Rioplatense Spanish


Rioplatense Spanish , also known as Rioplatense Castilian, is a variety of Spanish spoken mainly in the areas in and around the Río de la Plata Basin of Argentina and Uruguay. It is also referred to as River Plate Spanish or Argentine Spanish. Being the most prominent dialect to employ voseo in both speech and writing, many features of Rioplatense are also shared with the varieties spoken in Eastern Bolivia and Chile. This dialect is often spoken with an intonation resembling that of the Neapolitan language of Southern Italy, but there are exceptions. The word employed to name the Spanish language in Argentina is castellano and in Uruguay, español. See names given to the Spanish language.
As Rioplatense is considered a dialect of Spanish and not a distinct language, there are no credible figures for a total number of speakers. Generally, native speakers of Spanish who were raised in Uruguay or the majority of Argentina are assumed to speak Rioplatense just as, for instance, Americans would be assumed to speak American English, rather than any other variety of English. The total population of these areas would amount to some 25–30 million, depending on the definition and expanse.

Location

Rioplatense is mainly based in the cities of Buenos Aires, Rosario, Santa Fe, La Plata, Mar del Plata and Bahía Blanca in Argentina, the most populated cities in the dialectal area, along with their respective suburbs and the areas in between, and in all of Uruguay. This regional form of Spanish is also found in other areas, not geographically close but culturally influenced by those population centers. Rioplatense is the standard in audiovisual media in Argentina and Uruguay. To the north, and northeast exists the hybrid Riverense Portuñol.

Influences on the language

The Spanish brought their language to the area during the Spanish colonization in the region. Originally part of the Viceroyalty of Peru, the Río de la Plata basin had its status lifted to Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata in 1776.
Until the massive immigration to the region started in the 1870s, the language of the Río de la Plata had virtually no influence from other languages and varied mainly by localisms. Argentines and Uruguayans often state that their populations, like those of the United States and Canada, comprise people of relatively recent European descent, the largest immigrant groups coming from Italy and Spain.

European immigration

Several languages, and especially Italian, influenced the criollo Spanish of the time, because of the diversity of settlers and immigrants to Argentina and Uruguay:
European settlement decimated Native American populations before 1810, and also during the expansion into Patagonia. However, the interaction between Spanish and several of the native languages has left visible traces. Words from Guarani, Quechua and others were incorporated into the local form of Spanish.
Some words of Amerindian origin commonly used in Rioplatense Spanish are:
choclo/pochoclo -- popcorn in Argentina

Vocabulary

Differences between dialects of Spanish are numerous; about 9,000 Rioplatense words are not used or, in many cases, even understood elsewhere. These include many terms from the basic vocabulary, such as words for fruits, garments, foodstuffs, car parts, etc., as well as local slang.
Rioplatense vocabularies continue to diverge from Peninsular Spanish: Rioplatense Spanish tends to borrow technical words from American English, while Peninsular Spanish tends to borrow or calque them from either British English or French.
RioplatenseCastilianAndalusianMexicanChileanEnglish ItalianNeapolitan
duraznomelocotónmelocotónduraznoduraznopeachpesca'o ppièzzeco
damascoalbaricoquealbaricoquechabacanodamascoapricotalbicocca'a crisòmmola/'a crisciùmmola
frutillafresafresafresafrutillastrawberryfragola'a fràvula/'a vràvuja
papapatatapatata/papapapapapapotatopatata'a patàna/'a patànn'
porotojudía/alubiahabichuelasfrijolporotobeanfagiolo'o fasulo/'o fasciulo
sweater/suéter/pulóverjersey/suéterjerseysuétersweater/suéter/chaleco/chombasweater/jumpermaglione/pullover'o maglion
moñopajaritapajaritamoñohumita/corbatínbowtiefarfallino'a natìcola/'a pullomma
depravadoguarroguarrojariosodepravadodepravedporcellino'o scapucchiune
autocochecochecarro/auto/cocheautocarauto ; macchina'a màchina/'o ccarro
celularmóvilmóvilcelularcelularcell phone/mobilecellulare, telefonino'o cellular
computadoraordenadorordenadorcomputadoracomputadorcomputercomputer'o compiutèr/'u ccumpùter/'u 'mpùter
baúl maleteromaleterocajuelamaletero trunk/bootbaule'o bbagùgghje/'o bbagùllo
valijamaletamaletamaleta/petacamaletaluggage or suitcase; valisevaligia'a balìce/'a bajìce
pollerafaldafaldafaldafalda/polleraskirtgonna'a faùda/'a gunnèddra
ricotarequesónrequesónrequesónricota/ricottaricotta cheesericotta'a rrecutt'/'a recotta
remeracamisetaplayeracamiseta/playerapolera/camisetaT-shirtmaglietta'a cammìsa
panchoperritosalchichahotdog/jochocompleto/hot dogfrankfurter/hot dogwürstel'o wiustell
niño/pibe/chico/nene/chiquilín/guríchavalchavalchavo/muchacho/chamaco/bato/chiconiño/lolo/chico/cabro chicoboyragazzino'o ninno/'o guàglio/'o guajò/'o guagliòne

Phonology

Rioplatense Spanish distinguishes itself from other dialects of Spanish by the pronunciation of certain consonants.
Aspiration of, together with loss of final and some common instances of diphthong simplification, tend to produce a noticeable simplification of the syllable structure, giving Rioplatense informal speech a distinct fluid consonant-vowel-consonant-vowel rhythm:

Intonation

Preliminary research has shown that Rioplatense Spanish, and particularly the speech of the city of Buenos Aires, has intonation patterns that resemble those of Italian dialects. This correlates well with immigration patterns. Both Argentina and Uruguay have received large numbers of Italian settlers since the 19th century.
According to a study conducted by National Scientific and Technical Research Council of Argentina Buenos Aires and Rosario residents speak with an intonation most closely resembling Neapolitan. The researchers note this as a relatively recent phenomenon, starting in the beginning of the 20th century with the main wave of Southern Italian immigration. Before that, the porteño accent was more like that of Spain, especially Andalusia, and in case of Uruguay, the accent was more like Canarian dialect.

Pronouns and verb conjugation

One of the features of the Argentine and Uruguayan speaking style is the voseo: the usage of the pronoun vos for the second person singular, instead of tú. In other Spanish-speaking regions where voseo is used, such as in Chile and Colombia, the use of voseo has at times been considered a nonstandard lower speaking style; whereas in Argentina and Uruguay it is standard.
The second person plural pronoun, which is vosotros in Spain, is replaced with ustedes in Rioplatense, as in most other Latin American dialects. While usted is the formal second person singular pronoun, its plural ustedes has a neutral connotation and can be used to address friends and acquaintances as well as in more formal occasions. Ustedes takes a grammatically third- person plural verb.
As an example, see the conjugation table for the verb amar in the present tense, indicative mode:
Person/NumberPeninsularRioplatense
1st sing.yo amoyo amo
2nd sing.tú amasvos amás
3rd sing.él amaél ama
1st pluralnosotros amamosnosotros amamos
2nd pluralvosotros amáisustedes aman¹
3rd pluralellos amanellos aman

Although apparently there is just a stress shift, the origin of such a stress is the loss of the diphthong of the ancient vos inflection from vos amáis to vos amás. This can be better seen with the verb "to be": from vos sois to vos sos. In vowel-alternating verbs like perder and morir, the stress shift also triggers a change of the vowel in the root:
PeninsularRioplatense
yo pierdoyo pierdo
tú pierdesvos perdés
él pierdeél pierde
nosotros perdemosnosotros perdemos
vosotros perdéisustedes pierden
ellos pierdenellos pierden

For the -ir verbs, the Peninsular vosotros forms end in -ís, so there is no diphthong to simplify, and Rioplatense vos employs the same form: instead of tú vives, vos vivís; instead of tú vienes, vos venís.
VerbStandard SpanishCastilian in pluralRioplatenseChileanMaracaibo VoseoEnglish
Cantartú cantasvosotros cantáisvos cantástú cantáivos cantáisyou sing
Corrertú corresvosotros corréisvos corréstú corrívos corréisyou run
Partirtú partesvosotros partísvos partístú partívos partísyou leave
Decirtú dicesvosotros decísvos decístú decívos decísyou say

The imperative forms for vos are identical to the imperative forms in Peninsular but stressing the last syllable:
When in Peninsular the imperative has one syllable, a vowel corresponding to the verb's class is added :
Exceptions
The plural imperative uses the ustedes form.
As for the subjunctive forms of vos verbs, while they tend to take the tú conjugation, some speakers do use the classical vos conjugation, employing the vosotros form minus the i in the final diphthong. Many consider only the tú subjunctive forms to be correct.
In the preterite, an s is sometimes added, for instance perdistes. This corresponds to the classical vos conjugation found in literature. Compare Iberian Spanish form vosotros perdisteis.
Other verb forms coincide with tú after the i is omitted.
In the old times, vos was used as a respectful term. In Rioplatense, as in most other dialects which employ voseo, this pronoun has become informal, supplanting the use of tú. It is used especially for addressing friends and family members, but may also include most acquaintances, such as co-workers, friends of one's friends, etc.

Usage of tenses

Although literary works use the full spectrum of verb inflections, in Rioplatense, the future tense tends to use a verbal phrase in the informal language.
This verb phrase is formed by the verb ir followed by the preposition a and the main verb in the infinitive. This resembles the English phrase to be going to + infinitive verb. For example:
The present perfect, just like pretérito anterior, is rarely used: the simple past replaces it. However, the Present Perfect is still used in Northwestern Argentina, particularly in the province of Tucumán.
But, in the subjunctive mood, the present perfect is still widely used:
In Buenos Aires a reflexive form of verbs is often used - "se viene" instead of "viene'', etc.

Influence beyond Argentina

In Chilean Spanish there is plenty of lexical influence from the Argentine dialects suggesting a "masked prestige" otherwise not expressed, since the image of Argentine things is usually negative. Influences run across the different social strata of Chile. Argentine tourism in Chile during summer and Chilean tourism in Argentina would influence the speech of the upper class. The middle classes would have Argentine influences by watching football on cable television and by watching Argentine programs in the broadcast television. La Cuarta, a "popular" tabloid, regularly employs lunfardo words and expressions. Usually Chileans do not recognize the Argentine borrowings as such, claiming they are Chilean terms and expressions. The relation between Argentine dialects and Chilean Spanish is one of "asymmetric permeability", with Chilean Spanish adopting sayings of the Argentine variants but usually not the other way around. Despite of this, people in Santiago, Chile, value Argentine Spanish poorly in terms of "correctness", far behind Peruvian Spanish which is considered the most correct form.
Some Argentinian words have been adopted in Iberian Spanish such as pibe, piba "boy, girl", taken into Spanish slang where it produced pibón, "very attractive person".