16 July 2013

A little linguistics . . .

Less than 24 hours in Chile, I already am noticing how different the Chilean dialect is.  So for the linguists in the room, hopefully you will enjoy this post!  The most common feature I have heard so far is the deletion of the final [s] which is made by the letters s and z (sometimes c).  In Spanish, as in English, "S" can mark plurals and a verb's subject.  However, this doesn't seem to make a difference for the Chileans.  Regardless of the sound's function and orthography, it seems to be omitted.

Some Examples:

"Standard" Spanish: Diez mil [dies mil]
Chilean pronunciation: [die mil]
English: ten thousand (10,000)

"Standard" Spanish: los coches [los kotʃes]
Chilean pronunciation:  [lo kotʃe]
English: the cars

"Standard" Spanish: ¿qué vas a hacer tú? [ke βas aseɹ tu]
Chilean pronunciation:   [ke va ase ɹ tu]
English: What are you (informal singular) going to do? What are you (informal singular) about to do?


"Standard" Spanish: Muchas gracias [mutʃas gɾasias]
Chilean pronunciation: [mutʃa gɾasia]
English: Thank you very much, many thanks

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