Anglicismos?

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Chirimoya

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Now and then I notice words in use in the DR (newspapers etc.) that sound strange or just plain wrong.

They seem to be anglicisms, like 'presente' for gift (standard Spanish is 'regalo'), confrontaci?n (std. Sp. 'enfrentamiento') and exhibici?n (std. Sp. 'exposici?n').

My questions are:

- Are these correct?

- Are they also used in other Latin American countries, or unique to the DR?

Can anyone think of any others?
 

Squat

Tropical geek in Las Terrenas
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How about "un carro" vs "un coche"... Carro is obviously a car...

"Un mufl?" for a muffler (motorbike)

"Un bote" is a boat...
 

Hillbilly

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Chiri: You are going to get a long list...
And most are not accepted by the Real Academia.

Sileb? = 'sealed beam' = headlamp for an automobile
Rentar = alquilar, as in 'Se Renta'
aplicar = apply for a job
escrines = screens


HB
 

Marianopolita

Former Spanish forum Mod 2010-2021
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English influence in a unilingual culture...coined anglicisms

Chirimoya,

No surprise that you are seeing these anglicisms used in Spanish but it does surprise me that they are being used so extensively in the DR. Yes, I know English has penetrated into many of the popular spoken languages worldwide to a higher or lesser degree but there is no reason that I could think of for the DR to adopt anglicisms over the standard variant. Like I mentioned in many other threads one expects crossover words and expressions in two scenarios: 1) cultures/ countries where the two languages coexist but the DR is questionable 2) education (lack of knowledge of Spanish vocabulary) is also a key reason for the usage of anglicisms.

You say any others, Chiri I could give you a whole book full and the irony is every time I hear an anglicism it's a NEW word for me and sometimes the meaning is not easy to decipher in the cross over usage because it's so incorrect. I have not fallen into the trap of using anglicisms. For example the three words you mentioned I have never heard used here (yet) which is where I anticipate hearing language mixing, anglicisms and neologisms etc. and coincidentally these are new words (per se) for me. Words like the aforementioned do throw me off at first when I see them being used in the nontraditional context. Spanish speakers who do not speak English struggle with the semantic context of these words.

A few years ago I had to do an analysis and presentation on anglicisms etc. in the Spanish language and it was quite enlightening but anyway here is a summary of the words you mentioned:

1) presente: used in US Spanish to mean gift (regalo). This usage has been sanctioned by the RAE.

2) confrontaci?n - I could not find an analysis on this word. I am hard pressed to believe it's an official word.

3) exhibici?n- Same as above. I could not find an analysis on this word. I am hard pressed to believe it's an official word.

Your examples 2 and 3 may be newly coined anglicisms thus not yet analyzed by the RAE.

There is a wealth of resources available on anglicisms and their 'coined usage' that are very insightful. It's an exhausted topic for me however two words I recently heard that was surprising was 'populaci?n' instead of 'poblaci?n' and 'parragrafo' instead of 'p?rrafo'. The usage of the internet has contributed significantly to the creation of new anglicisms and neologisms.

You asked about other LA countries. Basically, the infiltration in some countries is taking longer but Latin America is facing a crisis in coping with the influx of these nonofficial words. When analyzing the level of concentration of anglicisms you have to break it down into sectors. For example on a colloquial level, commercial level, ads, television, music, literature etc. As mentioned in previous discussions proximity to US culture is the key factor in linguistic drift. Any Latin country I visit I do pay close attention to the usage of anglicisms for analytical and documentation purposes later on. If you visit large US cities like Miami, NYC, LA etc. you will see the inevitable cross linguistic influence.

Saludos,

LDG.
 
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Chirimoya

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Interesting and informative as ever, Lesley.

I can't stand 'presente'. I've heard it used by people who don't speak English, so it's definitely penetrated here. My sister, whose ears are not tuned to Dominican Spanish had no idea what my Dominican sister-in-law was saying when she told her she'd brought her a 'presentico'. I suppose the 'ico' ending also threw her because we use 'ito' for most diminutives.

'Confrontaci?n' was in a newspaper headline yesterday. 'Exhibici?n' and 'exposici?n' were being used interchangeably by a group of people I was working with recently, many of whom were bilingual Dominicans.
 

Keith R

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I have to say, I've been around Dominicans for over 20 yrs., and have yet to hear one say "presente" instead of regalo or regalito. I would notice, too, since presente is the word for gift in Brazilian Portuguese and threw me for a loop when I first heard it in 1979.

One thing I have heard Dominicans in New York say -- I think they picked it up from Puerto Ricans -- is "lunche" instead of almuerzo. Still makes me cringe.:ermm:
 

Squat

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How about "un poloch?" for a T-shirt ? (Polo Shirt)
and "los brekis" (breakers) instead of "fusibles"
and "plebo" for plywood ???
 

monsoon68

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My favorite one is "te llamo pa' tras" --translated from "I call you back"--.
instead of "devolver la llamada".

Some people like using "anglicismos" to show up their knowledge of English too.
 

Johy

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Exhibici?n and Confrontaci?n

Exhibici?n and confrontaci?n are official words, you can find them on the dictionary of "La Real Academia Espa?ola", you can gow to their web page and find any word you want and chek it out. I was surprise when you said that both word are new anglicisms because I have always heard them, specially exhibici?n that cames from the verb exhibir, the word confrontaci?n is not that commonly used, but is well known and came from the verb confrontar

www.rae.es

exhibici?n
(Del lat. exhibitĭo, -ōnis).
1. f. Acci?n y efecto de exhibir.

exhibir
(Del lat. exhibēre).
1. tr. Manifestar, mostrar en p?blico. U. t. c. prnl.
2. tr. Der. Presentar escrituras, documentos, pruebas, etc., ante quien corresponda.

confrontaci?n
(De confrontar).
1. f. Careo entre dos o m?s personas.
2. f. Cotejo de una cosa con otra.
3. f. Acci?n de confrontar (ǁ ponerse una persona frente a otra).
4. f. desus. Simpat?a, conformidad natural entre personas o cosas.

confrontar
(Del lat. cum, con, y frons, frontis, la frente).
1. tr. Carear una persona con otra.
2. tr. Cotejar una cosa con otra, y especialmente escritos.
3. intr. Dicho de una persona o de una cosa: Estar o ponerse frente a otra. U. t. c. prnl.
4. intr. p. us. confinar (ǁ lindar).
5. intr. desus. Dicho de una persona: Congeniar con otra. Era u. t. c. prnl.
6. intr. ant. Dicho de una cosa: Parecerse a otra, convenir con ella. Era u. t. c. prnl.

About presente, I don't know if it came from the english word, as dominican I have always hear it, specially in the way you refer to it as "presentico". But it also appears on the RAE dictionary, here are the definitions that appears there, you can see in blue that one of the definitions for it is "gift"

presente
(Del lat. praesens, -entis).
1. adj. Que est? delante o en presencia de alguien, o concurre con ?l en el mismo sitio. U. t. c. s.
2. adj. Se dice del tiempo en que actualmente est? alguien cuando refiere algo. U. t. c. s. m.
3. m. Obsequio, regalo que alguien da a otra persona en se?al de reconocimiento o de afecto.
4. m. Gram. Tiempo que sirve para denotar la acci?n o el estado de cosas simult?neos al momento en que se habla. Amo, temen, vivimos.

Hope it helps,

Johy
 
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Marianopolita

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Good Johy...

Normally I check all words in the RAE as a back up but the source I used was a 2005 reference so it never dawned on me to double check the details.

I just checked another source now and the word presente is there as well as a synonym for regalo. I am not too concerned about the other two words.

It's true what they say- check more than one source.

Thanks for the insight.

edited: in my first post #6 par?grafo s/b written as indicated here. Also an approved anglicism.

LDG.
 
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Tordok

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The use of presente for regalo - regardless of RAE sanctioning for this very use- does sound terribly Anglo to my ears. As far as I can remember however, both exhibici?n and confrontaci?n have been used for a long time in Spanish.

Just got back from a quick trip to Puerto Rico and I was in pseudo-shock when I saw a huge roadside billboard sign stating "Disfruta tu Wik?n con Nosotros". Enjoy your holiday weekend.
- Tordok
:bandit:
 

Hillbilly

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A lot of my friends at Falconbridge can't play in the golf tournaments because they are "en llamada" = on call!

And we haven't even started with the 'language interference' uses that come out with the bi-linguals: 'compresado' for "comprimido" or my personal best one:
"wepones" for weapons!!!!!!!!:p:p:p

HB :D:D
 

Don Juan

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Anglicismos me dan tiriquitos!

......But some can't be helped for lack of a proper Sp. equivalent such as internet & click There are no translations!
 

Chirimoya

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How about exhibici?n in the sense of (art) exhibition? I know that exhibir is a word, but it has a slightly different meaning. I was hearing it in reference to an art exhibition and it didn't sound quite right.
 

Stodgord

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Chirimoya said:
How about exhibici?n in the sense of (art) exhibition? I know that exhibir is a word, but it has a slightly different meaning. I was hearing it in reference to an art exhibition and it didn't sound quite right.


I think an "exposicion" is where you show stuff in a market setting, while exhibicion is where you show stuff in an artistical setting. Just like a gun and computer expo in the US, you are there to see and buy ordinary product while in an are exhibition you are there to buy painting. Just my theory, nothing else.
 

Tordok

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Chirimoya said:
How about exhibici?n in the sense of (art) exhibition? I know that exhibir is a word, but it has a slightly different meaning. I was hearing it in reference to an art exhibition and it didn't sound quite right.

Hi Chiri,
I specifically entered the whole phrase "exhibici?n de arte" in Google and it came back with about 14,800 results. So it is not unusual.

I also did find the following expalanation, which you -and the rest of us confused souls- are looking for:

http://emiliomartinez.galeon.com/expoexhi.htm

It sort of makes sense to me, but what do DR1 folks think?

- Tordok
 

Chirimoya

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In the first part of the text he's using the English definitions as his basis for identifying the subtle differences in meaning, and then goes on to give a more detailed explanation.

The fact that both are in common use, and are accepted as correct is enough for me. I foresee the day when someone (most likely from Spain, or my mother) tries to correct me for saying 'exhibici?n' and I can point them to the Real Academia.

I can't imagine myself saying 'presente' though.
 

Hillbilly

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I get it:
I can "exhibir" my new Judo gis when they come in.
I can "exponer" Judo, by performing different techniques. HAH:p

HB
 
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