Canarian Spanish

Canarian Spanish (Spanish: español de Canarias, español canario, el habla canaria, or dialecto canario) is a variant of standard Spanish spoken in the Canary Islands by the Canarian people. The variant is very similar to the Andalusian Spanish variety spoken in Andalusia and in much of southern Spain and (especially) to Caribbean Spanish and other Latin American Spanish dialects because of Canarian emigration to the Caribbean and Hispanic America over the years. Canarian Spanish, therefore, heavily influenced the development of Caribbean Spanish and other Latin American Spanish dialects. Hispanic America and the Spanish-speaking Caribbean islands were originally largely settled by colonists from Canary Islands and Andalusia, so the dialects of the islands were already quite close to Canarian and Andalusian speech. In the Caribbean, Canarian speech patterns were never regarded as foreign or overly distinct.

The incorporation of the Canary Islands into the Crown of Castile began with Enrique III and ended with the Catholic Monarchs. The expeditions for their conquest started off mainly from ports of Andalusia and is the reason why the Andalusians predominated in the Canaries. There was also an important colonizing contingent coming from Portugal in the early conquest of the Canaries, along with the Andalusians and the Castilians from mainland Spain. In earlier times, Portuguese settled alongside the Spanish in the north of La Palma, but died off or were absorbed by the Spanish. The population that inhabited the islands before the conquest, the Guanches, spoke a series of Berber dialects, often referred to by the insular term, amazigh. After the conquest, a cultural process took place rapidly and intensely, with the native language disappearing almost completely in the archipelago. Surviving are some names of plants and animals, terms related to the cattle ranch, and numerous island placenames.

Due to their geographic situation, the Canary Islands have received much outside influence, causing drastic cultural changes, including linguistic ones. As a result of heavy Canarian emigration to the Caribbean region, particularly during colonial times, Caribbean Spanish is strikingly similar to Canarian Spanish. When visiting Tenerife or Las Palmas, Venezuelans, Cubans, Dominicans and Puerto Ricans are usually taken at first hearing for fellow-Canarians from a distant part of the Canary archipelago.