Mexican Spanish

Mexican Spanish (español mexicano in Spanish) is the Spanish language as it is spoken in Mexico. It is the most spoken Spanish by total number of speakers since Mexico has the world's largest Spanish-speaking population with almost twice the population of the next largest Spanish-speaking population and almost a third of the total native Spanish speakers.

As a result of Mexico City's central role in the colonial administration of New Spain, the population of the city included relatively large numbers of speakers from Spain. Mexico City (Tenochtitlán) had also been the capital of the Aztec Empire, and many speakers of the Aztec language Nahuatl continued to live there and in the surrounding region, outnumbering the Spanish-speakers for several generations. Consequently, Mexico City tended historically to exercise a standardizing effect over the entire country, more or less, evolving into a distinctive dialect of Spanish which incorporated a significant number of hispanicized Nahuatl words.

Variation

The differences between Spanish from Spain (sometimes called Castilian or Peninsular Spanish) and Mexican Spanish are greater than those one might find when comparing American and British English. The territory of contemporary Mexico is not coextensive with what might be termed Mexican Spanish. First, the Spanish of the Yucatán Peninsula is distinct from all other forms, both in intonation and in the incorporation of Mayan words. The Spanish spoken in the areas that border Guatemala resembles the variation of Central American Spanish spoken in that country, where the voseo is used. Secondly, the waves of 19th and 20th century migration from Mexico to the United States have caused Mexican Spanish to become the most widely spoken variety of Spanish in the United States, except in the East Coast (e.g. Miami). The Spanish spoken in the Gulf Coastal areas of Veracruz and Tabasco and in the states of Yucatan and Quintana Roo, is also distinctive – at least at the level of vernacular speech – as the Spanish spoken there exhibits more Caribbean phonetic traits than that spoken in the remainder of Mexico.

Regarding the evolution of the Spanish spoken in Mexico, the Swedish hispanist Bertil Malmberg points out that in Mexican Spanish, unlike most variations of the other Spanish-speaking countries, it is the vowels which lose strength, while consonants are fully pronounced. Malmberg explains this by the influence of the consonant-complex Nahuatl language through bilingual speakers and placenames. However, there are currently more than 50 native Mexican languages spoken throughout the country and they all contribute to the diversity of accents found all over Mexico. For instance, the tonal or "sing song" quality of some forms of Mexican Spanish derive from some of the indigeneous languages such as Zapotec which, like Chinese, include tonality in their standard form.

Phonetics and phonology

A striking feature of Mexican Spanish, in the interior of the country at least, is the high rate of unstressed vowel reduction and elision, as in [tɾasts] 'trastes' (cooking utensils/dishes). This process is most frequent when a vowel is in contact with [s], and [e] is the vowel that is most frequently affected .

In the same regions – most of the interior of Mexico – syllable-final /s/ is rarely weakened; this fact, combined with frequent unstressed vowel reduction, gives the sibilant [s] a special prominence. (Note that this situation contrasts with the situation in the coastal areas, on both the Pacific and the Gulf Coastal sides, where syllable-final /s/ weakening is a sociolinguistic marker, reflecting the tension between the Mexico City norm and the historical tendency towards consonantal weakening that is so characteristic of coastal areas in Spanish America.)

Taps and trills

[ɾ] and [r] are routinely assibilated throughout central and southern Mexico, as while in the northern states the tap and trill predominate.

Nasals

Some Spanish speakers, like those from Spain, pronounce final /m/, /n/, and /ŋ/ as [n] despite spelling that has the many modern Spanish words that end in 'm' (UNAM, .com). Many other dialects also pronounce all three final nasals exactly the same, whether that be as [ŋ], or as [n]. In Mexico, final /n/ and /ŋ/ are realized as different sounds. Final /n/ is always pronounced as [n], and final /ŋ/' as in smoking (tuxedo) is also pronounced as [ŋ].

Fricatives

On top of the usual fricatives for other American Spanish dialects ([f], [s], [x]), Mexican Spanish also has [ʃ], represented in a variety of ways. In words coming from Nahuatl, mostly place names, the usual spelling will be "x". The prime example would be "Xola" [ʃola]. However, since "x" also represents at least 2 other pronunciations [x] as in "México" [me xi ko], [s], [ks]) many instances where "x" should be [ʃ] have switched pronunciation (e.g., "Jalapa" [xa la pa], alternately spelled "Xalapa"; "Xochimilco" [ʃo tʃi mil ko] --> [so tʃi mil ko]). (As in many modern European languages, "x" can also be pronounced as [ks].)

In Northern Mexican Spanish, [tʃ] tends to be replaced consistently by [ʃ].

In terms of the [x] variable, the articulation in inland Mexico is usually [x], as in [kaxa] 'caja' (box). On the coasts the normal articulation is [h], as in most Caribbean and Pacific coast dialects throughout Latin America.

In Spanish, before the conquest of Mexico, the letter "j" was commonly used to denote the sound "sh", particularly with respect to Arabic names and words; for example, Jerez de la Frontera. Today, the "j" would be pronounced as an "h" in English, but hundreds of years ago, it was pronounced as the English "sh"; hence, the origin of the word "sherry" for the famous product of Jerez de la Frontera. "México" was initially spelled to reflect its Nahuatl pronunciation, i.e. "mesheeco", hence one can find Mexico spelled "Méjico" in old documents. As the Spanish "j" was standardized to an "h" pronunciation instead of "sh", the original Nahuatl pronunciation was obscured. The use of an "x" was then more commonly employed, but was still commonly pronounced as an English "h". In all Nahuatl-derived words and place-names, the "x" is properly pronounced as an English "sh", but in Mexican Spanish, continues to be more commonly pronounced as a voiceless velar fricative ([x]).

Morphology

Mexican Spanish is a tuteante form of the Spanish language, voseo being confined to some parts of the state of Chiapas, where the local Spanish rather belongs to the Central American region. In Chiapas, the verb forms corresponding to vos are the same as in Guatemala. In other words, in the voseo, only used in some parts of the state of Chiapas, the present indicative and subjunctive have oxytone forms with monophthongal endings (cantás/-és, comés/-ás, subís/-ás), the imperative has no final /d/, there is sociolinguistic variation in the future between forms in -ás and forms in -és/-ís (the latter being the less prestigious of the alternants), and the remaining vos forms are identical to those that go with tú in standard Spanish.

Vosotros (Second Person Plural, in English "you all"). Vosotros is heard in some regional Central American varieties of Spanish and in Spain. Although it is still taught in school and written in some official documents, it is rarely spoken. Instead "Ustedes" is used for both formal and informal contents.

Syntax

Several syntactic patterns that sound very 'non-standard' to the Peninsular ear are routine in Mexican Spanish. First and foremost is the more or less conventionalized ellipsis of the negative particle "no" in clauses containing the preposition "hasta" (until):

• Será publicado hasta fines de año. (that is, 'It will not be published until the end of the year.')
• Cierran hasta las nueve. ('They don't close until 9 o'clock.')
• Hasta que tomé la píldora se me quitó el dolor. ('Until I took the pill, the pain did not go away.')

In each case, the sentence has the sense indicated by the English translation only if the main verb is implicitly understood as being negated.

A departure from Peninsular usage involves using interrogative "qué" in conjunction with the quantifier "tan(to)" :

• ¿Qué tan graves son los daños? (Whereas in Spain the question would be posed as "¿Cómo son de graves los daños?")
• ¿Qué tan buen cocinero eres?
• ¿Qué tanto cuesta? (As opposed to "¿Cuánto cuesta?")

Note that phenomena relating to bilingualism are likely to be encountered among bilinguals whose primary language is not Spanish or in isolated rural regions where the syntactic influence of indigenous languages has been important historically. One of the most discussed of these phenomena is the redundant use of verbal clitics, particularly "lo", a tendency that is encountered in language contact areas throughout Latin America.

Lexicon

Mexican Spanish retains a number of words that are considered archaic in Spain.

Also, there are a number of words widely used in Mexico which have Nahuatl, Mayan or other native origins, in particular names for flora, fauna and toponymics. Some of these words are used in most or all Spanish-speaking countries, like chocolate and aguacate (avocado), and some are only used in Mexico. An example would be guajolote, for "turkey" (although pavo is also used, as in other Spanish-speaking countries) which comes from the Nahuatl huaxōlōtl. Other examples would be papalote for "kite", from the Nahuatl pāpālōtl for "butterfly"; and jitomate for "tomato" from the Nahuatl xītomatl.

Examples of these terms would be, in requesting repetition of something not understood, the most common response in Central Mexico would be:

• "¿Mande?" (Roughly translated, a formal (you) order?; from mandar, 'to order').
• The use of "¿Qué?" (What?) by its own is sometimes considered impolite, unless it is accompanied by a verb: "¿Qué dijiste?" (What did you say?) or "¿Qué pasó?" (What happened?).

Another example is "alcancía" instead of "hucha." Other commonly heard Mexicanisms include the following:

• "¡Aguas!": Literally "Waters!" means "(Be) careful!" or "Watch out!"; it traces its origins back to the 1800 when toilet water was thrown through the window, people shouted ¡Aguas! so that other people in the street could be careful.
• Chamaco or escuincle: a small child (from nahuatl ´´itzcuintli)
• Chingadera [or chingado(a) followed by what is being referred to]: any unspecified object (considered vulgar)
• Chingar (to screw or ruin) (vulgar)
• "¿Cómo ves?" or "¿Cómo la ves?" (Literally means "How do you see?" or "How do you see it?") "What do you think?"
• Güey: from Nahuatl huei meaning big or sir when user in a personal context. (Typically confused with buey, means castrated bull). Common sentence-ender used amongst young people; can also be used to designate a person - roughly equivalent to the English use of "dude" or "man" in conversation among Mexican youth) (vulgarized)
• Bronca: (Literally means aggressive woman or girl) commonly used amongst young people; means "fight" or "problem" (Vulgar).
• Güero: someone with light hair and/or light skin (not considered offensive)
• Naco from Nahuatl naca, meaning flesh or people. A boorish, uneducated person.
• ¿Qué Onda?: Literally "What wave" means "What's going on?" or "What's up?"
• Órale: "Oh, okay" or "Oh, all right"
• Padre: Literally "Father" used as an adjective to denote something being "cool", attractive, good, fun, etc.: "Esta música está muy padre." ("This music is really cool.").
• Pinche: fucking (not sexual; like the British "bloody")
• Popote: (drinking) straw
• Simón: "Yes" or "Exactly"
• "¡Truchas!": "(Be) careful" or "Watch Out!"
• Ya mero: "almost"
• Replacing necesitar (to need) with ocupar (to occupy; also simply ocupa, e.g., ¿lo ocupas?, "do you need it?"), especially in Guadalajara.

In Mexico, the common word for a cold is gripa instead of gripe. El radio refers to a radio receiver while la radio refers to the means of communication; e.g., Ayer pasaron la noticia por la radio vs enchufó el radio (he plugged the radio in). This difference can be attributed to a shortening of the word: el radio (the radio receiver) remains with the masculine article while la radio refers to la radio-difusora (radio station), hence the feminine article. A swimming pool is an alberca instead of piscina (used in Spain) or pileta (used in South America).

Dialects

Due to the size of the country, it is natural that a variety of Mexican dialects has emerged. Some of them are clearly distinct from the other varieties (the speech of Mexico City, Tijuana, Yucatán, Nuevo León, Chihuahua, Jalisco, Veracruz, Nayarit, Sinaloa and Sonora, and Chiapas, for example, are easy to tell apart from each other). Differences in usage and vocabulary among the regions are common and, although standard Mexican Spanish is understood by all, sometimes the differences can lead to misunderstandings. Dialects also vary depending on the education, social level and ethnic background of the speaker.

Some suffixes and prefixes

In Mexico, the -ito originally a diminutive suffix is used to form affectives to express politeness or submission (cafecito, meaning little coffee; cabecita, meaning little head; chavito; meaning Little young boy), and attach to names (Marquitos, meaning little Marcos; Juanito, meaning little Juan) denoting affection.

In Spanish, the "-ísimo" is used as a suffix to emphasize the original meaning of adjectives; it is equivalent to the Italian/Latin "issimo". For instance, the word "grande" which means literally big, can be emphasized (grandísimo) therefore meaning "very big". Unlike many Spanish-speaking countries, it is common in Mexico to emphasize the adjective twice or three times: grandísimo, meaning "very big", can be emphasized again (grandisisimo), thus meaning "very very big"; and even again (grandisisisimo), meaning "very very very big".

The suffix "-ote" is typically used in Mexico as the augmentative ending; thus making nouns bigger, larger, more powerful, etc. For example, the word "camión" by itself literally means "bus"; adding the suffix, camionsote means "big or long bus". It can be repeated just as in the case of the suffix "-ito" and "-ísimo", therefore camionsotototote means "very very very big bus".

The suffix "-uco" or "-ucho" and its feminine counterparts "-uca" and "-ucha" respectively, are used as a disparaging form of a noun; for example, the word casa, meaning "house", can be modified with that suffix (casucha) to change the word's meaning to make it more disparaging, and sometimes offensive; so the word "casucha" is often a shanty, hut or hovel. With the word madera (wood), for example, it is often used with the other suffix (-uca: maderuca) and it means rotten, ugly wood.

Other suffixes include, but are not limited to: "-azo" as on "carrazo", which refers to a very pretty car (carro) such as a Ferrari or Mercedes-Benz; "-ón", for example "narizón" someone with a large nose (nariz) or "patona", a female with large legs (patas); some others include "-udo" like in the words "narizudo" someone with a large nose (nariz), and "puntiagudo" something with many pointy edges "puntas" (commonly used "Me piqué con el cactus puntiagudo" meaning "I pricked myself with the pointy cactus"); the prefix "a-" or "-en" used with the suffix "-ado" like in "acamado" or "engentado" meaning someone that is tired of being in bead, and someone that is tired of being in crowds and with many people, respectively.

It is also common to add a ch- to form diminutives, e.g. Isabel => Chabela, José María => Chema, Cerveza => Chela, Concepción => Chonita, Sin Muelas => Chimuela. This is common, but not exclusive, to Mexican Spanish.

Miscellaneous

• Philippine Spanish has traditionally been influenced by Mexican Spanish.

External links

• AsiHablamos Latin American Dictionary that compares Mexican variants with the rest of Latin America

See also

• Mexico
• Languages of Mexico