As anyone who has taken an intermediate level Spanish course knows, Argentinian accents are among the most unique—and difficult to understand—within the Spanish language. For those who are unfamiliar, the two most easily identifiable characteristics of the Argentinian accent are a difference in pronunciation of double L and Y words (e.g. llegar and yo) and usage of the pronoun voseo in place of the more commonly used tú.
Rather than pronouncing both double L and Y words like most Spanish speakers would, with a voiced palatal fricative (the way an English speaker would pronounce the Y in you), Argentinians typically use a palato-alveolar fricative, which can be voiced or unvoiced. If that terminology does not help you understand the particularities of the pronunciation differences—
which, let’s be honest, is probably the case if you aren’t already familiar with the Argentinian accent—I’ve attached a video demonstrating both the typical Spanish speaking and Argentinian pronunciations, in which both the voiced palatal fricative and palato-alveolar fricative can be heard.
In addition to this significant difference in pronunciation, a commonly cited structural difference between Argentinian and other Spanish dialects is the usage of the pronoun voseo in place of tú, the second person pronoun (in English, you). As one might expect, the verb conjugations for the voseo pronoun vary from that of tú, as the last vowel in the indicative conjugation is typically accented and followed by an S (comer → comés) unlike the more common tú form, where the last vowel is still followed by an S in the indicative but is not accented (comer → comes).
So how did these structural and pronunciational differences arise? Well, first it’s important to note that the differences described thus far are not unique to Argentina, but to the Río de la Plata region of South America, including both Buenos Aires and Montevideo.
The settlement of the Río de la Plata region by the Spanish first occurred in the 1500s, with Buenos Aires being settled in 1536 and then resettled in 1580 after colonists were forced to evacuate by the indigenous Pampas people. As Spanish trade routes to the New World were well North of the region, the only way to access the Río de la Plata area was through the long and difficult journey down the Southern continent. As such, the Rioplatense dialect was able to develop in relative isolation, lending itself to both the pronunciation and structural differences cited (Mackenzie).
Furthermore, apart from the peculiarities of the Río de la Plata dialect, Argentina specifically has a unique lexicon due to the development of a slang called Lunfardo. Lunfardo originally developed in Buenos Aires in the late 19th and early 20th centuries among working-class European immigrants who came to Buenos Aires. These immigrants, although diverse, were predominantly Italian; in fact, the word Lunfardo likely originates from the word Lombardo, meaning someone from Lombardy, Italy.
One important characteristic of Lunfardo is vesre, a term derived from the Spanish for reverse, revés. Vesre consists of modifying or reversing syllables of existing words to create new ones, like “choma” from “macho,” “dorima” from “marido,” and “congomi” from “conmigo” (Nowak 2). In addition to vesre, Lunfardo contains many slang terms not directly borrowed from Spanish, such as “menega” (money) and “cana” (police or prison). Despite the humble origins of Lunfardo, much of the population of Argentina, as well as many others in the Río de la Plata area, use much of its lexicon in colloquial speech.
Apart from Lunfardo, Argentina—and the Río de la Plata area in general—have other slang terms that are very commonly used. Most notably among these is the word “che,” which is unique to Argentina but understood regionally. The word can be used as an informal greeting (like “hey”) or as an informal referral (like “dude” or “mate”) (CBA). Famously, “Che” became the nickname of Argentinian Communist revolutionary Ernesto Guevara when he was working in Guatemala due to his frequent use of the colloquialism (Sinclair). Today, the word is so commonly used in Argentina that many other South Americans refer to Argentinians as “los che.”
In addition to “che,” another common colloquialism of the Río de la Plata region is the usage of “pibe” and “piba,” meaning boy and girl respectively. Although the origins of these terms are commonly misattributed to Lunfardo, it is more likely that they developed from the Guanches, an indigenous group inhabiting the Spanish-controlled Canary islands, a small archipelago of the coast of West Africa. In the Guanche dialect of Spanish, “pibe” and “piba” are commonly used, and usage probably started in the Río de la Plata region following the immigration of Guanches from the Canary Islands to Argentina (Guia Gran Canaria).
Apart from both of these colloquial terms, the words “porteño” or “porteña” (literally meaning man or woman of the port) are commonly used throughout Argentina to identify residents of Buenos Aires, in reference to the importance of Buenos Aires as a port city and a center of trade for the nation. Additionally, the term connotes a uniquely European identity; Buenos Aires is probably Latin America’s most European city due to its unique cultural and ethnic characteristics; as such, many of its residents, as well as many residents of Argentina in general, identify culturally not only with Latin America but also strongly with Europe, a phenomenon fairly unique to Argentina (Pastor and Bonilla).
But back to the original question: why is the Argentinian dialect so peculiar? Well, in short, due to the original isolation in development of the Río de la Plata region, coupled with the relative cultural and ethnic diversity of Argentina from significant European immigration, a unique and interesting—albeit sometimes difficult to understand—dialect of Spanish developed, one that is indicative of the unique history, ethnic diversity, and cultural identity of Argentina.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FY5tqzH2g2c
References: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Oh4jKzA0vcN29hFcpuS_ndRoH0V-Ajs838q8pu4OAiI/edit?usp=sharing