanisms, including a large number of
Despite an extensive history of contact, Sabine River Spanish almost no loans from native American languages besides Nahuatl. This likely reflects frontier conditions in which native Americans were marginalized.[55] All words for "Indian" in this variety are at least partially derogatory, for example meco or chichimeco from "Chichimeca", the Nahuatl term for the "wild" tribes on Mexico's northern frontier.[54]
The term Chonche, a local slur for Spanish people, likely comes from the Wichita term for the Lipan Apache, many of whom were sold as slaves to the Spanish and French and were the ancestors of many Sabine River Hispanics, though it may have a Muskogean origin in a term for swallows.[54]
The term arrear, which refers to driving or spurring on animals, became the Zwolle-Ebarb community's term for driving a car.
Some of the Nahuatlisms in Sabine River Spanish include:
- mecate 'rope'
- molcajete 'molcajete'
- metate 'metate'
- chancles 'bad shoes'
- molote 'hair bun'
- topanco 'ceiling'
- troje 'corn cob'
- chimonca 'Pine knot'
- guaje 'gourd'
- muelvo 'wagon'
- chichahuiste 'basket'
- comal 'skillet, comal'
- petate 'a mat'
- tamales 'tamales'
- pozole 'sweetened'. In Mexican Spanish, pozole is a type of stew.
- chichi 'mother's milk'
- cuate 'twin'
- cuacha 'baby poop'
- zopilote 'buzzard'
- chilizonte 'mockingbird'
- guajolote 'turkey'
- zumacaya 'owl'
- tecolote 'owl'
- pichicuate 'water mocassin'
- tapalcate 'tadpole'
- ajolote 'mud puppy'
- tacuache 'possum'
- chichote 'ringworm'
- mayate 'black bug'
- ocotesillo 'ticks'
- chapule 'grasshopper'
- huilotes 'butterflies'
- jicote 'wasp'
- cojosote 'sweet gum'
- copal 'sweet gum sap'
- nogal 'hickory/pecan'
- ocote 'pine'
- ampesote 'weeds'
- amolde 'Yucca'
- zacate 'grass'
- nixtamal 'hominy'
- elote 'ear of corn, elote'
- olote 'corn cob'
- chicales 'braided corn'
- cacahuate 'peanut'
- camotes 'sweet potatoes'
- tomates 'tomatoes'
- ejote 'snap beans, peas'
- pastli 'Spanish moss'
- pinole 'parched corn'
- atole 'thin sweet gruel'
- tuza 'mole'
Other Mexicanisms include:
- tejón 'raccoon'
- güero 'blond, light-complexioned'
- charola 'tray'
- labor 'a division of land'
- blanquillo 'egg'
- ándale 'Let's go, OK'
- pinche 'damned'
- chingar 'fuck', and its derivatives, now merely vulgar rather than sexual
Generally archaic words in Sabine River Spanish, no longer used in standard speech elsewhere, include:
- mercar/marcar 'to buy'
- calzón/calzones 'pants'
- túnico 'a woman's dress'
- calesa 'horse-drawn buggy'
- la provisión 'supplies, provisions'
- noria 'water well'
- truja/troja 'barn'
- encino 'oak tree'
- peje 'fish'
- fierro 'iron, tool'
- lumbre 'fire'
- prieto 'black'
Other items include:
- huaguín 'wagon'
- payaso 'bat', alternates with murcégalo, from the standard murciélago. Payaso typically means 'clown'
- The Caribbean term maní 'peanut', originally from Taíno, which alternates with the more common Nahuatlism cacahuate, and with the English term 'goober' in Louisiana
- ojo negro 'black-eyed pea'
- pan de molino 'corn bread'
- cusca/cushca 'buzzard', of unknown etymology
Code switching
See also
- Isleño Spanish
- Los Adaes
- New Mexican Spanish
- Choctaw-Apache Tribe of Ebarb
- Louisiana (New Spain)
- Adai Caddo Indians of Louisiana
References
- ^ a b c d Lipski 2008, p. 215.
- ^ Abernathy (1976), p. 25, cited in Lipski (1987), p. 119
- ^ Lipski 1987, p. 119.
- ^ Lipski 1987, p. 120.
- ^ a b Stark 1980, p. 164.
- ^ Lipski 2008, pp. 214–215.
- ^ Lipski, p. 216.
- ^ a b Pratt 2000, pp. 26–27.
- ^ a b c d e Gregory 1996, p. 92.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Lipski 2008, p. 217.
- ^ Neumann-Holzschuh 2007, p. 263.
- ^ Pratt 2000, p. ix.
- ^ Lipski 2008, p. 216.
- ^ Lipski 1987, p. 117.
- ^ Pratt 2000, p. 23–25.
- ^ a b Pratt 2000, p. 72.
- ^ Pratt 2000, pp. 61–65.
- ^ a b Stark 1980, p. 169.
- ^ a b Pratt 2000, p. 55.
- ^ Pratt & 73.
- ^ Pratt 2000, p. 74.
- ^ Pratt 2000, p. 65.
- ^ Stark 1980, p. 170.
- ^ a b Pratt 2000, p. 70.
- ^ Pratt 2000, pp. 55, 73.
- ^ a b c Pratt 2000, p. 66.
- ^ a b Lipski 1987, p. 122.
- ^ a b Pratt 2000, p. 68.
- ^ Stark 1980, pp. 170–171.
- ^ Stark 1980, pp. 167–168.
- ^ a b Pratt 2000, pp. 52–55.
- ^ Pratt 2000, p. 56.
- ^ Pratt 2000, pp. 56–57.
- ^ Stark 1980, p. 168.
- ^ Pratt 2000, p. 57.
- ^ Pratt 2000, p. 58.
- ^ Pratt 2000, p. 59.
- ^ Pratt 2000, p. 60.
- ^ Pratt 2000, p. 73.
- ^ a b Stark 1980, pp. 168–169.
- ^ a b Stark 1980, p. 171.
- ^ Pratt 2000, p. 71.
- ^ a b c d Stark 1980, p. 172.
- ^ a b Pratt 2000, p. 76.
- ^ Pratt 2000, p. 79.
- ^ Stark 1980, p. 174.
- ^ Pratt 2000, p. 77.
- ^ Stark 1980, pp. 174–150.
- ^ a b c Lipski 2008, p. 218–219.
- ^ a b Neumann-Holzschuh 2007, p. 264.
- ^ Pratt 2000, p. 106.
- ^ a b c d e Lipski 2008, p. 219.
- ^ Stark 1980, pp. 172–173.
- ^ a b c Gregory 1996, p. 91.
- ^ Gregory 1996.
- ^ Gregory 1996, p. 90.
- ISSN 1877-4091.
Bibliography
- Abernathy, Francis (1976). "The Spanish on the Moral". The Bicentennial Commemorative History of Nacogdoches. Nacogdoches: Nacogdoches Jaycees. pp. 21–33.
- Gregory, Hiram F. (1996). "Adaesaño: A Nahuatl Lexicon from Natchitoches and Sabine Parishes, Louisiana" (PDF). Southern Studies. VII (I).
- Lipski, John M. (1985). "Sabine River Spanish: vestigial 18th century Mexican Spanish in Texas and Louisiana" (PDF). Southwest Journal of Linguistics. VIII (1): 5–24. Retrieved December 31, 2021.
- JSTOR 40298730.
- ISBN 9780878402328.
- ISBN 9781589012134.
- Neumann-Holzschuh, Ingrid (2007). "Review of El español del noroeste de Luisiana: Pervivencia de un dialecto amenazado". Revista Internacional de Lingüística Iberoamericana. 5 (1 (9)): 262–266. JSTOR 41678288.
- Pratt, Comfort (2000). Sabine River Spanish: Survival of a Threatened Dialect (PhD). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses (in Spanish). Louisiana State University. ISBN 9780599906198. Docket 7292. Retrieved February 19, 2022.
- Pratt, Comfort (2004). El español del noroeste de Luisiana: pervivencia de un dialecto amenazado. Madrid: Editorial Verbum. ISBN 9788479622596.
- Stark, Louisa R. (1980). "Notes on a Dialect of Spanish Spoken in Northern Louisiana". Anthropological Linguistics. 22 (4): 163–176. JSTOR 30027771.