Languages in Argentina (General Information)

Antonella Lynch   Mon Nov 05, 2007 12:12 am GMT
Hey, I'm Argentinian, and since this was about linguistic and I saw several question about language in this pecific American country, here you have some info from a couple of sites:

Argentina is predominantly a Spanish-speaking country with 33 million speakers—the fourth largest after Mexico, Spain, and Colombia. Argentines pronounce Spanish, which they call castellano, with a distinctive Italian accent—a legacy inherited from European immigration (which is the predominant ethnic group in the country, with over 50% of the population being of Italian-Argentines).

Argentines are the only large Spanish-speaking country that universally use what is known as voseo—the use of the pronoun vos instead of tú (the familiar "you"). The most prevalent dialect is Rioplatense (spoken also in Uruguay).

A phonetic study conducted by the Laboratory for Sensory Investigations of CONICET and the University of Toronto showed that the accent of the inhabitants is closer to the Neapolitan dialect of Italian than any other spoken language. Italian immigration influenced Lunfardo


2nd language

Italian
Argentina has more than 1,500,000 Italian speakers; this tongue is the second most spoken language in the nation. Italian immigration from the second half of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century made a lasting and significant impact on the pronunciation and vernacular of the nation's spoken Spanish, giving it an Italian flare. In fact, Italian has contributed so much to Rioplatense that many foreigners mistake it for Italian.

Cocoliche, a Spanish-Italian creole, was spoken mainly by first and second-generation immigrants from Italy, but is no longer in daily use; it is sometimes used in comedy. Some Cocoliche terms were adopted into Lunfardo slang.

3rd language

German
Standard German is spoken by 500,000[2] Argentines of German ancestry, though it has also been stated that the there could be as much as 1,800,000.[3] German today, is the third most spoken language in Argentina.


Welsh Language
Argentina has the largest amount of Welsh speakers outside the UK. Welsh is spoken by over 30,000, in Southern Argentina (mostly in cities with stron welsh heritage such as Trelew, Madryn, Rawson, Gaiman...).


Hebrew and Yiddish
Argentina is home to a large Jewish community (2nd largest in the Western world after the US), some of whom speak Hebrew as a second language, while others speak Eastern Yiddish[1].
Guest   Mon Nov 05, 2007 12:20 am GMT
Lunfardo (general name for Argentinian slag)

Lunfardo is a colorful argot of the Spanish language which developed at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century in the lower classes. Much of Lunfardo arrived with European immigrants, such as Italians, Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Poles. It should be noted that most Italian and Spanish immigrants spoke their regional languages and dialects and not standard Italian or Spanish. Most sources believe that Lunfardo originated in jails, as a prisoner-only argot. Circa 1900, the word lunfardo itself (originally a deformation of lombardo in several Italian dialects) was used to mean "outlaw".

Lunfardo words are inserted in the normal flow of Rioplatense Spanish sentences. Thus, a Mexican reading tango lyrics will need, at most, the translation of a discrete set of words, and not a grammar guide.


"Lunfardo" itself comes from the French "lumbard" (-person from Lombardy-)

Examples

Manyar - To know / to eat (from the Italian mangiare -to eat-)
Morfar - To eat (from French argot morfer -to eat-)
Laburar - To work (from Italian lavorare - to work-)
Fiaca - laziness (from the Italian fiacco -weak-)
Fiaca - laziness (from the Italian fiacco -weak-)



There are several dictionaries of lunfardo, that can become handy if you want to learn Argentinian spanish, some american friends of mine used while they stayed here. If someone is interesed i'll look up for their titles.
Guest   Mon Nov 05, 2007 12:25 am GMT
Argentinian Spanish has Napolitan influence but not Italian. Napolitan is not a dialect of Italian.
Guest   Mon Nov 05, 2007 12:42 am GMT
What about the indigenous languages of Argentina?
Guest   Mon Nov 05, 2007 12:47 am GMT
Those languages had no influence over Argentinian Spanish. They were simply displaced.
Antonella Lynch   Mon Nov 05, 2007 1:07 am GMT
mm there are some indigenous languages speaking in reseves i guess, i've never heard a native american language here in Argentina. The native American population in Argentina is very small (0,7% according to the last cesus in 2001).

But the most spoken native american languages here are spoken by Immigrants from some American countries with strong native American population that has been arrived from countries like peru, Ecuador, Bolivia etc since the late 80s (There are over 3 million illegal aliens from those countries in Argentina). And some of them do speak native american languages, like Mexicans I supposse. but I have not idea which ones are....


I'll look up it for you. Are you American??? Are native languages still spoken there??? I have friends from Oklahoma who told me there were, but I never heard about it....
S.   Mon Nov 05, 2007 3:04 am GMT
Mexicans don't speak native american languages, but in fact Mexico has a lot of illegal aliens from central america that don't make it to the States.

BTW everyone check this, it is quite interesting.
http://elmundo.reverso.net/url/result.asp?template=General&direction=65568&autotranslate=on&url=http%3A%2F%2Fetimologias.dechile.net%2F%3Fche
Ian   Mon Nov 05, 2007 5:12 am GMT
Argentina is by far not the only Spanish-speaking country that universally uses what is known as voseo.

Nicaragua, the largest country in Central America, universally uses voseo.
Guest   Mon Nov 05, 2007 6:54 am GMT
That's weird cause in Costa Rica voseo is also used with close friends
Antonella Lynch   Mon Nov 05, 2007 8:46 am GMT
"S." honestly i had no idea about the Mexican used of spanish but I thought many immigrants crossing into the US (from the rural areas of Mexico), speak some kind of native American language as first or second language, because that's what some American friends living her ein Buenos Aires told me.

And went we went to Texas at a hospital it was full of mexicans speaking spanish and i got the impression that they didn't speak it as first language (but now that i think about it maybe were mexican american using it with mexican immigrants???)-
Guest   Mon Nov 05, 2007 9:12 am GMT
Los argentinos son muy incultos, me parece. Piensan que todavía se hablan los idiomas amerindios en México! Vaya tontedad! Usted habrá de ser un retrasado para pensar tal cosa! México es el país más icónico de la hispanidad.
Ian   Mon Nov 05, 2007 1:42 pm GMT
"in Costa Rica voseo is also used with close friends"

You're right. In Costa Rica "tú" is also virtually unused. They use "vos" and "usted".
Guest   Mon Nov 05, 2007 3:19 pm GMT
<< Argentinian Spanish has Napolitan influence but not Italian. Napolitan is not a dialect of Italian. >>

Neapolitan is one of the numerous Italian dialects. Do you know what you're posting?
Milton   Mon Nov 05, 2007 3:34 pm GMT
Napolitan is an Italian dialect/language, but not the dialect of the Italian Language.
Dialects of the Italian Language are used in Tuscany, Lazio, Marche, Umbria and the city of L'Aquila. Other languages/dialects (like Milanese, Venezian, Napolitan, Genoese) are not the dialects of the Italian language, but dialects/languages of Italy.


that is:

1. a dialect of the Italian language and
2. a dialect/language of Italy

are not the same thing

UMBRIAN belongs to 1.
NAPOLITAN belongs to 2.
S.   Mon Nov 05, 2007 3:56 pm GMT
just for the record 97% of Mexicans speak Spanish. the other 3% are the poorest ones, therefore the ones that go to the States so maybe that's why you heard them speak indigenous languages.