The Language Chronicles: El Choro Lingüístico 💬

Hablemos de redundancias y pleonasmos . En cualquier lengua existen, y aunque algunos especialistas diferencian el pleonasmo como una figura retórica y la redundancia como un vicio del lenguaje , generalmente se consideran sinónimos. Sin embargo, no todas las redundancias o pleonasmos deben ser censurados automáticamente; su uso depende del contexto. Son aceptables en expresiones hechas , frases para énfasis o cuando añaden precisión . Por ejemplo: Bofetada en la mejilla izquierda (precisión) ¡Cállate la boca! (expresivo) Cerrar herméticamente (énfasis) Concentrarse profundamente (énfasis) Corrimos a toda velocidad (énfasis) Lo escribí de mi puño y letra. (expresivo) ¡Escuchen con mucha atención! (énfasis) Éxito arrollador (énfasis) Gritó a todo pulmón.  (expresivo) Insistir reiteradamente/insistir e insistir. (énfasis) Lapso de 5 horas (precisión) Lleno total/hasta el tope  (énfasis) Mas sin embargo (énfasis) Nunca antes visto (énfasis) Su hermano le  pegó a puño cerrado.  (énfas

In Latin, the verb iungere (join or put together) has the past participle iunctus/iuncta/iunctum . From these words, we get words like cónyuge (spouse, "conjugal"), yunta (two bulls that pull the weight in a farm and are joined by a yunta (yoke), juntar (put together), subjuntivo (it joins two clauses), ayuntamiento , etc. Ayuntamiento means city/town hall because people come together for these. Funnily, at some point, ayuntamiento also meant intercourse since you can come together with someone else for different purposes 😉, but it's an old-fashioned word, as far as I know. The suffix - miento in ayuntamiento is also to be found in conocimiento (knowledge), requerimiento (requirement), sufrimiento , etc, and it signals the way something is done or its result. Latin mens/mentis (the mind) ended up being used in Romance languages as a marker of adverbs ( interesantemente, tristemente, correctamente ) because things were done in an "interesting/sad/correct" stat

As language learners, we often come across fascinating quirks and intricacies of the languages we study. One such example is the Spanish verb " jugar ," which holds a special place in the Spanish language.  Did you know that "jugar" (yo juego , nosotros jugamos ) - to play - is the only Spanish verb that changes from "u" to "ue" in its present tense conjugation when the "u" is stressed? It follows the same conjugation pattern as verbs like " probar ," ( o-ue changes : pruebo , pruebas , prueba , probamos , probaís , prueban ), " volar ," ( vuelo , vuelas , vuela , volamos , voláis , vuelan ), and " contar " ( cuento , cuentas , cuenta , contamos , contáis , cuentan ). This unique characteristic makes "jugar" stand out from other verbs in the Spanish language. Its history is just as interesting as its conjugation pattern. During the formation period of Spanish, the verb used to be pronounced with a

[Contenido en portugués - Content in Portuguese] [For English, see below.] Hoje é o Dia Mundial da Língua Portuguesa A data de 5 de maio foi oficialmente estabelecida em 2009 pela Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa (CPLP) - uma organização intergovernamental que está em parceria oficial com a UNESCO desde 2000, e que reúne povos com a língua portuguesa como uma das bases de sua identidade específica - para celebrar a língua portuguesa e as culturas lusófonas . Em 2019, a 40ª sessão da Conferência Geral da UNESCO decidiu proclamar o dia 5 de maio de cada ano como "Dia Internacional da Língua Portuguesa". A língua portuguesa não é apenas uma das línguas mais difundidas no mundo , com mais de 265 milhões de falantes espalhados por todos os continentes, mas também é a língua mais falada no hemisfério sul . O português continua sendo, hoje, uma língua importante de comunicação internacional e uma língua com forte projeção geográfica, destinada a aumentar. (Acesse o tex

[Para español, ver abajo.] Say More with Less: The Power of Aspectual Se and Dative of Interest in Spanish This article explores two grammatical concepts in Spanish— aspectual   se and dative of interest —both of which use optional particles that add  nuance and make you sound more like a native Spanish speaker! Aspectual SE            "Aspectual se" involves using reflexive pronouns ( me, te, SE, nos, os ) with verbs that aren't typically reflexive to convey completion, emphasis, or subjectivity. "Mi hermana come pizza" (My sister eats pizza) describes a habitual action . "Mi hermana se come la pizza" (My sister is eating up the pizza) implies she eats all of it, adding emphasis and a sense of completion . The sister could have said in first person after finishing up the pizza: " Me comí la piza porque se iba a enfriar" (I ate the pizza because it was going to get cold). The "se" will change according to the person. Note that aspe

[For English, see below] ¿Sabías que en español existe un artículo femenino especial para palabras que comienzan con el sonido /a/ tónico como “ el agua ” “ el hacha ”, y “ el águila "? Aunque hoy es un vestigio del pasado, en castellano medieval era una práctica común llamada  elisión . Un ejemplo similar en francés es  " l'orthographe " en vez de "la* orthographe", para evitar la unión de sonidos vocálicos. En español moderno, esta elisión se conserva en  contracciones como " del " (de + el) y " al " (a + el), aunque sin apóstrofo. Fuera de estas contracciones, la elisión no se refleja formalmente en la escritura moderna. Contrario a lo que se cree, combinaciones como  “la* agua” “la* hacha” y “la* águila" no se evitan por cacofonía, definida por la RAE como el "efecto desagradable producido por la repetición de sonidos" - ejemplos de cacofonía . Historia del artículo "el" El artículo el que parece masculino

[Para español, ver abajo.] In Old Spanish , indirect object pronoun "le" (to him, her, you plural), when put together with direct object pronouns lo(s)/la(s) in the combination lelo/lela , evolved phonetically and naturally, first to diphthong lie(lo) > lle(lo)> gelo (g was pronounced like French j or s in measure), and finally to present day se lo or -selo . Note that this se only looks like reflexive se as in Mi mejor amigo se levanta a las 5 de la mañana , but its function is completely different. That's why, nowadays, we say se lo doy (I give it to him, her, you singular, you plural or them) or dáselo (give it to him, her, you, you all, them). Old Spanish: gelo do (se lo doy). If the context is not sufficient, people specify by adding on: descríbeselo a él, a ella, a ustedes, a ellas, a mi amigo, al profesor, etc. If you speak Italian, you'll notice a similar evolution happened to arrive at " glielo do " (se lo doy). -----------------------

[Défiler vers le bas pour la version en français] In Latin, a "feather" was known by two names: penna and pluma .  Spanish quickly decided to stick with pluma , the meaning of which was extended to include the concept of a writing utensil, and practically discarded penna . This is still the case in several Spanish-speaking countries, especially Mexico and Central America - but it's not the only word used for pen . Old French used penne and plume as synonyms, later broadening the meaning to the writing instrument. Although "penne" died off in French, it had already passed the word "pen" down to English. Although "plume" is no longer used for pen in modern French (today it's un stylo), it is still fossilized in some expressions like nom de plume (pen name), prendre la plume (to begin writing), avoir une belle plume (to have great writing style or nice handwriting), among others. As many of you know, "pluma" for pen may not

Note : If you are looking for a thorough review of how to tell time in Spanish, click  here . Why do we say "es la una"  (singular) and  "son las dos" (plural) in Spanish, but say "it's one" ,  "it's two" (only singular) in English? I love questions like these because they get us to question why we say things the way we do in both the language we're learning, but as important, at least to me as a linguist, in our own language. The answer to this question is quite simple in Spanish. Number-gender agreement : es la una (hora implied - feminine singular), son las dos (horas implied - feminine plural). In the past tense, era la una or eran las dos. Question solved! More than likely, though, that didn't really solve the question. We're really wondering why Spanish respects number agreement  with the verb to be , but English doesn't, at least in this case. The real issue, then, is to be found, not in Spanish, but in English!

[This article has clickable sound files in blue.] Historically in Spanish, there is a difference between the sound for "y" as opposed to "ll" , which still exists in several pockets in the Andes highlands (most of Peru and Bolivia, parts of Ecuador, Colombia, Chile, Argentina) ,  Guaraní speaking areas like Paraguay , some parts of  northern and rural Spain , and the Philippines , usually among older Spanish speakers . In these places, "ll" is realized as /ʎ/ - calle, llamarse, valle . This is the minority sound in Spanish that is still current in standard Catalan (filla) , Portuguese (filha) , and Italian (figlia) . The consonant "y" in Spanish is pronounced in a variety of ways, with [ʝ̞] , which is similar to English [y] , being the most widespread sound outside the Southern Cone . For [ʝ̞] , the tip of the tongue doesn't rest almost relaxed behind the bottom teeth like in English  [y] . Instead, when the back of the tongue gets close

Hoy quiero compartir una conversación en Facebook donde mencioné que "veniste(s)" es tan común como la forma normativa "viniste". Un amigo bromeó diciendo que él usaba "vinites", pues sonaba más "elegante" y "vistosa. Esto me lleva a hablar sobre la metátesis, un proceso lingüístico donde los sonidos de una palabra cambian de lugar, algo sumamente común en la evolución de los idiomas. La metátesis a veces ocurre por confusión, dificultad en la pronunciación, influencia morfológica, o incluso con fines humorísticos. Ejemplos en inglés : "Ask" y "axe" (del inglés vernáculo afroamericano) "Pretty" y "purty" (forma no estándar) "Comfortable", pronunciado"comfterbal" (en inglés normativo actual) "Iron", pronunciado "i-urn" o incluso "arn" "Jewelry" y "jewlery" (como algunos pronuncian) "Asterisk" y "asterix" (forma no

[Contenido en portugués - Content in Portuguese] [Para español, ver abajo.] To learn more about the loss of intervocalic -n-, also a unique characteristic of Portuguese, please see  this entry . To see the most frequent mistakes when learning Portuguese, click here .  -------------------------------------   El enigma de la desaparecida L en portugués explicado Para aprender sobre la caida de la -n- intermedia , también una característica única del portugués, favor de ver  esta entrada . Para ver los errores más frecuentes al aprender portugués, hacer clic  aquí . 

For frequent mistakes in Spanish, click here . If you're on your browser, open the below image in a separate tab for best resolution. Another frequent mistake by Portuguese language learners is the formation of plurals with words ending in -l  - click the link for an explanation that will hopefully make it clear for you.  

[Bajar para español] Language is full of fascinating patterns that we often use without even realizing it. One such pattern is reduplication —the repetition of a word or part of a word to create emphasis , iteration , or even a playful tone . While reduplication is common in English with phrases like " willy-nilly ," " kitty-cat ," or " nitty-gritty ," it's also widespread in other languages.  In fact, the word Popocatépetl means "Smoking Mountain," from the Nahuatl poctli (smoke) and the reduplication popoca (to smoke) . In this post, we’ll explore how reduplication functions in Spanish, with a special focus on a structure in Mexican Spanish. Types of Reduplication Reduplication in Spanish can be classified into two main types: c omplete reduplication where the entire word is repeated, and partial reduplication where only a part of the word is repeated. Some examples of partial reduplication include:  "noticionón,"c hiquitito,&qu