If you listen to an Argentinian and a Uruguayan speaker, will you know how to differentiate each other? The truth is that it is challenging. There are those who say that the only way to distinguish them is by seeing what they have in their hand: the Argentinian will always have his hands busy with the mate and the thermos, while the Uruguayan will have the mate in one hand and carry the thermos in a bag. It’s not a wrong clue; it’s pretty accurate, but here we give you some linguistic tips so you can get to know them a little better and know where their unique way of speaking comes from.
¿Y vos cómo estás? The ‘voseo’ as a singular pronoun
Spanish began to spread throughout the American continent more than 500 years ago. Still, today, the unique use of the pronoun ‘vos’ as a second-person singular is a linguistic curiosity found only in Argentina and Uruguay.
Upon the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors in America, ‘tú’, ‘vos’, and ‘vuestra merced’ were used in Spanish—these three expressions, each with unique connotations, refer to the second person singular. The communicative context determined the use of one over the others; both ‘tú’ (you) and ‘vuestra merced’ (your grace) were used in the context of closeness and trust, while ‘vos’ was exclusively used to address a person of greater authority.
Due to hierarchical relationships, the pronoun ‘tú’ was much more common. However, this changed over time. This is how, in the 16th century, the ‘vos’ began to be a disused expression in Spain and the places in America with a Viceroyalty, such as Peru or Mexico, and ‘you’ became the expression corresponding to the voice of I respect. Thus, the countries furthest from the viceroyalties, such as those in the southern cone and Central America, retained the ‘voseo’.
Currently, the ‘vos’ is widely used in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Costa Rica, and in some regions of Bolivia, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Panama, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, and Cuba, although in the latter, the connotation given to its use may vary according to regions and socio-cultural stratum.
¿Uruguasho, sho?
If you speak Spanish, you will know that an Argentinian and a Uruguayan speak very similar and, at the same time, different from any other Spanish speaker. They pronounce “y” and “ll” uniquely to any Spanish-American Spanish speaker. They say posho instead of pollo (chicken); they go to the plasha, not the playa (beach), and they call shuvia (rain) to the water that falls from the sky. Where does this way of speaking come from?
The unique sound in the Spanish of Argentina and Uruguay, also found in other languages such as Portuguese and English, can be attributed to the nations’ formation by migratory waves from Europe. This linguistic landscape, further shaped by the proximity to Portuguese-speaking Brazil, has led to a contagion of certain sounds of these languages in the Spanish spoken in these regions.
During the 19th and 20th centuries, the Río de la Plata area experienced a substantial migratory influx from Spain, Italy and France, translating into the gradual incorporation of sounds from Galician, Italian and French. Furthermore, the Argentine sociolinguist María Beatriz Fontanella de Weinberg, a student of the Buenos Aires phonetic particularity, mentions in her works that at the end of the 19th century, there was a significant influence of French in Argentine culture and, with it, an explicit desire to incorporate phonological elements in your vocabulary. There are similar theories that explain the incorporation of sounds from Italian.
Whatever the explanation, the truth is that linguistic loans are transformed and finally appropriated to adapt to the values and culture of the people that incorporate them. Whether it’s with a thermos in your hand or a bag, the culture of the Río de la Plata is inseparable from mate and herb, che!
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