Spanish in Latin America
 

In the 21st century Spanish has become Romance language with more  projection in the world. A large proportion of Spanish speakers as mother tongue are located in America. Spanish in America is divided into a huge mosaic in diatopic, diaphasic diastratic varieties and has never known in its implementation europea. The American varieties of Spanish are the most alive today and are characterized by continuous change and social differentiation.

Spanish especially in America is where 90% of the speakers are found and it is called a “dialectal mosaic." Indeed,  America is a vast territory marked by diversity in which more than 300 million people and nineteen countries have Spanish as official language. In many cases the language is in contact, along with other languages belonging to pre-Columbian cultures as with the quechua in Bolivia, guaraní in Paraguay, or the Nahúa language of the Aztecs in Mexico, or the Portuguese with Brazil limits Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay, or with the American English, especially present in Mexico for its long border and in Puerto Rico because of its special statute with the United States where Spanish is the official language. It is also spoken in several U.S. states including New Mexico, Florida, California, Texas or New York. The phrase "Spanish American" thus makes reference to all the dialects spoken in the Americas. This idea of linking Spanish in America, places the Spanish of America as an indivisible part of the history of Spanish. The comparison between Spanish and Latin was inevitable and led to a controversy between those who predicted a future disintegration of Spanish. Since then, although it is clear the tendency to affirm the linguistic and cultural unity that is given to both sides of the Atlantic, most linguists are aware of the latent risk that exists if the differences become more acute. The diverse dialectal origins of the settlers what we have come to call “colonial era” understood as the extended period that lasts from the time of the conquest in 1492 until the late 18th century, may be regarded as a crucial step in the evolution of language and very explanatory of their present situation. Converge in it the evolution, selection and consolidation of phonological, morphological and lexical trends already initiated in the peninsular spanish, with the undeniable novelty of the implementation of a language in a huge space and unknown, contact with indigenous languages and the creation of a society in search of their own linguistic and social references.

The original text from this article can be viewed in Spanish at the Educastur Blog.

LAURA MARTÍNEZ ESCAMILLA
INES GACÍA GONZÁLEZ