Uruguayan Spanish

Spanish variety of Uruguay

Uruguayan Spanish (Spanish: Español uruguayo), a part of Rioplatense Spanish, is the variety of Spanish spoken in Uruguay and by the Uruguayan diaspora.^[3]

Influences

• There is strong influence of Italian and its dialects, particularly Genovese,^[4] because of the presence of large Italian communities in the country (for example in Montevideo and Paysandú). The Uruguayan accent differs from the accents of Spain and other Spanish American countries, except for Argentina, due to Italian influence. There are many Italian words incorporated in the language (nona, cucha, fainá ("farinata, chickpea flour crêpe"), chapar, parlar, festichola ("house party"), etc.), as well as words of Italian derivation (for example: mina derived from femmina, or pibe ("child") from pivello).
• In the southeastern department of Rocha, as well as along the northern border with Brazil,^[5] there is some influence of Portuguese, in addition to the Portuguese spoken in northern Uruguay.

Tuteo and voseo

The variety of Spanish used in Montevideo and the whole southern region of the country exhibits use of the voseo form of address, with the pronoun vos instead of the tú form. In other areas of the country, tú is more commonly used than vos. In some places, tú is used, but with the conjugation corresponding to vos, as in: tú tenés, instead of tú tienes (tuteo) or vos tenés (voseo). Tuteo is much more commonly used in Rocha and in some parts of Maldonado.^[6]

The formal pronoun usted is used in very formal contexts, such as when speaking to government authorities.

Vocabulary

Below are vocabulary differences between Uruguay and other Spanish-speaking countries: Argentina, Paraguay, Spain, Mexico, Costa Rica, Chile, and Puerto Rico. It shows how Spanish is different in three continents where there are Spanish-speaking countries (Europe, North America, and South America) and in different regions of those continents (Central America, Caribbean, and Southern Cone). Italian and Brazilian Portuguese have also been influential in Uruguayan Spanish and are also included. While people in Uruguay and most of Argentina speak the dialect Rioplatense, there are some notable differences in vocabulary between the two countries, which are bolded.

1. Refers to the dessert made from cow's milk.
2. Refers to the instrument used for drinking.

See also

• Uruguay portal

• Languages of Uruguay
• Rioplatense Spanish
• Lunfardo
• Diccionario del español del Uruguay

References

1. Spanish → Uruguay at Ethnologue (21st ed., 2018)
2. "ISO 639-2 Language Code search". Library of Congress. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
3. "Rioplatense Spanish".
4. Meo Zilio, Giovanni (1963–64). "Genovesismos en el español rioplatense". Nueva Revista de Filología Hispánica. T. 17, No. 3/4 (1963/1964) (3/4): 245–263. JSTOR 40297676.
5. D. Lincoln Canfield, Spanish Pronunciation in the Americas (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1981), p. 89.
6. Weyers, Joseph R. (3 September 2014). "The Tuteo of Rocha, Uruguay: A Study of Pride and Language Maintenance". Hispania. 97 (3): 382–395. doi:10.1353/hpn.2014.0087. ISSN 2153-6414. S2CID 144945948.