LINGUIST List 3.202

Wed 04 Mar 1992

Disc: Spanish

Editor for this issue: <>

Directory

1. , Re: 3.189: Correction
2. Gorka Elordieta, Re: 3.188 Spanish la -> el
3. Gorka Elordieta, Re: 3.188 Spanish la -> el
4. , Re: 3.053 Origin of "Honkie"
5. "SUSAN SOTILLO", RE: 3.188 Spanish la -> el

Message 1: Re: 3.189: Correction

This is a clarification on some Spanish la-> el facts. It is not true that azuc
ar is like aguila as someone else has suggested. Aguila is a fem. noun stressed
 on the first syllable (*el aguila negro is out). Azucar, which is stressed on
the second syllable behaves as masculine for some people and as feminine for so
me other people (check any Spanish dictionary). In Spain (and perhaps other pla
ces) the use is erratic. The official names for white sugar and brown sugar are
 respectively azucar blanquilla and azucar moreno (I repeat, in Spain). For me
"the sugar is wet" could be either el azucar esta mojado or el azucar esta moja
da. Ditto for avestruz (originally a compound).

Message 2: Re: 3.188 Spanish la -> el

In my dialect of Spanish we say "la 'a' personal", not "el 'a' personal", as
Weinberg indicated for the variety she is familiar with.

-Gorka Elordieta.

Message 3: Re: 3.188 Spanish la -> el

I am a quasi-native speaker of Spanish, and I would like to share my judgments
(at least my dialectal ones, i.e.,Spanish spoken in the Basque Country) with
those interested on the topic of la->el in Spanish. I've always said and heard
"la Ana", "la Alvarez (a female belonging to the Alvarez family)" and "la
hache", but "el Africa negra", for example, which shows that proper names with
an initial stressed 'a' do not always escape the use of 'el' in front. Then,
as an answer to the person asking for judgments on the gender of "azucar", I
can say that my dialectal variant takes "azucar" as masculine. Thus, "mucho
azucar", "el azucar moreno", etc.

-Gorka Elordieta

Message 4: Re: 3.053 Origin of "Honkie"

Do any Latin American Spanish dialects partially devoice initial yod? It
struck me that if, say, Afro-Cuban Spanish speakers, or Afro-Panamanians,
did so, then "honkie" might come from "yanqui".

Message 5: RE: 3.188 Spanish la -> el

Que quieren decir con "a personal." A que se estan refiriendo?
"al personal," "lo personal"???? El avestruz, el azucar, el aguila, etc.