Guatemalan Spanish

Variety of Spanish language

Guatemalan Spanish

Español guatemalteco
Pronunciation| [espaˈɲol ɣwatemalˈteko]
Native to| Guatemala
Region| Central American Spanish

Native speakers

| 7,2 million (2014)[1]
2,470,000 in Guatemala (2014)

Language family

Indo-European

* Italic
* Latino-Faliscan
* Romance
* Western
* Ibero-Romance
* West Iberian
* Castilian
* Spanish
* North American Spanish
* Central American Spanish
* Guatemalan Spanish

Early forms

Old Latin

* Classical Latin
* Vulgar Latin
* Old Spanish
* Early Modern Spanish

Writing system

| Latin (Spanish alphabet)
Official status
Regulated by| Academia Guatemalteca de la Lengua
Language codes
ISO 639-1| `es`
ISO 639-2| `spa[2]`
ISO 639-3| –
Glottolog| None
IETF| `es-GT`
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.
Spanish language

A manuscript of the Cantar de mio Cid, 13th century

Overview

* Pronunciation
* stress
* Orthography
* Names

History

* Old
* Middle
* Influences

Grammar

* Determiners
* Nouns
* gender
* Pronouns
* personal
* object
* Adjectives
* Prepositions
* Verbs
* conjugation
* irregular verbs

Dialects

* Andalusian
* Andean
* Argentine
* Belizean
* Bolivian
* Canarian
* Caribbean
* Central American
* Chilean
* Colombian
* Costa Rican
* Cuban
* Dominican
* Ecuadorian
* Equatoguinean
* Guatemalan
* Honduran
* Mexican
* Murcian
* New Mexican
* Nicaraguan
* Paraguay
* Panamanian
* Peninsular
* Peruvian
* Philippine
* status
* Puerto Rican
* Rioplatense
* Saharan
* Salvadoran
* Standard
* Uruguayan
* Venezuelan

Dialectology

* Seseo
* Yeísmo
* Voseo
* Leísmo
* Loísmo

Interlanguages

* Llanito
* Jopara
* Judaeo-Spanish
* Portuñol
* Spanglish
* Castrapo
* Creoles
* Roquetas Pidgin
* Chavacano or Chabacano
* Palenquero or Palenque
* Aljamiado

Teaching

* Hispanism
* RAE
* Instituto Cervantes

* v
* t
* e

Guatemalan Spanish (Spanish: Español guatemalteco) is the national variant of Spanish spoken in the Central American country of Guatemala. While 93% of Guatemalans in total speak Spanish,[3] it is the native language of only 69% of the population due to the prevalence of languages in the indigenous Mayan and Arawakan families.[4] Guatemalans typically use the second-person singular personal pronoun vos alongside the standard Spanish second-person singular pronouns tú and usted to form a three-level system of second-person singular address.[5]

## Phonetics and phonology

[edit]

* The presence of seseo wherein there is no distinction between /θ/ and /s/. Seseo is common to all of Latin American Spanish, and the Andalusian and Canarian Spanish varieties in Spain.
* /x/ is realized as glottal [h].[6][7]
* Syllable-final /s/ is only occasionally aspirated, and only when before consonants or a pause. It's weakened less often than in any other Central American dialect.[8]
* Word-final /n/ is pronounced velar [ŋ].[6][7]
* As Guatemala was part of the First Mexican Empire, the Guatemalan dialect adopted the voiceless alveolar affricate [t͡s] and the cluster [tl] (originally /tɬ/) represented by the respective digraphs ⟨tz⟩ and ⟨tl⟩ in loanwords of Nahuatl origin, quetzal and tlapalería [t͡ɬapaleˈɾia] ('hardware store'). Even words of Greek and Latin origin with ⟨tl⟩, such as Atlántico and atleta, are pronounced with /tl/: [aˈtlantiko], [aˈtleta] (compare [aðˈlantiko], [aðˈleta] in Spain and other dialects in Hispanic America).[9]
* The alveolar trill /r/ is often assibilated to a fricative [ʒ]. Syllable-final /ɾ/ may also be assibilated, often sounding somewhat like [s] or [z], although this is less common among younger and urban speakers. In central Guatemala, /tɾ/ is often pronounced as an affricate, almost like English [tɹ̝̊]. This is more common after consonants as in entre 'between'. This feature is not as frequent in Guatemala as in Costa Rica, Chile, or the Andes and is less common among younger and urban speakers.[8]

## Grammar

[edit]

Guatemalan Spanish uses vos, alongside tú and usted as second-person singular pronouns.

In Guatemala and El Salvador, indefinite articles are commonly placed before a possessive pronoun, as in una mi tacita de café lit. 'a my cup of coffee'. Very rarely a demonstrative can go before the possessive pronoun, like aquella su idea lit. 'that his/her/their idea'. This construction was occasional in Old Spanish and is still found in Judaeo-Spanish, but its prevalence in Guatemalan and even Salvadoran Spanish is due to similar constructions appearing in several Mayan languages.[10]

## Vocabulary

[edit]

A number of words are widely used in Guatemala which have Mayan or other native origins such as names for flora, fauna and toponyms. Some of these words are used in most, or all, Spanish-speaking countries, such as chocolate and aguacate ("avocado"). However, some words are only used in Mexico and most Central American countries. The latter include guajolote "turkey" < Nahuatl huaxōlōtl [waˈʃoːloːt͡ɬ] (although chompipe can be used; pavo is also used as in other Spanish-speaking countries); papalote "kite" < Nahuatl pāpālōtl [paːˈpaːloːt͡ɬ] "butterfly"; and jitomate "tomato" < Nahuatl xītomatl [ʃiːˈtomat͡ɬ]. For a more complete list see List of Spanish words of Nahuatl origin. Local words include:

* chapín – Guatemalan
* chish - interjection signifying disgust[11]
* cincho - belt
* chucho - dog
* chumpa - jacket
* canche – blond (not widespread)
* cabal – right on
* colocho - curly (usually when speaking of hair)
* ishto - kid (brat) (not widespread)
* mosh - oat porridge (more formally used is "avena")
* patojo – child (young people)
* pisto - money
* poporopos - popcorn
* shuco - Guatemalan-style hot dog; also means dirty
* sho - interjection for shut up

There are also many words unique to Central America, for example, chunche or chochadas or babosadas means "thing" or "stuff" in some places.[citation needed] The words used to describe children (or kids) vary among the countries in Central America; in Guatemala, they are often called patojos. In the eastern departments especially Jutiapa, cipotes is used to refer to children; meanwhile, in the western and northern departments, chamacos is used. In Guatemala, Nicaragua and Honduras, the word güiros is also used.[citation needed] In Guatemala as well as Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador, people with money are said to have pisto, a term originally used by Maya peoples in Guatemala.[12]

## See also

[edit]

* Languages of Guatemala
* Central American Spanish

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ Spanish → Guatemala at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. ^ "ISO 639-2 Language Code search". Library of Congress. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
3. ^ "Indigenous languages in Guatemala | Mil Milagros, Inc". www.milmilagros.org. Retrieved 2023-09-05.
4. ^ "Guatemala", The World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency, 2023-08-29, retrieved 2023-09-05
5. ^ Pinkerton 1986, p. 690.
6. ^ a b Canfield, D. Lincoln (1981). Spanish pronunciation in the Americas. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 65–66\. ISBN 9780226092638.
7. ^ a b Lipski, John M. (1994). Latin American Spanish. London: Longman. pp. 290–291\. ISBN 9780582087606.
8. ^ a b Lipski, John M. (2008). "Guatemalan and Honduran Spanish in the United States". Varieties of Spanish in the United States. Georgetown University Press. pp. 179–190\. ISBN 9781589016514.
9. ^ Navarro Tomás 2004, section 98
10. ^ Lipski 2000, p. 70.
11. ^ Online dictionary of the Real Academia Española (in Spanish)
12. ^ "Honduras slang". Archived from the original on 2010-05-29. Retrieved 2010-12-11.

## References

[edit]

* Acevedo-Halvick, Ana (June 2006). "Cortesía verbal (introducción)" (PDF). Voces. 1. Universidad Rafael Landívar: 21–71.
* Lipski, John M. (2000). "El español que se habla en El Salvador y su importancia para la dialectología hispanoamericana" (PDF). Científica. 2. Universidad Don Bosco: 65–88\. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2023-09-10. Retrieved 2024-01-09.
* Navarro Tomás, Tomás (2004). Manual de pronunciación española (24 ed.). Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. ISBN 9788400070960.
* Pinkerton, Anne (September 1986). "Observations on the Tu/Vos Option in Guatemalan Ladino Spanish". Hispania. 69 (3). American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese: 690–698\. doi:10.2307/342783. JSTOR 342783.
* Predmore, Richard L. (1952). "El sufijo-al en el español de Guatemala" (PDF). Nueva Revista de Filología Hispánica. 6 (2): 140–144\. doi:10.24201/nrfh.v6i2.3164. Retrieved 2010-05-04.
* Toursinov, Antón (2001). "Lexical peculiarities of Guatemalan national variant of Spanish" (PDF). Intercultural Communication. Chelyabinsk State University: 143–150.
* Toursinov, Antón (October 2002). "Stylistic variability of pronoun addresses in modern Spanish of Guatemala". Language and Literature. 17 (3). Tyumen State University. Archived from the original on 2012-04-02. Retrieved 2011-09-26.
* Utgård, Katrine (2006). Fonética del español de Guatemala: Análisis geolingüístico pluridimensional (PDF) (MA thesis). University of Bergen. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-24. Retrieved 2011-09-26.

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* t
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Languages of Guatemala

Official language|

* Spanish

* Guatemala portal

Indigenous
languages|

| Mamean|

* Awaketek
* Ixil
* Mam
* Tektitek
* Chalchiteco

|

Qʼanjobalan|

* Akatek
* Chuj
* Jakaltek
* Qʼanjobʼal

Quichean|

* Achi
* Kʼicheʼ
* Kaqchikel
* Poqomam
* Poqomchiʼ
* Qʼeqchiʼ
* Sakapultek
* Sipakapense
* Tzʼutujil
* Uspantek

Yucatecan|

* Itzaʼ
* Mopan

Xincan|

* Yupiltepeque
* Jumaytepeque
* Chiquimulilla
* Guazacapán
* Sinacantán

Other|

* Chʼorti
* Garifuna
* Xinca
* Chinese
* Japanese
* Korean
* Plautdietsch
* Lebanese
* Italian
* French
* Romani

Sign languages|

* Guatemalan Sign Language
* Mayan Sign Language

* v
* t
* e

Guatemala articles

History|

* Spanish conquest
* Captaincy General
* Mexican rule
* Federal Republic of Central America
* 1902 eruption of Santa María
* Ten Years of Spring (1944–1954)
* 1954 coup d'état
* Guatemalan genocide
* Civil War (1960–1996)
* 1976 earthquake

Geography|

* Biodiversity
* Biosphere reserves
* Cities
* Earthquakes
* Ecoregions
* Fauna
* Flora
* Islands
* Lakes
* National parks
* Ramsar sites
* Rivers
* Volcanism
* Water resources
* World Heritage Sites

Politics|

* Administrative divisions
* Congress
* Constitution
* Elections
* Foreign relations
* Law enforcement
* Military
* Political parties
* Presidents

Economy|

* Central bank
* Coffee
* Currency
* Telecommunications
* Tourism
* Transport

Society|

* Crime
* Education
* Health
* Languages
* LGBT rights
* People
* Demographics
* Prostitution
* Religion
* Sex trafficking
* Water supply and sanitation

Culture|

* Anthem
* Cuisine
* Flag
* Literature
* Media
* Music
* National emblem
* Public holidays

* Outline
* Index
* Bibliography

* Category
* Portal

* v
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Dialects and varieties of Spanish by continent

Africa and Asia|

* Canarian
* Equatoguinean
* Philippine
* Saharan

Americas
(Interamerican)|

| Caribbean|

* Cuban
* Dominican
* Panamanian
* Puerto Rican
* Trinidadian

|

Central America|

* Belizean
* Costa Rican
* Guatemalan
* Honduran
* Nicaraguan
* Pachuco
* Salvadoran

North America|

* United States
* Caló (Chicano)
* Californian
* Isleño
* New Mexican
* Sabine River
* Mexican

South America|

* Amazonic
* Andean
* Bolivian
* Chilean
* Chilote
* Chiloé Archipelago
* Colombian
* Cordobés
* Central Argentina
* Cuyano
* Central western Argentina
* Ecuadorian
* Equatorial
* Coastal Ecuador
* Llanero
* Los Llanos Colombia/Venezuela
* Maracucho
* Zulia State
* Paisa
* Paisa Region
* Paraguayan
* Pastuso
* Colombia-Ecuador border
* Peruvian
* Ribereño
* Coastal Peru
* Rioplatense
* Coastal Argentina
* Uruguayan
* Venezuelan

Europe
(Peninsular)|

* Andalusian
* Canarian
* Castilian
* Castrapo (Galicia)
* Castúo (Extremadura)
* Murcian
* spoken by Catalan speakers

Other|

* Standard
* Llanito
* Judaeo-Spanish
* Haketia
* Tetuani Ladino
* Caló (Para-Romani)
* Spanglish
* Palenquero (creole)
* Chavacano (creole)
* Media Lengua (mixed language)
* Papiamento (Portuguese-based creole with Spanish influence)

Extinct|

* Cocoliche and Lunfardo
* Coastal Argentina, Uruguay
* Malespín
* Central America
* Bozal

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