| Central American Spanish |
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Limousines in Central |
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Information AboutCentral American Spanish |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT CENTRAL AMERICAN SPANISH | |
| spanish variants | |
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| central american spanish | |
| spanish variants | |
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VARIATION Of the five States , Costa Rica has the most distinct accent, instantly recognizable because they pronounce 'r's as in English. According to Central Americans, there is no difference between the accents of Nicaragua , Honduras and El Salvador , while that of Guatemala varies slightly. While most vocabulary is common, each state has its own word, for instance, for "corner store" and "soft drink": In Guatemala, they are ''Abarroteria'' and ''Agua'' (water is ''Agua Pura''). In El Salvador, they are ''Tienda'' and ''Gaseosa''. In Honduras, they are ''Pulperia'' and ''Refresco''. In Nicaragua, they are ''Pulpería'' and ''Gaseosa''. PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY In Spanish, words do not end with stops. However, many such words are borrowed from English. In Central America, all such stops are usually pronounced like 'c's. The Salvadorean ice cream shop ''Pops'' is pronounced by many people as ''Pocs''. ''Internet'' is sometimes pronounced ''Internec'', and ''Laptop'' is pronounced ''lactoc''. This is sometimes extended to native Spanish words where such stops are found at the end of a syllable. For example, ''Aceptar'' is often pronounced ''Acectar''. Notice that such pronunciations are most common in people with low levels of schooling, as people in the middle and higher classes tend to be a bit more observant of standard pronunciation. Some other examples include:
SYNTAX The most common form for the second person singular in Central America is ''vos'', as used in Argentina : Its conjugation follows the pattern, for example, (for “you have”) ''vos tenés'' instead of ''tú tienes'', or (for “you sing”) ''vos cantás'' instead of ''tú cantas''. The pronoun ''Usted'' is used when addressing older or respected persons, as it is in all Spanish countries; however, in Costa Rica and Guatemala, it is frequently used with younger persons. The pronoun ''Tú'' is mainly used in writings and publications. LEXICON The vocabulary of Central America is very different from that of Mexico, but similar in many ways to that of Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela. For example, ''Redondel'' is a Roundabout . However, there are also many words unique to Central America. For example, ''Chunche'' means ''Thing'' or ''Stuff''. CROSS REFERENCES Caliche slang of El Salvador |
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