Canarian Spanish

• As with most other varieties of Spanish outside Mainland Spain, the preterite is generally used instead of the perfect: {{lang|es-IC|hoy visité a Juan}} ("today I visited John") for {{lang|es|hoy he visitado a Juan}} ("today I have visited John").{{cite web|url=https://www.equinoxjournals.com/SS/article/viewArticle/2352 |title=On the biological basis of gender variation: Verbal ambiguity in Canarian Spanish | Almeida | Sociolinguistic Studies |publisher=Equinoxjournals.com |access-date=2015-04-30}}{{Cite web |url=https://institucional.us.es/revistas/revistas/cauce/pdf/numeros/20-21/Cauce20-21%2847Serrano%29.pdf|last=Serrano|first=María José|quote=Universidad de La Laguna|year=1997–1998|title=On the Variability of Syntax: Some Theoretical Remarks|access-date=2019-04-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100102133101/http://www.institucional.us.es/revistas/revistas/cauce/pdf/numeros/20-21/Cauce20-21(47Serrano).pdf |archive-date=2010-01-02 |url-status=dead }}
• Like most other varieties of Spanish outside central and northern Spain, {{lang|es-IC|ustedes}} is used for all second-person plurals: {{lang|es-IC|ustedes están}} is used for {{lang|es-ES|vosotros estáis}}. Other usages include also the use of the third-person plural pronouns {{lang|es-IC|su}} and {{lang|es-IC|sus}} to refer the second-person instead of {{lang|es-IC|vuestro}} and {{lang|es-IC|vuestros}} as in American Spanish, and thus, the use of third-person plural verb conjugations. Example : {{lang|es-IC|¿Ustedes recuerdan dónde quedaba su casa?}} (Do you remember where your house was?) for Canarian Spanish while being {{lang|es-IC|¿Vosotros recordáis dónde quedaba vuestra casa?}} for Iberian Spanish.{{sfn|Penny|2000|p=131}}
• Speakers in the Canary Islands typically use third-person object pronouns in the same way as speakers from Andalusia and the Americas; that is, without {{lang|es|leísmo}}, using the older, case-determined system of reference.{{sfn|Penny|2000|p=131}}
• Diminutive forms are typically shorter than in Peninsular Spanish, though the peninsular forms are used as a result of influence from the mainland: {{lang|es-IC|bailito}} for {{lang|es-ES|bailecito}} 'little dance' and {{lang|es-IC|pueblito}} for {{lang|es-ES|pueblecito}} 'little town'.{{Cite journal|url=https://revistes.urv.cat/index.php/utf/article/view/2332/2255|pages=175–176|first=Javier|last=Medina López|journal=Universitas Tarraconensis. Revista de Filologia|issue=14|year=1992–1993|publisher=Publicacions Universitat Rovira i Virgili|issn=2604-3432|title=Estandarización lingüística en las hablas canarias}}
• As with many other varieties of Spanish outside Mainland Spain, {{lang|es|de}} ("of") is deleted in some expressions: {{lang|es-IC|casa Marta}} for {{lang|es-ES|casa de Marta}} and {{lang|es-IC|gofio millo}} for {{lang|es|gofio de millo}}.{{citation needed|date=April 2009}}

• Seseo, the lack of distinction between the pronunciation of the letters {{Grapheme|s}} and {{Grapheme|z}} or Hard and soft C, is the most distinctive non-mainland characteristic; caza ('hunt') is pronounced exactly like casa ('house'), which occurs in some parts of Andalusia as well.{{cite web|url=https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/jbp/sic/2006/00000003/00000001/art00004 |title=What did sociolinguistics ever do for language history?: The cont... |publisher=ingentaconnect |date=2006-01-01 |access-date=2015-04-30}} The feature is common to most parts of the Spanish-speaking world outside of the northern three quarters of Mainland Spain (Castile and the surrounding provinces have adopted the feature).{{cite web|url=https://www.biblioteca.org.ar/libros/300004.pdf |title=Biblioteca Virtual Universal |publisher=Biblioteca.org.ar |access-date=2015-04-30}}
• {{IPAslink|s}} is debuccalized to {{IPAblink|h}} at the end of syllables, as is common in Andalusia, Extremadura, Murcia, the Caribbean, and much of lowland Hispanic America. This results in a phonetic merger with {{IPA|/x/}}.{{cite journal |last1=Felix |first1=Sascha W. |title=Anatomy of a sound change in Canarian Spanish |journal=Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie |date=1979 |volume=95 |issue=3–4 |doi=10.1515/zrph.1979.95.3-4.358|s2cid=161147832 }}{{sfn|Herrera Santana|2007|p=339}} The frequency of s-aspiration has generally increased over the last few decades, as part of the formation of new regional norms.{{sfn|Herrera Santana|2007|pp=341–342}} Syllable-final [s] is always or mostly pronounced in formal speech, like TV broadcasts.
• {{IPA|/x/}} (spelled as {{grapheme|j}} or, before {{grapheme|e}} or {{grapheme|i}}, as {{grapheme|g}}) is usually aspirated (pronounced {{IPA|[h]}}), as is common in Andalusia (especially in its west) as well as the Caribbean and some other parts of Hispanic America.{{sfn|Herrera Santana|2007|p=339}}
• The same {{IPAblink|h}} sound is used in colloquial speech for the sound historically derived from Latin f-. It is also preserved among rural speakers in many peripheral areas of Peninsular Spain and throughout Hispanic America, where it is occasionally found in lower-class urban speech as well.{{sfn|Penny|2000|pp=130, 162–163}}
• Word-final {{IPAslink|n}} is realized as a velar nasal {{IPAblink|ŋ}}.{{cite journal |last1=Lipski |first1=John M. |title=La norma culta y la norma radiofonica: /s/ y /n/ en español |journal=Language Problems and Language Planning |date=1 January 1983 |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=239–262 |doi=10.1075/lplp.7.3.01lip |language=es |url=http://www.personal.psu.edu/jml34/radiofon.pdf}}
• {{lang|es|Yeísmo}} has become almost universal throughout the archipelago. Currently the palatal lateral approximant {{IPA|/ʎ/}} formerly represented by {{angbr|ll}} has been relegated to the speech of the most elderly, generally with low education and living in rural zones.{{sfn|Herrera Santana|2007|p=341}}
• The stops {{IPA|/p, t, tʃ, k/}} can all become voiced when between vowels, whether between words as in {{wikt-lang|es|pata|la pata}} {{IPA|[la ˈbata]}} or within a word as in {{wikt-lang|es|deporte}} {{IPA|[deˈboɾte]}}. This does not cause a merger with Spanish's voiced stops, since those are pronounced as approximants when between vowels. In addition, a weakened final {{IPA|-/s/}} can block this voicing, leading to alternations like {{lang|es|la pata}} {{IPA|[la ˈbata]}} and {{lang|es|las patas}} {{IPA|[la ˈpata]}}.{{sfn|Penny|2000|p=131}}{{sfn|Herrera Santana|2007}}
• {{IPAslink|tʃ}}, the phoneme represented by {{angbr|ch}}, is traditionally pronounced as voiceless palatal plosive rather than an affricate. The plosive pronunciation is still widespread.{{sfn|Herrera Santana|2007}}

Canarian vocabulary has its own regionalisms different from standard Castilian Spanish vocabulary. For example, {{lang|es|guagua}} ("bus") differs from standard Spanish {{lang|es|autobús}}. The word {{lang|es|guagua}} is an onomatopoeia stemming from the sound of a Klaxon horn ("wawa"). An example of Canarian usage for a Spanish word is the verb {{lang|es|fajarse}} ("to fight").[https://buscon.rae.es/draeI/SrvltGUIBusUsual?LEMA=fajar&TIPO_HTML=2&FORMATO=ampliado fajar] at Diccionario de la Real Academia Española. In standard Castilian Spanish, the verb would be {{lang|es|pelearse}}, while {{lang|es|fajar}} exists as a non-reflexive verb related to the hemming of a skirt. The term of endearment {{lang|es|socio}} is a very popular Canarian term.

The Canarian vocabulary has a notable influence from the Guanche language, especially in the toponymy. In addition, many Canarian personal names come from the Guanche language, such as {{lang|es-IC|Gara, Acerina, Aydan, Beneharo, Jonay, Tanausú, Chaxiraxi, Ayoze, Yaiza}} and {{lang|es|Zebenzuí}}.

As Canarian Spanish was influenced by Andalusian Spanish, a few words of Andalusi Arabic origin are found, and there are some doublets of Arabic-Latinate synonyms with the Arabic form being more common in Canarian, such as {{lang|es|cuarto}} or {{lang|es|alcoba}} for standard {{lang|es|habitación}} or {{lang|es|dormitorio}} ("bedroom"), {{lang|es|alhaja}} for standard {{lang|es|joya}} ("jewel"), or {{lang|es|alacrán}} for standard {{lang|es|escorpión}} ("scorpion"); Arabic influence in Canarian Spanish was also brought by returning Canarian settlers and their children from Spanish Sahara after its independence. Other examples include {{lang|es|guayete}} ("child") or {{lang|es|jaique}} ("poorly made and loosely fitting dress"). There are also numerous words of Arabic origin to designate different plants ({{lang|es|aciba, ahulaga, albohol, alcatripa, algafita, algahuero, almácigo, alpispillo, almulei, bahaza, orijama, tarahal, aliacán...}}). These words may have come directly from North Africa, favored by the presence of many common plants, or they may have naturalized first in the peninsula and then come to the Canary Islands (this seems to be the case of the words ahulaga and tarahal), so they are also rooted in peninsular Castilian Spanish.

{{Unreferenced section|date=October 2024}}

These, due to their origin and nature, can be classified into three large groups, depending on whether they come from current Spanish and its dialects, from old Castilian or if, finally, they come from languages other than Spanish. Thus, the words "formed" in the Canary Islands from other words of the Spanish language, the close influence of Portuguese, or the many terms that came to the Canary Islands from dialectal variants such as American Spanish, the result of the historical links between both shores of the Atlantic. Thus, the Canarian lexicon is the reflection of centuries of island history, cultural miscegenation and adaptation of the language to the unique conditions that existed on the islands.

Canarismos from Spanish and its dialects

The Canarian voices that come from the Hispanic language itself or from its dialects are framed here. In this group, it would be necessary to distinguish between canarisms originating from some dialect of Spanish and those that derive from a pan- Hispanic voice, but which in the Canary Islands have undergone some linguistic process (derivation, simplification, formal change, metonymic displacement, etc.), giving rise to a new or modified voice. Thus, the word «allege» means in Castilian to adduce merits to substantiate some request, while in the Canary Islands it is used as a synonym for conversing . There are also canarisms formed by derivation of words from general Spanish, such as "bizcochón" (cylindrical cake made from eggs, flour and sugar), or "fragilón" (stupid, presumptuous, vain), which come from the Pan-Hispanic terms "biscuit" and "fragile", respectively, to which they have been added in the Canary Islands the suffix "-on".

On the other hand, among the canarismos coming from dialectal forms of Castilian, the following stand out:

• Terms of American origin: They come mainly from the Caribbean area (Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic) and were introduced in the Canary Islands as a result of the emigration link that for centuries united the islands with America. They are terms linked to any area of traditional island culture and are more deeply rooted in the western islands than in the eastern ones, due to their more continuous link with the New World. Examples of this are the words:
• guagua (bus)
• fotingo (jalopy/dilapidated car)

In other words, its origin is indeterminate, possibly engineered on the spot. For example, pollaboba, is a special case, because it went from being an insult (with a pejorative meaning similar to impotent or celibate ) to even being used in common speech, sometimes losing the initial meaning.

• Terms of Andalusian origin: It is a group of voices introduced by the Andalusians from the beginning of the repopulation of the archipelago. Examples of Andalusianisms in Canarian speech are:
• "embelesar" ( to fall asleep )
• "bocinegro" ( kind of pagel )
• "chocho" ( Lupinus albus )
• Terms of Portuguese origin: Portuguese is the foreign language that has given the most voices to the Spanish spoken in the Canary Islands, due to the huge mass of Portuguese who settled on the islands during the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. It is a large number of words from all grammatical categories and linked to most spheres of life,
• Linked to agriculture ("millo", corn; "batata", sweet potato; "apañar batatas", from the Portuguese apanhar, pick potatoes) and livestock (terms such as "bosta", cattle excrement ).
• To the sea and fishing : as «cambullón», buying, selling and exchanging on board ships, from cambulhão, 'set of things, string'; "margullar" swim underwater or “burgao” small sea snail, “engodar” attract fish by baiting them, “cardume” small school of fish, “pardela" shearwater/sea bird, "liña" string used for fishing and the ichthyonyms "caboso", "bicuda" and "quelme". Also "furnia" from the Portuguese furna, sea cave.
• In the home environment, words like «gaveta», sliding furniture drawer; "fechar", to close in Portuguese; "fechillo", latch; "fechadura", lock, "fonil" (funnel), funil in Portuguese; "traza" (moth), traça in Portuguese; “trancar”, lock in the peninsular Spanish.
• In the personal sphere, words such as “petudo”, from the Portuguese peitudo (big-chested), but which in the Canary Islands takes the meaning of hunchback; "jeito", movement, skill; "long", meaning wide or loose; "cañoto", from the Portuguese canhoto, left-handed.
• Numerous trees and plants in the laurel forest have obvious Portuguese roots in their names: viñátigo, acebiño, faya, sanguino, follodo, aderno, coderno, malfurada, gibalbera, til or tilo, norza, pampillo, sao ... This is due to that the laurel forest of the Canary Islands and that of Madeira, they share many species, and many others have great similarities. Sometimes we can find that a word that in Portuguese describes a plant in the Canary Islands describes another similar or from the same family. A particular case is that of the word parrot, which is used in the Canary Islands to designate the laurel ( Laurus azorica ) but which in Portuguese refers to Prunus lusitanica, which also exists in the Canary Islands and is known as daughter.
• Also taken from the Portuguese are the suffix -ero in the name of the plants, instead of the Castilian -o (naranjero instead of naranjo [orange tree], almendrero instead of almendro [almond tree], castañero instead of castaño [chestnut tree], manzanero instead of manzano [apple tree]) and the suffix -ento, which gives the meaning of "in abundance" (for example, "aguachento" is used to say that a fruit has lost its flavor due to having an excess of water, or that a stew has a consistency that is too soupy).
• The substitution of the preposition towards by para: (Voy para allá (I'm going there))
• The substitution of prepositional phrases by adverbs of place ("arriba" instead of "encima" (above), "atrás" instead of detrás (behind)).
• Pronunciation of the words padre (father) and madre (mother) closer to the Portuguese pai and mãe respectively.
• Other words and expressions: “rente” (flush), “de cangallas” (legs up), “escarrancharse” (spreading your legs excessively), atillo (string), “pegar a” (start to), “en peso” (in its entirety or together), “magua” (longing), "amularse" (get angry), “jeitoso” (skillful), “agonia” (nausea), “arrullar” (rock), “fañoso” (that speaks with nasal resonance due to some transient respiratory disease), "picar el ojo" (winking).
• Terms of English origin: These are surely the most recently incorporated voices from other languages into Canarian speech, the result of commercial links with England and the establishment of British merchants on the islands, especially in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. And one of the most discussed about its origin.
• Terms such as "queque" ( sweet made in the oven based on eggs, sugar, raisins and other ingredients, from English cake ), "quinegua" ( type of potato, from English King Edward ) or "{{lang|es|naife}}" ( name of the typical Canarian knife used in banana cultivation, comes from the English word knife ), "pulover" ( jersey, comes from pull over ), "suéter" (comes from sweater).
• Brand terms such as "flis" (from the trademark Flit, to refer to an aerosol or spray), "flash" ( pole wrapped in plastic, comes from flash which was its trademark ).
• Terms like “chercha/e” ( messy, dirty place, pigsty ). Its origin is located in the English word "church" and in reference to the cemetery where non-Catholics were buried.
• And others not only typical in the Canary Islands such as "tenis" (from the English "tennis shoes" for sports shoes, any kind of shoes), “ticket” or “parking” (words added before general Spanish).
• Terms of French origin: Of the French spoken by the first Norman conquerors, a small number of words have been preserved, with a rather testimonial value. Examples of this are the terms:
• "malpaís" ( unproductive land, in the Canary Islands used to designate lava fields, seems to come from the Old French male pays )
• "cardón" ( type of autochthonous plant, which could come from the French chardon, plant with thorns )
• "wadding" ( cotton sheet, comes from ouate )
• "creyón" ( colored pencil, comes from crayon ).

Although currently in disuse, on the island of El Hierro it is customary to say "o" ( où, in French) for "dónde está", "¿o las llaves?" instead of "¿dónde están las llaves?" (Where are the keys?)

• Terms of Catalan origin:
• «alfábega» (it is an Arabism that is only preserved in Catalonia and the Canary Islands, where the Castilian basil is also used, which is also of Arab origin)
• "seba" (in Catalan it means onion, but in the Canary Islands it is used to designate the marine plant whose leaves are reminiscent of these)
• "lletera" (derived from the Catalan llet which means milk, and is used to name some species of the genus Euphorbia . This voice is also found in Valencian speech )
• "tonina" (Tuna Thunnus thynnus is named like this and sometimes also to dolphins, it has given rise to the expression "Being fat like a tonina")
• "bufo" (fart, in Catalan it is used in feminine) .

The chart shows the similarities and differences in the dialects of Canarian Spanish, Andalusian Spanish, Castilian Spanish, and Caribbean Spanish.

{{notelist-ur|1}}

The word {{lang|es|caldera/caldero}} means "cooking pot" in Spanish (compare "cauldron").

In the Canary Islands, it was also applied to several volcanic places.

The term caldera was introduced into the geological vocabulary by the German geologist Leopold von Buch when he published his memoirs of his 1815 visit to the Canary Islands,{{refn|group=note|name=note 1|Leopold von Buch's book Physical Description of the Canary Isles was published in 1825}} where he first saw the Las Cañadas caldera on Tenerife, with Mount Teide dominating the landscape, and then the Caldera de Taburiente on La Palma.{{cite book |last1=von Buch |first1=L. |year=1820 |title=Ueber die Zusammensetzung der basaltischen Inseln und ueber Erhebungs-Cratere |location=Berlin |publisher=University of Lausanne

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-_sTAAAAQAAJ&q=von%20Buch%2C%20L.%201820.%20Uber%20die%20Zusammensetzung%20der%20Basaltischen%20Inseln%20und%20%C3%BCber%20Erhebungs%20Kratere.%20A%20lecture%20delivered%20before%20the%20Prussian%20Academy%20on%20Sciences%20in%20May%201818%2C%20Berlin.&pg=PA1 |access-date=28 December 2020}}{{cite journal |last1=Cole |first1=J |last2=Milner |first2=D |last3=Spinks |first3=K |title=Calderas and caldera structures: a review |journal=Earth-Science Reviews |date=February 2005 |volume=69 |issue=1–2 |pages=1–26 |doi=10.1016/j.earscirev.2004.06.004|bibcode=2005ESRv...69....1C }}

• Nationalisms and regionalisms of Spain
• {{annotated link|Silbo gomero}}
• Isleño Spanish

{{reflist|group=note}}

{{notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{Cite journal

|last=Herrera Santana

|first=Juana

|date=2007

|title=Variación dialectal: procesos de convergencia y divergencia en el español de Canarias

|url=https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=2528372

|journal=Revista de Filología de la Universidad de la Laguna

|language=Spanish

|issue=25

|pages=337–346

|issn=0212-4130

}}

• {{citation

|last=Navarro Carrasco

|first=Ana Isabel

|year=2003

|title=El atlas de Canarias y el diccionario académico

|publisher=Publicaciones Universidad de Alicante

|isbn= 978-8479082864

}}

• {{cite book

|last1=Penny

|first1=Ralph J.

|title=Variation and change in Spanish

|date=2000

|publisher=Cambridge University Press

|location=Cambridge

|isbn=0521780454

|url=https://archive.org/details/variationchangei0000penn/page/n5/mode/2up

|access-date=21 June 2022

|url-access=registration

|doi=10.1017/CBO9781139164566

}}

{{refend}}

• [http://www.corpusrural.es/ING/ COSER], Audible Corpus of Spoken Rural Spanish

{{Languages of Spain}}

{{Spanish variants by continent}}

{{Culture of Canary Islands}}

{{Spanish diaspora}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Culture of the Canary Islands

Category:Spanish dialects of Spain

Category:Spanish language in Africa