Particularities of the Spanish Language in Uruguay

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to analyze the particular characteristics of the Spanish language in Uruguay, which is a variety of the Spanish language in Rio de la Plata (Argentina, Chili, Paraguay) and represents a special interest for the linguists, professors of Spanish language and foreign experts who go to work in Uruguay. We analyze the history of this particular language variety beginning from the epoch of the Spanish conquest, the influence of the local American languages (in particular of the Guarani Indians), as well as the Italian language and its dialects due to an important immigration from this country. We also pay attention to the phenomenon of the bilingualism, in other words the influence of the Portuguese language (the well-known “Portunol”) and the influence of the French language after the French immigration of the XIX century that led to gallicisms in Spanish language. All these facts provoked such linguistic characteristics as “an untypical use of some pronouns, a less rhythmical intonation and a very special vocabulary to compare with classical Spanish of Spain. The study is based on our own notes made during two trips to Uruguay, and on the “New Dictionary of Americanisms”, books of the history of Latin America and scientific works of the philologists who dedicated their studies to this subject.

Keywords

• spanish language
• national varieties of the spanish language
• uruguay
• uruguayisms