The Origins of Spanish

The Spanish language comes from the Latin branch of the Indo-European language family. It is derived from Latin and has been influenced by both Arabic and Basque (1).

Spanish is the native language of over 332 million people all over the world. In addition to Spain, the language is spoken in most of Latin America, with the exception of Portuguese in Brazil. Spanish is also widely spoken in several countries with large Spanish-speaking immigrant populations, including Canada, Morocco, the Philippines, and the United States (2). In Spain, there are two major dialects: Andalusian (in the south) and Castilian (in central Spain).  Many other dialects exist in other geographical areas, namely South and Central America and Mexico, as well as in the Caribbean in Cuba, Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico.

The Spanish language in Latin America

In the early 15^th century, as Spanish conquistadors colonized Central, South, and parts of North America, they brought their language with them.

The Castilian dialect of Spanish was first used in primarily in administrative and cultural centers such as Mexico City, Mexico or Lima, Peru. These cities remained closely linked to Madrid, the capital of Spain located in the Castile region.

However, a lot of the people involved in the expeditions to Latin America were from Andalucía. As a result, the Andalusian dialect also reached the colonies. Andalusian became dominant in Argentina and Central America, which were more remote from the influence of the Spain's government's centers. Spain lost control of its American colonies in the 19^th century. However, Spanish remained, and continues to be the official language of almost every Latin American nation.

The Spanish language spoken in the Americas is somewhat different from European Spanish because many words were borrowed from the languages of the indigenous peoples in the region. Most of these words reflect elements that were unique to the territories, such as plants, animals, and geographic features.

Changes in the Spanish Language

Recently, the Royal Spanish Academy wrote an 800 page proposal explaining new orthographic rules in the Spanish language. This proposal was presented and ratified at the Guadalajara Feria Del Libro (Book Fair) in Mexico on November 28^th, 2010 (3). The primary changes in the proposal include a reduction of the Spanish alphabet from 29 letters to 27 letters - by Christmas of 2010, the letters ‘ch’ and‘ll’ will disappear from the official alphabet. Some accents and hyphens will also disappear. For example, according to the new orthographic rules,  sólo’ (alone) and ‘guión’ (script) will lose their accents. According to the Academy, the aim of this reform is to unify Spanish speakers all over the world and update the language to a more modern form (4).

Some people have welcomed the new rules, while others have not. In Latin America several countries consider this new grammatical/spelling change as a sort of dictatorship and an affront to their national identity. As one journalist in the Mexican newspaper El Universal recently stated, “Spelling is not just an imposition; it serves to maintain a minimum of coherence and sense to what is written and said. Can this be dictated from a conference room abroad? A country that is proudly independent would not accept this.” (5)

However the Spanish Royal Academy defends itself by insisting on the fact that their decision was taken in close collaboration with its 22 associated Academies all over Latin America. Some scholars have already decided to ignore the new rules, and different Spanish dictionaries will be issued in Mexico as well as other Latin American countries. It seems like the debate has just begun and Spanish speakers across the world will have to make a choice.

REFERENCES

(1) (2) http://www.alsintl.com/resources/languages/Spanish/

(3) ‘Spaniards to change some rules on spelling’, Typically Spanish Spain Culture News, November 6^th, 2010, http://www.typicallyspanish.com/news/publish/article_27787.shtml

(4)‘Hugo Chavez Chides Spanish Language Experts for Ch-Ch-Changing his Name’, My Fox DC, Monday, 29 Nov 2010, http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/news/hugo-chavez-chides-spanish-language-experts-for-ch-ch-changing-his-name-ncxdc-112910

 (5) Elisabeth Malkin ‘Rebelling against Spain, This Time with Words’, The New York Times, November 25^th, 2010, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/26/world/europe/26spanish.html?emc=eta1

‘New Spanish spelling guide to modernize language’, Business Week, November 5^th, 2010, http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9JA55U83.htm

‘The Indo- European Family of Languages’, http://www.krysstal.com/langfams_indoeuro.html