Español de Argentina

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Argentina is another spanish speaking country in Latin America with a unique and identifiable dialect. The spanish of Argentina first came from the Spaniard colonization in 1536 but the large wave of European immigration in the 19th and 20th century is what really impacted and changed the spanish. Argentinian spanish has the influences of Amerindian languages as well, which is a family of North American Indian languages, but mainly is influenced by the European languages--specifically Italian. The influence of Italian can be seen particularly in regard to intonation with the emphasis on the last syllable with conjugations like "vos querés".  Furthermore argentinians often use the word "chau" to say goodbye, which comes from the italian word for goodbye--ciao.

Regarding pronunciation, Argentina is characterized for what is called "aspiracion". Similar to Chilean spanish, sometimes a sound is lost or left out, Aspiracion is a concept where there is like a breath or an exhale where the sound for a letter usually is. For example in Argentina instead of hearing the word "conozco" it would be more commonly pronounced: "conohco". Furthermore, in argentina the "s", "z" and "c" are all pronounced the same and thus would all also have aspiracion, especially if it was at the end of a word like "los osos" being pronounced "loh ohoh". Additionally in Argentina the "y" and "ll" are pronounced in the same way with either a "sh" sound or the sound of a "j". Typically distinction between the "sh" and "j" has to do with regions of Argentina and social class. Thus for example when saying the phrase "me llamo" it would either be pronounced "me shamo" or "me jamo".

One interesting thing about argentina's spanish is the formation of some words used in everyday language. Back in the prison systems, some of the criminals wanted to create a special code so that the guards could not understand what they were saying. This "code" has now become integrated into everyday language and is very popular across argentina. In order to form this special code, one simply moves around the syllables of a word. For example instead of saying cafe when talking about a cup of coffee, they will call it feca.



Some common slang used in argentina includes: dale, pasa que, tal cual, viste, and che. Dale is a way to say "okay". Pasa que is a phrase that is used like the phrase "the thing is..". Tal cual a phrase used to express agreement with something someone has said. Viste is a way to say "you know". Lastly, che is a word that is used in three different ways: as a way to say friend, to express understanding or just to say hi.

Lastly it is important to talk about the grammar used in Argentina. Instead of using the common form of "you" used in other countries, Argentina uses the phrase "vos" and in fact "tu" is not commonly used or heard in Argentina. The "vos" in argentina also has different conjugations that include an accent on the second syllable of the verb. Thus for example instead of the phrase "tu sientes" in Argentina it is more common to hear "vos sentís".


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