El español y sus dialectos históricos en América: reconstrucción de la pronunciación

Abstract

In this paper I present an overview of the dialects of Spanish that came to America during the XVIth century. By analyzing evidence from different sources; I show that even if most Spanish settlers spoke levelled Spanish; which can be called vernacular Spanish. This variant coexisted during the XVIth Century with the standard from Toledo; and other peninsular dialects; such as Andaluzian and Old Castilian. Despite the fact that Menendez Pidal (1962) hypothesized that all the Spanish dialects had passed to America; there was no proof of such situation. In this paper I provide evidence that shows that several dialects of Spanish were spoken; in fact; in America at the beginning of the colonial period.