Canarian Spanish

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Location of the Canary Islands

The Canary Spanish is a dialect of the Spanish language , of the Canary Islands is spoken and with the varieties of Andalusia, Central America and South America the group of Atlantic Spanish (español atlántico) or Southern Spanish (español meridional) is assigned. The defense, promotion and study of the Spanish language of the Canary Islands as a linguistic variety of Atlantic Spanish is mentioned in Article 37, Paragraph 7 of the Canary Islands Statute of Autonomy of 2018 as a policy guideline.

Linguistic and cultural influences

Spain

Before the Canary Islands were conquered on behalf of the Crown of Castile, there lived a population that probably immigrated from northwest Africa and used a different language on each island, but all of them were related to the Berber languages ​​still spoken in North Africa today. The languages ​​of the indigenous people of the Canary Islands are grouped under the term Guanche . After the archipelago was conquered by the Crown of Castile in the course of the 15th century, immigrants from these kingdoms made up the largest group of immigrants. Linguistic phenomena such as the Seseo , the Yeísmo or the weakening of the implosive / s / are particularly noticeable among speakers from Andalusia . It is believed that the Seseo first appeared at the end of the 15th century, the Yeímso in the 17th century and the aspiration of the / s / in the 18th century. However, since these were colloquial developments, no precise periods of time can be determined, because on the one hand many Spaniards were still illiterate at that time, and on the other hand, the colloquial language was rarely adopted into the written language. These three linguistic peculiarities in particular found their way into the Canary Islands through the immigration of Andalusian settlers.

A few years later and in smaller numbers, people from Galicia , Extremadura and León reached the islands. Since their varieties were all on the same linguistic basis, communication was possible, but the different dialects adapted to one another through lexical or phonological adoption, so that a new variety emerged from it. [9]

The Castilian conquerors cultivated the areas of the islands for agriculture and established business relationships with mainland Spain and the new colonies in South America. The Canaries were an important geostrategic point in trade across the Atlantic. This applied to both the transport of goods and people. The islands were also used as a base for operations in northwestern Africa.

Large waves of migration began in the 17th century. Sugar was the islands' main export product at the time. However, due to competition from Cuba, for example, this business was no longer profitable. The population became impoverished and starved. Many people then emigrated to the colonies in Latin America.

As a hub between the Old and the New World, the Canary Islands constantly experienced new cultural and linguistic influences. The seafarers were a constant influence, no other professional group influenced the society of the islands anymore. Many comparisons or proverbs of the marine language were adopted in everyday language. The saying: “ ¿Qué rumbo llevas? “, With rumbo originally meant the course of a ship. Even today, the meaning is almost the same: depending on the context, goals and intentions are asked. Many Spanish proverbs are borrowed from bullfighting , the military or the church. Much of these proverbs, however, have lost their original meaning or are now being used in a more general sense; their semantic meaning has therefore been expanded. Because the influence of seafarers remained constant for many years, the meanings of seafarers' phrases have hardly changed.

Portugal

In the 16th century, Portuguese were recruited as artisans and technicians for the sugar factories. They had an impact on all areas of life and social classes. You can recognize the Portuguese architectural style , it says about in Torrianis at the end of the 16th century written description of the panorama of Santa Cruz de La Palma in his book "Descripción e historia del Reino de las Islas Canarias". Also striking in the Canarian vocabulary are anthroponyms, personal names, such as Almeida or Dorta , and toponyms, place names, such as Porto Nao or La Bocaina . Since many Portuguese were farmers, traders or fishermen, words or modes of action were also taken from their technical language. This great influence of the Portuguese lasted until 1640 when Portugal separated from the Spanish Kingdom and fought for independence. In some areas the Portuguese represented the greatest linguistic and cultural influence until the middle of the 18th century. Between the 16th and the 18th centuries, new groups of Portuguese also settled on the islands. However, many of them were illiterate.

The Portuguese had to adapt and learn the Spanish language. Portuguese influenced both the pronunciation of Canarian Spanish and its vocabulary. The velarization of the consonants / x / y / j / is striking . This process gives the sound a darker tone. In addition, the voiced nasal sounds are lost. For example, a voiced nasal sound is ng in German. Furthermore, two consecutive vowels are only pronounced as one vowel, as in the Portuguese suffix -eiro . This process is called monophthongization and only occurs with certain diphthongs.

Portuguese has particularly influenced the Canary Islands' vocabulary. A quarter of the "Canarianisms" are of Portuguese origin. "Canarianisms" are words that occur specifically in the Canary Islands. Mainly nouns were adopted into Spanish. These refer to equipment or certain techniques. Most of the "Lusisms", the name given to the Portuguese words, are said to be found on the islands of La Palma and Tenerife.

Indigenous peoples

Indigenous people already inhabited the islands before the Spanish conquest of the Canary Islands. They are often referred to as guanches . With the colonization they were suppressed by the Spaniards. As a result, their language ( guanche ) as well as their cultural and religious customs were lost. This process of cultural and religious adaptation is called "castellanization". In the Canary Islands, this development took only a few generations and was completed by the end of the 16th century. Due to the strong pressure to adapt and the suppression, there is little evidence today about the language and way of life of the Guanches.

In terms of language, there was a time of bilingualism at the beginning of colonization. The so-called trujamanes were very important for conquerors because they could translate between the island language and Spanish. With colonization, bilingualism spread among the Old Canaries before their languages ​​became extinct. Monolingual centers are said to have existed on the island of La Gomera until 1488.

Indigenous influences can only be found in the vocabulary of the island population today. These usually have a descriptive character, that is, terms from flora and fauna or geographical names have often been adopted. The conquerors lacked their own terms for the things they discovered in the Canary Islands, so they adopted the words of the Guanches. Examples are baifo, gasnais, jaira, tafor and tenique . That is why there are no phonological or morphosytactic changes today, only adopted vocabulary. There are probably around 120 words in the specific Canarian vocabulary of pre-Hispanic origin, most of which are nouns. These mostly describe the relief, like auchón, chajoco, juaclo . More than a quarter of the guanchisms are names for certain plants: agonane, escán, mulurá . Only a few terms have been adopted from cultural life. The terms sirinoque and tafuriaste , which denote the dances of the Guanches, still exist today . The names of the inhabitants were also adopted: guanche and majo . Many of the guanchisms are specific to some islands. Today, only around a quarter of the indigenous words are used on more than four islands.

Other cultures

Other linguistic influences come from the English and Moriscus . In addition, the constant exchange with the Spanish varieties from South America influenced Canarian Spanish.

Already in the 15th century, during colonization, the Spaniards brought Morisks, Arabs who had converted to Christianity, to the islands and kept them as slaves. They were forced to work on the plantations or in mansions. The moriscos came from the Iberian Peninsula or North Africa, for example Morocco. As slaves, they were mainly employed on the eastern islands such as Lanzarote and Fuerteventura. At the end of the 16th century there were around 1,500 moriscos in the archipelago. Since the contact between settlers and slaves was only superficial, only parts of the vocabulary were adopted. The word arife is still used today to denote stuffy or humid heat. It comes from the Arabic acrâf . The word mahalulo was also adopted as a name for a young camel. The Arabic base of the word is mahallula . The prefix al- is also from Arabic and can be found today on many Spanish word stems: alcail, alfaisán . Apart from that, the proportion of words that come from the Arabic language is very high in the commonly used Spanish language.

The first English probably visited the Canary Islands as early as the 15th century, but did not settle there until the 16th century. Many of them were traders. The wine business in particular was lucrative for many Englishmen. The business relations of the English became so strong that they practically had a monopoly in the wine trade. They later came to the islands as travelers or scientists. The word chercha (from churchyard) comes from this time . This refers to the place where people were buried who had a belief other than Catholic. So the word inglés was also used to mean not baptized . Words adopted from the English are about trinqui (from drink ), queque (from cake ) or guachimán (from clergyman ). It is noticeable here that the words were not adopted in the correct English spelling. This indicates that the words were taken from the spoken language. This changed spelling then has a retroactive effect on the pronunciation. For example, the / r / in trinqui is not spoken as retroflex , as in English , but as a vibrant .

As a bridge between mainland Spain and South America, the Canary Islands experienced constant influence from the varieties from the Spanish colonies. When the territories of South America were conquered in the 16th century, the Spanish of the time was also taken with them. With the trade across the Canaries, the Spanish varieties returned to the Canaries. These had developed separately from standard Spanish. The Canaries were also an important starting point for migration. As early as the 17th century, many people left the Canary Islands and moved to the new colonies in South and Central America. An opposite movement took place at the beginning of the 20th century. At that time, the Canary Islands had their highest immigration rate.

Linguistic particularities

phonetics

  • Assimilation or dissimilation in unstressed syllables, e.g. B. Feléh instead of Félix , disierto instead of desierto
  • From hiatuses are diphthongs : consecutive vowels that actually belong to two syllables, become a, z. B. rial instead of real , pulpiar instead of pulpear
  • Aspiration of the sound / s /: The / s / is spoken at the end of the syllable and before consonants like an accented / h /. The strongest reduction of this sound can be found on Gran Canaria, whereas on El Hierro the / s / is mostly retained. E.g .: loh ohol instead of los ojos
  • Voiceless plosives become voiced: the sounds / p, t, k / become / b, d, g /, e.g. pegueño instead of pequeño , una goba de vino instead of una copa de vino
  • Loss of the intervowel / d / Ex .: asustao instead of austado , comía instead of comida
  • Confusion of the sounds / r / and / l / e.g. gorpe instead of golpe , durce instead of dulce , Javiel instead of Javier
  • Elimination of the sounds / r / and / l / at the end of syllables , e.g. flo instead of flor , queré instead of querer
  • Aspiration of the sound / r / when / n / or / l / follow: As with / s /, / r / is spoken like an accented / h / e.g. Cahlo instead of Carlos , cahne instead of carne
  • The sounds / x / and / f / are aspirated e.g. oho instead of ojo , bhrío instead of frío
  • Loss of / g / and / k / in implosive positions E.g. esato instead of exacto , atual instead of actual
  • Omission of certain sounds e.g. ihpués instead of después , bían instead of habían , ehmochao instead of desmochado
  • Aspiration of the / h / when it comes before / f / as the first letter of a word, e.g. jigo, jijo

grammar

  • Changes in the article : more conspicuous in rural areas la sistema, la calor, el sartén
  • Lots of diminutive : often changes -ito or -illo are added. These trivializations can have a glossing over use, show loving respect or represent a devaluation. E.g .: Señorita, ahorita, casita
  • Superlatives are with the Portuguese endings -iento , -ento formed
  • Elimination of the second person plural and its associated morphemes : ustedes is often used instead of vosotros .
  • Possessive pronouns : su, nuestro / a, vuestro / a, sus disappear and are replaced by dative forms such as de él, de ella, de nosotros . In the written text, the possessive pronoun is also hired back so la casa mía place mi casa is written
  • Use of tenses: Presente , Indefinido and Imperfecto are used most frequently . Compared to standard Spanish , the condicional and the futuro are used less, while the subjuntivo occurs to about the same extent. The imperative is also diminished; it is replaced by the verbal construction ir + a + infinitive . The use of the perfecto is similar to that of the Middle Ages: the perfect is only used when the action lasted until the present or has an impact on the current moment.
  • The deixis are often replaced by demonstratives : When speaking, words such as eso, aquí or even as a verb aquellar are used instead of specific terms . The verb form used to be widespread throughout the archipelago, but is now only found on La Palma.
  • The prepositions: Hacía is rarely used, encima is replaced by arriba , so that it means something like arriba la mesa , and the phrase con la noche is used instead of por la noche .

syntax

  • Simple nominal structure
  • There are very few explanatory adjectives
  • The discourse is often changed while speaking
  • The clitic follows at the end of the verb: voyme, dícele, trájele
  • Portuguese influences in the sentence structure

Lexicons

  • Biggest Influence: Standard Spanish
  • Old words and neologisms: bravo means enfadado (angry), embelesado means medio dormido (half asleep )
  • Portuguese influences are a big influence because many words have been adopted in the Canarian vocabulary baluto - libre (free), fechar - cerrar (close)
  • Guanchisms: Mainly toponyms or words related to rural life were adopted by the indigenous population baifo - cabrito (kid), jaira - cabra domestica (domestic goat)
  • Hispanic American influences: came back to the Canary Islands through emigrants from the colonies, little influence guagua - autobús (bus), mamodo - borracho (drunk)
  • Arabisms: by the Moriscos and black slaves in the 16th and 17th centuries, also only a small influence majalulo - camello joven (young camel), guayete - niño (child)
  • England: in the 19th and early 20th centuries, now through tourism trinqui - bebida (drink), naife - cuchillo grande (big knife)

Evaluation as a Creole language

Spanish is the administrative language of the Canary Islands and the islands were incorporated into the Spanish kingdom at an early stage. However, due to the colonization of indigenous peoples, Portuguese, Hispanic Americans, Arabs and English, the language moved away from the standard. So there is a great polymorphism in the Canary Islands, that is, different morphemes represent the same unit of meaning in different morphemes. The strength of the expression of the Canarian dialect differs according to geographical and social parameters. Socially higher strata and residents of urban regions are closer to standard Spanish. Many words changed their meaning over time or were no longer used. Arabisms and Anglicisms that were adopted into Spanish in the early colonial times have almost no meaning today. Linguistic awareness only emerged after several centuries of settlement. The publication of the dictionary by Viera y Clavijo in 1866 with references to island lexics was significant.

Canarian Spanish is not a creole language , but a dialect of standard Spanish. There are phonetic, grammatical and lexical differences, but all these peculiarities are incorporated into the linguistic system of Spanish, so that there have been no changes in the basic structure of the language. Linguistic phenomena of Canarian Spanish, such as the Seseo or the Yeísmo , also occur in geographical regions other than the archipelago. That is why we speak of the concept of the Atlantic, Hispanic dialect or Meridional Spanish. In addition, Canarian Spanish did not develop in isolation from the mother tongue, but was in constant contact with it.

See also

literature

  • José Abu-Tarbush (2002): Islam y comunidad islámica en Canarias. Prejuicios y realidades. 1st edition La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife: Servicio de Publicaciones, Universidad de La Laguna.
  • Helmut Berschin , Julio Fernández-Sevilla, Josef Felixberger (2005): The Spanish language. Distribution, history, structure. 3rd edition Hildesheim [u. a.]: Olms.
  • Dolores Corbella (1996): Fuentes del vocabulario canario: los préstamos léxicos. In: Javier Medina López (ed.): El español de Canarias hoy. Análisis y perspectivas. Frankfurt am Main, Madrid: Vervuert; Iberoamericana.
  • Cristóbal Corrales Zumbado, Dolores Corbella Díaz, María Angeles Alvarez Martínez (1992): Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Canarias. Madrid: Real Academia Española; Gobierno de Canarias, Consejería de Educación, Cultura y Deportes.
  • Juan Antonio Frago Gracia (1996): Las hablas canarias: documentación e historia. In: Javier Medina López (ed.): El español de Canarias hoy. Análisis y perspectivas. Frankfurt am Main, Madrid: Vervuert; Iberoamericana.
  • Antonio Lorenzo, Marcial Morera, Gonzalo Ortega Ojeda (1994): Diccionario de canarismos. La Laguna: F. Lemus.
  • Javier Medina López (ed.) (1996): El español de Canarias hoy. Análisis y perspectivas. Frankfurt am Main, Madrid: Vervuert; Iberoamericana.
  • López Medina (1996): La investigación lingüistica sobre el español de Canarias. In: Javier Medina López (ed.): El español de Canarias hoy. Análisis y perspectivas. Frankfurt am Main, Madrid: Vervuert; Iberoamericana.
  • Javier Medina López (1999): El español de Canarias en su dimensión atlántica. Aspectos históricos y lingüísticos. Valencia [Spain]: Tirant lo Blanch Libros; Universitat de València.
  • Marcial Morera (1993): La formación del vocabulario canario. 1st edition [Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands]: Centro de la Cultura Popular Canaria.
  • Marcial Morera (1994): Español y portugués en Canarias. Problemas interlingüísticos. La Laguna, Tenerife: Excmo. Cabildo Insular de Fuerteventura.
  • Alfonso O'Shanahan (1995): Gran diccionario del habla canaria. 1st edition [Las Palmas?]: Centro de la Cultura Popular Canaria.
  • Antonio Samper Padilla et al. a. (1996): El studio historic del Español de Canarias . In: El español de Canarias hoy: análisis y perspectivas. Frankfurt am Main: Veruvert.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gonzalo Ortega Ojeda: El español hablado en Canarias. In: gobiernodecanarias.org. Gobierno de Canarias, accessed December 29, 2017 (Spanish).
  2. ↑ Cortes de España: Ley Orgánica 1/2018, de 5 de noviembre, de reforma del Estatuto de Autonomía de Canarias. Jefatura del Estado, 2018, accessed November 18, 2018 (Spanish).
  3. ^ Helmut Berschin , Julio Fernández-Sevilla, Josef Felixberger: The Spanish language. Distribution, history, structure. 3. Edition. Georg Olms, Hildesheim / Zurich / New York 2005, ISBN 3-487-12814-4 , p. 102
  4. ^ Antonio Pérez García: Síntesis de historia Canaria. In: gobiernodecanarias.org. Retrieved April 12, 2019 (Spanish).
  5. ↑ José Abu-Tarbush: Islam y comunidad Islamica de Canarias. Prejuicios y realidades. 1st edition La Laguna, Servicio de Publicaciones, Universidad de La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife 2002, p. 73
  6. ^ Morera, Marcial (1993): La formación del vocabulario canario. 1st edition [Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands]: Centro de la Cultura Popular Canaria. P. 89
  7. ^ Corbella, Dolores (1996): Fuentes del vocabulario canario: los préstamos léxicos. In: Javier Medina López (ed.): El español de Canarias hoy. Análisis y perspectivas. Lingüística Iberoamericana nº 3, Iberoamericana Editorial Vervuert, Frankfurt am Main / Madrid p. 115
  8. ↑ Leonardo Torriani: Descripción e historia del Reino de las Islas Canarias. Goya ediciones, Santa Cruz de Tenerife 1978, p. 242
  9. ↑ a b Corbella, Dolores. Fuentes del vocabulario canario. P. 116
  10. ↑ a b Morera, Maricial. La formación del vocabulario canario. P. 156
  11. ↑ Corbella, Dolores. Fuentes del vocabulario canario. Pp. 117-121
  12. ↑ Corbella, Dolores. Fuentes del vocabulario canario. P. 109
  13. ↑ Morera, Marcial. La formación del vocabulario canario. P. 14
  14. ^ Dolores Corbella: Fuentes del vocabulario canario. P. 109 f.
  15. ^ Dolores Corbella: Fuentes del vocabulario canario. Pp. 110-114
  16. ↑ Abu-Tarbush, José. Islam y comunidad islámica en Canarias. P. 30f
  17. ↑ Corbella, Dolores. Fuentes del vocabulario canario. P. 130f
  18. ↑ Corbella, Dolores. Fuentes del vocabulario canario. P. 128f
  19. ↑ Morera, Marcial. La formación del vocabulario canario. P. 55
  20. ↑ Corbella, Dolores. Fuentes del vocabulario canario. P. 123
  21. ↑ Maricial Morera: La formación del canario vocabulario. 1993 pp. 45-50
  22. ↑ Morera, Maricial. La formación del vocabulario canario. P. 51f
  23. ↑ Morera, Maricial. La formación del vocabulario canario.
  24. ↑ Santa Cruz de Tenerife: Centro de la Cultura Popular Canaria. 1993. pp. 44-56
  25. ↑ a b Morera, Maricial. La formación del vocabulario canario. P. 58ff