Talk:Cuban Spanish

I edited out the "rioplatense" dialect comparison when discussing the example of the word "bus" in Cuban Spanish because it was not relevant to the discussion to bring in a third comparison-- especially in a section of the discussion that covers Canarian influence, of which the "rioplatense" dialect has little.

Also, I edited the addition of an external link to the so-called "Diccionario Cubano" because a.) it is promulgated by a musical band, not a serious source, and b.) it contains words more appropriate to an article on slang. The Cuban-specific words I've mentioned in the article are not slang, but rather the accepted lexicon of the vernacular.

what about...
I'm not going to add this in because I lack good confident sources about it, but it seems to be lacking a few points: I'd make the changes myself, but that would feel like original research so I'm not touching it. But, it really strikes out at me as something worth mentioning. –Andyluciano
 * 1) Cuban Spanish is fonetically very similar to the Spanish spoken elsewhere in the Carribean.
 * Further point: all of the dialectal features mentioned as "unique to Cuban Spanish" can be found all over the Spanish speaking world.
 * 1) What about the famous pronunciation of /ɾ/ as [l]?  Very characteristic of Carribean Spanish.  A few days ago I was talking to a Cuban and found this feature really stuck out to me.
 * 2) Come to think of it, maybe there should be a "Carribean Spanish" article with this information merged.

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"Third World" is no longer used. I replaced it with lesser developed countries.

==

There is book called Revolutionary Cuban Spanish: A Glossary of Social, Political, and Common Terms (Glosario de términos socio-políticos y autóctonos de actualidad (español-inglés)). It offers a good overview of some modern Cuban Spanish.

J. Santiago

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How about some examples?
In my opinion, as someone who has no knowlege of the spanish spoken in Cuba, some more examples of unique words or phases use in Cuba would make the article much more useful. How about adding a whole list? Can anyone help?

Ian Howell 121.72.9.121 (talk) 05:39, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

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As far as the origins of the word guagua (autobús) in Cuban Spanish, I have heard 2 different versions: 1) the version currently online at Wikepedia, that the word comes from the Canary Islands, and 2) that the word comes from an old Taino word for an insect. Does anyone have any more information regarding the origins of this word? Thanks!

Izzy57 13:32, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

Where is the difference after all?
ALL features mentioned in the article as distinct Cuban Spanish features are present in almost the whole of Latin America, or at the least the greater part. What about mentioning REAL differences, such as the pharyngeal pronounciation of /x/ (j) as [ħ] in Havana speech, and eliminating all those redunduncies? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 201.37.68.146 (talk) 19:15, 16 May 2007 (UTC).

Communists
If anyone knows more about it, you should add a section about the effect of the Castro Revolution on cuban Spanish--with, of course, an acknowledgement that there are large exile communities that identify very strongly with Cuba and don't use these recent evolutions. I've heard of at least one change--the use of compañero. I'm pretty sure it's at least the dominant substitute for muchacho or chico. Don't know if it's also used for señor, but it wouldn't be surprising, since the Soviets used the Russian word for "citizen" that way in the Soviet era. I also wonder if the Cuban communists encouraged widespread or universal tuteo, as has been common for revolutionaries since the Jacobins.205.212.74.148 15:21, 1 June 2007 (UTC)

Ah, I see now there's already a little acknowledgement of the Revolution. But it's pretty much worthless. Tells you nothing about exactly what the effects have been, just tells you generalities--and false and confusing ones at that. The exiles' language has been like an artifact frozen in time, whereas that on the Island has continued to evolve? Look, I'm very pleasantly surprised that this page shows no sign of political strife, and I don't want to start any--I'm not a Cuban anyway. But that passage is pretty much worthless except as a weaselly insult to the exiles.205.212.74.148 15:30, 1 June 2007 (UTC)

Yet another addition! I rechecked the paragraph, and now I don't even think its intention was to insult the exiles. I just think it's someone's speculation, with absolutely no way to connect it to the rest of the article. Someone has told a little basic story of the exile demographics and revolutionary ideology, reasoned a little in his head, and really told us nothing that is informative about the linguistic effects. I'll delete it shortly, if there are no objections; someone who has real information about revolutionary or exile effects on the language should really put that in.205.212.74.148 15:37, 1 June 2007 (UTC)

Cuban Spanish Is almost Identical to Canarian Spanish(Canary Islands, Spain)
As you know that Cuba received the most Canarian immigrants in Latin America, except for Venezuela. Because of this, many Cubans are just Canarians who grew up in Cuba, and some are just mixes of Canarian, Galician, and Asturian(different regions of Spain). But, because of the huge Canarian emigration, the Canarians pretty much formed the base for the Cuban dialect themselves, with help from others. But, the swapping of cultures between the Canary Islands and Cuba is also bi-directional, to the point that much of the music in the Canary Islands stems from Cuban music. As you can see in the link below, the Canarian dialect of Spanish is close enough to Cuban Spanish, that when a Cuban comes in contact with a Canarian he/she may think they are Cubans from a different part of the Island. Also, when a Canarian hears a hears a Cuban speak, they may assume that they are Canarian from another part of the archipelago( usually the island of La Palma). Here is a video of Canarian Banana farmers in the Canary Islands.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rkVe4GRFN0

Louisianamade 12:50, 9 September 2007 (UTC)Robert Gutiérrez

To answer the origins of the word guagua
To answer the question about where does the word guagua come from, I am a Canary Islander descendent of Louisiana in the USA, that immigrated here back in 1775-1783. The are many Louisiana Canary Islanders known as "Isleños", that still speak Canarian spanish (due to isolation over time in fishing villages outside of New Orleans).

The word guagua is in OUR vocabulary meaning the opposite route of transfer. Such as getting a ride, or to go to the other side. This is found in the spanish of Louisiana Canary Islanders that comes from over 225 years ago. The word is now known for a public bus in Louisiana spanish also. The word guagua is used in the Canary Islands to mean public bus. The word bears the resemblance and characteristics in the form of Guanche (Native Canarian) words from the Canary Islands. Also, guagua is used to refer to a public bus in most every country where Canary Islander immigrants went.

To me it sounds as if the word for guagua would come from an old Canarian word for "getting a ride, or "to the other side" rather than the Taino "bug", which doesn't sound like much to describe the public bus.

Viva la cultura Canaria en to'o'l mundo. Cuba is full of Canary Islander culture and vice versa. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 169.139.222.5 (talk) 21:49, 24 July 2008 (UTC)

African Cubans
Do African Cubans have their own dialect or dialects of Cuban Spanish? This needs to be addressed in the article. Gringo300 (talk) 20:35, 1 March 2009 (UTC)


 * Well it only needs to be addressed if they do. Is there any evidence that black people have their own dialect of Spanish anywhere? I suspect not. Thanks, SqueakBox 20:51, 1 March 2009 (UTC)


 * It has to be taken into consideration that there are probably thousands of different black ethnic groups, speaking thousands of different languages- black people aren't all just one single group of people. I've heard from many sources that many African Cubans are Yoruba and speak Yoruba, as well as Cuban Spanish. It seems plausible to me that the Cuban Spanish of African Cubans would be influenced by Yoruba and/or other African languages. Gringo300 (talk) 18:27, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

Words of African origin, and popular common greetings
What about words of African origin like asere,ambia,nagüe (friend).

There is also a popular common greetings Qué volá, asere or Qué vuelta, asere (equivalent to "Hello" and "How are you?" at the same time).

The Cuban "s"
Some of what I've raed, specially about how Cubans slip the intersilabical "s", rounds to me more dominican than Cuban. I'm not an expert, but we tend on the contrary to emphasize the "s" sound. Cuban "s" would sound "fressco" rather than "freco" as it's pointed in this article. "Freco" is instead a very com on way in Dominican Republic. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.134.177.143 (talk) 21:30, 10 August 2011 (UTC)

fajarse? compañero? really?
I heard pelearse used many times in Cuba (esp. in a context like "nos peleamos" = "we fought", speaking of former lovers), while I don't ever remember hearing fajarse.

Similarly, not once did I hear "compañero" as a term of address -- but many times "muchacho" and "chico" were used when one Cuban addressed another, esp. those under 30-40 or so; sometimes "hermano" also occurred, and "señor" sometimes in formal contexts. Benwing (talk) 16:27, 21 January 2012 (UTC)


 * Simon and Schuster's International [bilingual] Dictionary translates fajar (transitive) first as "to bind, wrap" (perhaps related to the skirt-hemming mentioned in the article). Definition 3 of transitive fajar is "(vulg., Cuba) to make advances to a woman". Then, as a locution, without any geographical specification (which S&S is usually meticulous about), it gives "fajarse con, to fight with". In The Oxford Spanish Dictionary, definition 2(b) of fajarse is "(Méx, Ven fam [= colloqial]) (pelearse) to get into a fight". So the geography of fajarse is sketchy, to say the least.


 * As for "compañero", I have added a source, albeit a mere webpage. That page cites William Luis [sic], Culture and Customs of Cuba (2001), which I haven't been able to access for verification. Kotabatubara (talk) 13:41, 6 October 2015 (UTC)


 * I have since added refinements about "compañero", pro and con. Kotabatubara (talk) 17:42, 6 October 2015 (UTC)

Possible confusion in pronunciation
I don't think the way the example words are spelled do them justice. They could easily be mispronunciated with the provided spelling. The word Fresco, is indeed pronounced "Freco" but a reader who is not familiar with Cuban Spanish, may read that very plainly. There is a severe friction that occurs at the "c" in "Freco" to make up for the lack of an "S" sound. If someone has any ideas on how to improve the spelling, or perhaps add in a detailed explanation of how it is pronounced, that'd be great.

Pronunciations appear to be copy-pasted
The list at the end of the Phonology section appears to have copy-pasted entries that were edited for each line (presumably so the author wouldn't have to type out the formatting multiple times), but they forgot to change all the "/d/"s into the appropriate consonant. For example, "/d/ + /n/: [nn]" should most likely be "/n/ + /n/: [nn]", with an "n" in place of the "d".

Colin0325 (talk) 00:20, 23 September 2022 (UTC)


 * The /d/ is correct, that's the way the source cited analyzes it phonemically. Erinius (talk) 08:23, 23 September 2022 (UTC)
 * Since that underlying /d/ is a rather unusual or at least not mainstream phonological interpretation, I think the author of the source should be mentioned in the text. --Jotamar (talk) 18:21, 26 September 2022 (UTC)
 * Done. Apparently the coda liquids can occasionally surface as [d], according to that article. Erinius (talk) 23:53, 26 September 2022 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: Modern Languages Capstone Seminar
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