granjuanillo -> RE: Andalusian Accent - Help! (Dec. 24 2016 17:08:46)
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Dialectologist that work on Spanish classify two main dialect groups in Latin America: highland and lowland. The latter are spoken in various costal areas - the Caribe, Venezuela, parts of Central America, costal Columbia, Vera Cruz, Argentina, etc. The highland areas include highland Columbia (e.g Bogota), Central Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, etc. While this is not a perfect division, essentially, lowland areas share features with Andalucian Spanish, particularly s-aspiration or s-loss in syllable-final position. Highland dialects do not have these features, and tend to retain these s-sounds, as well as other consonants. Latin American Spanish, in genreral is based on Andalucian Spanish, which, by the middle of the colonial period, was largely seseista (no lisping). However, some Andalucian features never took hold in the highlands (e.g. s-aspiration even though most linguists believe s-aspiration was already happening in Andalucia during the colonial period). This is something of a mystery - why is all of Latin America seseista, but only parts drop/aspirate syllable-fianl s? The explanation that historical linguist Ralph Penny and others suggest is: Andlalucian Spanish formed the basis of early colonial Spanish - 50% of the colonists came from Anadalucia and those from elsewhere had to spend a year or more in Sevilla getting their paperwork together before being able to emigrate (Spain has always loved its bureaucracy). This established the seseista norm in Latin America. The highland areas included two important Viceroyalty seats - Mexico City and Lima. These attracted clergy and government officials from Madrid, who spoke a Castillian variety; the costal areas were on the shipping routes, where sailors - many from Andalucia - influenced the local speech. Interestingly, Lima Spanish is now losing/aspirating their s-sounds, but this is a recent phenomenon, and not found elsewhere in Peru. While the Castillian speakers were not enough to reverse seseo in Latin America, they did influence the final consonants. This accounts also for the lack of vosotros (as in Andalucia), and 'yeismo' - the merger of y and ll (residue of the distinction remains in some highland areas - e.g. Bolivia). I'm not sure what I think of all of this, but it is an interesting mystery. Also, why is there no ceceo in Latin America, while we know there was in Andalucia in colonial times (Cervantes comments on someone 'lisping like a Gitano').
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