Colombian Spanish (Spanish:español colombiano) is a grouping of the varieties of Spanish spoken inColombia. 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 ofCaribbean Spanish, while highland varieties have been historically more conservative. TheCaro and Cuervo Institute inBogotá 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]
Although it is subject to debate by academics, some critics argue thatEl desierto prodigioso y prodigio del desierto, written in theNew Kingdom of Granada during the 1600s byPedro de Solís y Valenzuela, is the first modern novel of the Spanish America.[5]
The phoneme/x/ is realized as a glottal[h] "in all regions [of Colombia]"[6] (as in southern Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, the Caribbean coast of Venezuela, Ecuadorian coast, the Spanish-speaking islands of the Caribbean, the Canary Islands, and southern Spain—as well as occasionally in Chile, Peru, and Northwest Argentina). A notable exception is thePastuso Spanish ofNariño Department, where the phoneme is realized as velar[x].
As in most other American dialects, most of Colombian Spanish hasyeísmo (the merger of/ʎ/ into/ʝ/). The exception is the traditional speech ofSantander and aroundPasto (inlandNariño), 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 ofAntioquia andNorte de Santander Departments,⟨ll⟩ represents[ʒ] instead, which still contrasts with the[ʝ] represented by⟨y⟩.[7] This type of distinction also occurs in theAndean regions of Ecuador.
As in most of the Americas, the Canary Islands and most of Andalusia, Colombia hasseseo (the lack of distinction between/θ/ and/s/), makingcocer/coser orabrazar/abrasar homophones. Thoughseseo is general in Colombia and/s/ is usually lamino-alveolar[s̻], an apico-alveolar, Northern-Spain-style/s/,[s̺], made with the tip of the tongue against the alveolar ridge, is current in many Andean regions, especially inAntioquia Department (Medellín).[8] That trait (unique in the Americas) is to be associated with a large number of northern Spanish settlers in Andean Colombia.
Thevoiced consonants/b/,/d/, and/ɡ/ are pronounced asstop consonants after and sometimes before any consonant, rather than thefricative orapproximant 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 isNariño Department[8] and mostCosteño 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[β̞,ð̞,ɣ˕] and may be elided. For example,Bogotá may be pronounced without the/ɡ/, as[bo.oˈta].[9]
As most other Spanish dialects, standard Colombian Spanish has five vowels: two high vowels (/i,u/), two mid vowels (/e,o/) and one open vowel (/a/). Colombian Spanish, like most other Spanish varieties, tends to resolve vowels inhiatus asdiphthongs. There is regional differentiation as, in formal speech,Caribbean speakers are more likely to diphthongize than those from inland areas. However, there is no difference in informal speech.[12]
Much of the population in Colombia, especially in Bogotá, is known for usingusted (the second-person singular pronoun consideredformal in most varieties of Spanish) between friends, family members, and others whose relationship would indicate the use oftú orvos in most other dialects.[13][14]
Characteristic regional usages of pronouns includevoseo (usingvos, the familiar singular "you", rather than thetú of other dialects) in thePaisa Region and theValle del Cauca Department and using ofsu merced (literally "your grace") inCundinamarca andBoyacá 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 pronounvosotros and its corresponding verb forms (-áis/-éis), which are common in Spain, are, as in the rest of the Americas, consideredarchaic 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]
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 inCuban,Venezuelan, andCosta Rican Spanish as well.[18]
The diminutive form can be applied not only tonouns, as above, but also toadjectives, toverbs. In theirgerundive form, for example,corriendo ("running") becomescorriendito ("scurrying"). Inadverbs, for example,ahora ("now") becomesahorita ("later"). Even inprepositions,junto a ("next to") becomesjuntico a ("right next to").[19][20]
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") becomesel 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, withahora ("now"),Váyase ahora mismo ("Get out right now") becomesVáyase ahoritica mismo ("Get the heck out right now!"). Also, withbueno ("good"),El carro está bueno ("The car is in good condition") becomesEl carro está buenecitico ("The car is in tip-top condition").
Paradoxically, in intrafamily speech, it is common for husband and wife to address each other asmijo andmija (frommi hijo "my son" andmi hija "my daughter"), and sons and daughters are lovingly calledpapito ("daddy") andmamita ("mommy").[citation needed]
A common greeting in Colombia is¿Quiubo? (sometimes written asqui'iubo orkiubo), 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 thepreterite form of the verbhaber, 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 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,[23]Victor Gaviria's movieRodrigo D: No Future, orAndrés López Forero's monologueLa pelota de letras ("The Lettered Ball") as well as many other cultural expressions, includingtelenovelas, magazines, news coverage, jokes, etc..
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 wasso cool!"
caliente ("hot"): dangerous.
camello ("camel"): a job. Hard work.¡Eso fue un camello! – "That washard 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 veryfunny."[25]
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 (inAntioquia), inValle 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) tobeat someone up.
lucas: with same usage of the wordbarra (considered low-class).
mamar: tosuck 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]
paquete ("package"): one million Colombian pesos, also used as an insult.
parar bolas ("to stop balls"): to pay attention.
parce orparcero: "comrade" (derived fromparcelo, 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 wordparceiro ("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.
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 (frompor favor): please.
quicas (slang for "fat girls"): breasts (considered low-class).
ratero (fromrata "rat"): robber.
rumbear ("to rumble"): to make out; to go clubbing (leading to making out).
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.
The Caribbean or Coastal (costeño) dialect is spoken in theCaribbean Region of Colombia. It shares many of the features typical of generalCaribbean Spanish and is phonologically similar toAndalusian Spanish. Word-final/n/ is realized asvelar[ŋ]. Syllable-final/s/ is typically pronounced[h] and skcosta ("coast") is pronounced[ˈkohta] androsales ("roses") becomes[roˈsaleh]. The most notable and distinguishable varieties of Atlantic Colombian accents are Samario (considered the most articulated Atlantic Colombian accent and rhotic), Barranquillero (mostly rhotic), Cartagena (mostly non-rhotic and fast-spoken) and Montería (Sinú Valley Accent, strictly non-rhotic, plosive and very marked wording[clarification needed] likeReceived Pronunciation in British English).
This is the dialect spoken on theislands ofSan Andrés, Providencia, and Santa Catalina in Colombia'sCaribbean Region. It is marked by a mixture ofCaribbean Spanish with some features ofEnglish. Syllable-final/r/ can be realized, in addition to theflap[ɾ], thetrill[r], and thelateral [l], as thealveolar approximant[ɹ], the last being thought to be an influence ofBritish English. Thus,verso ("verse") becomes[ˈbeɹso] (alongside[ˈbeɾso],[ˈberso], or[ˈbelso]);invierno ("winter") becomes[imˈbjeɹno] (alongside[imˈbjeɾno],[imˈbjerno], or[imˈbjelno]), andescarlata ("scarlet") becomes[ehkaɹˈlata] (alongside[ehkaɾˈlata],[ehkarˈlata], or[ehkaˈlata]).
Word-final/r/, when followed by a vowel-initial word, is usually realized as a tap, an approximant, or the lateral[l], as inamo[ɾ~ɹ~l]eterno ("eternal love"). If it is followed by a consonant or a pause, it may be realized as any of those sounds or as a trill or elided, as inamo[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 byRaizals, by whites of British descent, and by descendants of mainland Colombians. The dialect of native Spanish-speakers in the area is closer to theNicaraguan 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.
This dialect extends beyond theDepartment of Chocó throughout thePacific coast and is said to reflect African influence in terms ofintonation andrhythm. Characteristically, syllable-final/s/ is frequently eitherdebuccalized and pronounced as[h] or omitted, as in the Caribbean dialect (see above). Like the Caribbean dialect, word-final/n/ is realized asvelar[ŋ],/d/ is replaced by/r/ in some words, and syllable-final/l/ and/r/ are often merged, as inCaribbean Spanish. This dialect is also spoken byAfro-Colombians living inland in the departments ofCauca andValle del Cauca.
The Cundiboyacense dialect is spoken mainly in the departments ofCundinamarca andBoyacá (Cundiboyacense High Plateau). It uses the expressionsumercé orsu merced (literally "your grace") often as a formal second-person singular pronoun. The pronounusted is used when two people speak in an informal situation.Tuteo (the use of the pronountú) is usual in conversation between a man and woman of similar ages. Occasionally, the pronounusted may be used briefly in extremely-informal speech between couples or family members or to reprehend someone, depending on the tone of voice.
"Rolo" (a name for the dialect ofBogotá) is also calledcachaco. It is an area of strongustedeo, the familiar use of the pronounusted. 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 thell/y contrast (i.e., noyeísmo),[37] etc.),[38] but it has only marginal use of the formal second-person pronounsumercé. This dialect is the basis of standard Spanish of Colombia.
Llanero covers a vast area of the country with a lowpopulation density. It is spoken in the eastern plains of the country from theCordillera Oriental (the eastern mountain range of theAndes). It has a characteristic influence of inland Colombian settlers, the difference is that syllable-final/s/ is typically aspirated[h] like Caribbean and Pacific dialects, even /s/ before vowels is aspirated.
The Opita dialect is spoken mostly in the departments ofTolima andHuila, mostly in the central and southern parts of theMagdalena River Valley. It is said to show strong influence of indigenous languages and is noted for its slow tempo and unique intonation. As in most of the Americas, the dialect hasyeísmo andseseo. The dialect is traditionally characterised by the use of the second-person pronounusted (orvusted in some rural areas) in formal circumstances but also in familiar ones (in which most other dialects would usetú, see "ustedeo" above). However,tú is gaining ground with young people. The use ofvoseo is rare.
ThePastuso dialect is spoken in the southwest ll of the country. One feature isapicoalveolar[s̺], between[s] and[ʃ], as in northern and central Spain. However, unlike Paisa, speakers typically conserve the "ll"/"y" distinction (the dialect has noyeísmo), and in some areas, ther is pronounced as avoicedapicalsibilant. Contrary to the usual tendency in Spanish to weaken or relax the sounds/b/,/d/, and/ɡ/ between vowels, Pastuso-speakers tend to tense those sounds with more emphasis than in other dialects.[39]
Santanderean is spoken mostly in the northeastern part of the country inSantander andNorte de Santander Departments. There is a strong use ofustedeo in both informal and formal contexts.
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 aschanclas, and plastic bags (bolsas elsewhere) are calledchuspas. As in other areas, achocha is another crude word for "vagina", andchucha refers to anopossum. Apachanguero is someone who dances or parties all night long.
Andrés Caicedo was the main writer to depict the vernacular usage of language accurately.[40]
^Schmidely, Jack (1983).La personne grammaticale et la langue espagnole. Presses Universitares de France.ISBN2902618476.
^Carvalho, Ana M.; Orozco, Rafael; Shin, Naomi Lapidus, eds. (2015).Subject Pronoun Expression in Spanish: A Cross-Dialect Perspective. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press. p. 21.ISBN9781626161702.
Jergas de habla hispana Spanish dictionary specializing in slang and colloquial expressions, featuring all Spanish-speaking countries, including Colombia
Colombia
