Language
The overwhelming majority, including those of recent immigrant background, speak Spanish (in Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay) or Portuguese in the case of Brazil. The Spanish-speaking countries of the Southern Cone are divided into three main dialects:
- Paraguayan Spanish, which is highly influenced by the Guarani language that is spoken alongside Rioplatense Spanish;
- Rioplatense Spanish, spoken in Argentina and Uruguay, where the accent and daily language is heavily influenced by the Italian of 19th-20th century immigrants; and
- Chilean Spanish.
These dialects share common traits, such as a number of Lunfardo and Quechua words. Other minor languages and dialects includes Portuñol, a hybrid between Uruguayan Rioplatense and Portuguese, Cuyano, originally a variant of Chilean Spanish now infused with Rioplantense.
Read more about this topic: Southern Cone
Famous quotes containing the word language:
“Public speaking is done in the public tongue, the national or tribal language; and the language of our tribe is the men’s language. Of course women learn it. We’re not dumb. If you can tell Margaret Thatcher from Ronald Reagan, or Indira Gandhi from General Somoza, by anything they say, tell me how. This is a man’s world, so it talks a man’s language.”
—Ursula K. Le Guin (b. 1929)
“The great pines stand at a considerable distance from each other. Each tree grows alone, murmurs alone, thinks alone. They do not intrude upon each other. The Navajos are not much in the habit of giving or of asking help. Their language is not a communicative one, and they never attempt an interchange of personality in speech. Over their forests there is the same inexorable reserve. Each tree has its exalted power to bear.”
—Willa Cather (1873–1947)
“the language obscene
An engine, an engine
Chuffing me off like a Jew.”
—Sylvia Plath (1932–1963)