Español de América y lenguas indígenas

Abstract

After a brief introduction about the numerous possibilities that exist for approaching a topic such as «Spanish of America and indigenous languages», this essay, which focuses on vocabulary, is organized into two parts: the first one is related to written testimonies and the second one is devoted to indigenous languages and dialectal studies. While starting from two types of sources, the selection of the different aspects dealt with in each part, as well as their organization, respond to the double perspective of diachrony and synchrony. A small sample of chronics written just after the Discovery is from the diachronic point of view; modern research on dialect which has measured the function and the present vitality of the indigenous vocabulary in some countries serves as the point of departure for the synchronical perspective. In a time like ours, when it is not necessary any longer to justify neither the originality of America's Spanish, nor that of his culture, the results obtained offer the possibility to focus on the actual presence of the indigenous lexicon from a less passionate point of view. The results also enable us to discover the gradual marginality of this vocabulary, which in turn encourages other types of lexical creations. In the end, Hispanoamerican territory shows different degrees of indigenous lexical retreat, depending on the socio-cultural situation of their populations and their ethnic realities.