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:
“And what the dead had no speech for, when living,
They can tell you, being dead: the communication
Of the dead is tongued with fire beyond the language of the living.”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)
“I now thinke, Love is rather deafe, than blind,
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—Ben Jonson (1572–1637)