Contacto de lenguas indígenas y español en Américaaspectos diacrónicos y sincrónicos

Abstract

The aim of the study is to provide a recapitulation of the various opinions proffered by specialists regarding one of the most controversial aspects of the evolution and the final shaping of Latin American Spanish: the importance of its contact with indigenous languages. Firstly, the study gives a summary of the most significant theories regarding the influence of the indigenous languages in the development of the varieties of Latin American Spanish. Then, the principal grammatical characteristics which according to various authors are the fruit of the secular contact between Spanish and the indigenous language in the traditional transfer areas: Maya and Quechua and Guaraní are collected and compared. Furthermore, as an example of original material the study includes a letter by a bilingual native (18th century) which illustrates the historical contact of Spanish with Amerindian languages in areas which have not been studied: ancient Jesuit missions of Moxo in the Northeast of Bolivia. The study also contains two fragments of conversation taken from bilingual speakers from Guatemala and Peru, in which the various interferences which are a consequence of this linguistic contact are evident.