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THE PHONOLOGY

OP the

SPANISH DIALECT OF MEXICO CITY

DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE BOARD OF UNI
VERSITY STUDIES OF THE JOHNS HOPKINS
UNIVERSITY FOR THE DEGREE OF
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

BY
CHARLES CARROLL MARDEN

baltimore
The Modern Language Association of America
1896

JOHN MURPHY 4 CO., PRINTERS,
BALTIMORE.

ex 100

[Reprinted from the Publications of the Modern Language Association of
America, Vol. IV, No. 1.]

TO
MY FATHER
THIS TREATISE IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE.
Introduction,  1
Phonetic Transcription,  5
Bibliography,  5
Chapter I. — Expansion and Contraction of Words, . 12
II.— Tonic Vowels,  16
" III.— Atonic Vowels,  21
" IV.— Consonants  25
" V. — Phonetic Changes in Words of Nahuatl
Origin, ....... 50
Life,  67

THE PHONOLOGY OF THE SPANISH DIALECT
OF MEXICO CITY.
Introduction.
The material for the present study was collected during a
residence of several months in Mexico City, and the facts
stated are the result of personal observation of the idiom
spoken by the lower classes. In some cases use is made of
words and expressions found in printed material, but all such
forms have been subjected to a careful comparison with the
spoken language, before being accepted as trustworthy.
The language under consideration affords an interesting
example of speech-mixture : we have in it a combination of
the various dialects of Spain, each of which has undergone a
still further development since its separation from the mother
province. Furthermore, there is a marked French and Eng
lish influence, especially in regard to the vocabulary. In
addition to the elements mentioned, there is the original lan
guage of Mexico, which has given (and still continues to give)
a strong coloring to the Spanish of the Republic.
In the present study an attempt has been made to show
from what individual countries and provinces the Mexican
Spanish dialect has drawn its material, and to what extent
this material has been modified since its introduction into the
language. In an historical study of the dialects of France,
Italy or Spain, we naturally turn to Latin as a starting point ;
Mexican Spanish, on the other hand, has a beginning only at
the time of the Spanish Conquest. The language of Spain
in the early part of the sixteenth century will therefore be
taken as a starting point, rather than the Latin.

2 C. C. MARDEN.
The amount of dialect literature in Mexico is small. A
few poets have made use of the popular speech, and the work
of this class which has attained the greatest prominence is
La Musa Callejera, by Guillermo Prieto. There are, how
ever, quite a number of novels descriptive of life among the
lower classes, and consequently containing many words and
expressions valuable for a study of the dialect. Two of these
novels call for special mention : Los Bandidos del Rio Frio
and Periquillo Sarniento. The latter is one of the best known
books in Mexico, and is often referred to as 'the Mexican
Don Quixote.' These works contain vocabularies of words
not found in the Dictionary of the Spanish Academy.
In addition to poetry and novels, there are several Weekly
newspapers written in the language of the people and pub
lished in Mexico City.1 These periodicals circulate exclusively
among the people whose language they profess to represent,
though in reality the peculiarities of the actual speech are
far from being faithfully represented in the printed pages.
Another fact which lessens their value for dialect work is
that they all have a very short lease of life, and the editor of
each new attempt naturally repeats the mistakes of transcrip
tion committed by his predecessor.
To the sources of dialect material, enumerated above, must
be added a short article by F. Semeleder on " Das Spanische
der Mexicaner." 2 The author confines his remarks to the
'consonants,' and the value of his observations is greatly
lessened by the fact that the study is not limited to some
more definite territory, for in various parts of the Republic we
find local peculiarities which are by no means ' mexicanisch.'
In regard to the Indian or Nahuatl element in Spanish,
two works are of special importance. The first in point of
date is by Eufemio Mendoza, entitled, Apuntes para unCatd-
lago razonado de las Palabras Mexicanas introducidos al Cas
tellano.3 This, as the title implies, is a collection of Indian
1 Bibliog., No. 95. s Bibliog., No. 88. * Bibliog., No. 77.

THE SPANISH DIALECT OP MEXICO CITY. 3
words "usadas en el Castellano tal como se habia en Mexico,"
and includes a large number of geographical names which
owe their origin to the Nahuatl. The second treatise referred
to above, is the Glosario de Voces Castellanas derivadas del
Idioma Nahuatl,1 by Jesus Sanchez. Though not so exten
sive as the former treatise, this is much more valuable for our
present study, since Dr. Sanchez, at the request of the writer,
has kindly examined his Closario for the purpose of determin
ing whether all the words are in actual use in Mexico City ;
the result of his investigation is affirmative, "sin exceptuar
una sola."
Up to the present time no attempt has been made to estab
lish the laws which govern the phonetic changes in words of
Indian origin on their passage into Spanish. In the present
study the subject is treated as a separate chapter, since many
of the laws governing the introduction of these elements are
distinct from those which obtain for words of Romance origin.

The following facts concerning the colonization of Mexico
are important. The period of Spanish influence commenced
with the landing of Cortes in 1519, and the City of Mexico
was captured two years later. From this time until 1821
the country was a province of Spain; from 1821 to the
present day Mexico has been an independent Republic, if we
except the period from 1864 to 1867, during which Maxi
milian, Archduke of Austria, ruled as Emperor, having been
placed upon the throne by the influence of the French.
In the early days the officials in Spain kept a careful record
of all persons who were permitted to emigrate to Mexico ; at
one time the would-be colonist was required to have a special
permit from the King; later, he had to bring certificates from
his native district. It is to be regretted that these records
have not yet been brought together in accessible form. Hubert
bibliog., No. 86.

4 C. C. HARDEN.
Howe Bancroft, in speaking of the period of colonization,
remarks : " Those who in the early days under Cortes and sub
sequent leaders assisted in subduing the country, and thereby
retired to enjoy the reward of their toil on some encomienda,
may be regarded as the founders of the leading Creole aris
tocracy — military adventurers though they were — and that of
all grades, from hidalgo to artisan, sailor and even criminal,
and drawn chiefly from Castile, Estremadura, and Andalusia.
In later days the in-wanderers came principally from Vizcaya,
Catalonia, Galicia, and the Santander mountains."1
The laws against foreigners were severe, so that only a few
succeeded in gaining admission to the country. This fact is
of importance in one respect; namely, when we find in Mexico
a linguistic phenomenon that is common to both Portugal and
Galicia, we can safely say that if it came into Mexico during
the early stages of colonization, it is of Galician origin and
did not come directly from Portugal. The necessity for this
discrimination will be more apparent, if we bear in mind that
the language of Galicia is, strictly speaking, a Portuguese dia
lect, though the province itself is a part of Spain. Since the
occupation of Mexico by the French, the influx of foreigners
has steadily increased, and to-day there is in the Republic a
number of French, English, American and German citizens.
These represent a respectable class who have engaged in com
mercial enterprises, and whose language has naturally intro
duced a number of new words into the dialect.
A word in conclusion in regard to the other Spanish
American countries. Within the last two decades, much has
been written on idiom of the various Spanish-speaking por
tions of our Continent, so that at the present day we know
something about the language of a large majority of the
American Republics. The works on this subject, which have
been used in the preparation of this monograph, are grouped
together in a separate bibliography. Two of these call for
history of Mexico, Vol. in, pp. 743-744.

THE SPANISH DIALECT OP MEXICO CITY. 0
special mention ; namely, that of R. J. Cuervo on the popular
speech of Bogota, and that of Rudolf Lenz on the language
of Chile. The two productions represent the high-water mark
in the study of American Spanish.

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION.
e = e in Castilian preceptor.
q = e " " preceptor.
0 = 0 " " bolero.
0 = 0 " " orden.
6 = 6 " " ha6er.
$ = d " " hablado.
'A = A " German Aaben.
h = c " Castilian caro.
k' = palatalized h.
\ = gl\n Italian gli.
r] = ng in German finder.
r = voiceless r.
s = s in French maison.
s = ch in " changer.
|? = c " Castilian hacer.
w = w " English was.
X=j " Castilian joven.
y = y " " 2/a.
z = g " French chancer.

BIBLIOGRAPHY. I. General.
1. — Aleman, Mateo, Ortografia Castellana, Mexico, 1609.
2. — Araujo, J., " Recherches sur la Phonetique Espagnole,"
in Phonetische Studien, in, v, and vi.

6 C. C. MARDEN.
3.  Estudios deFonitika Kastellana, Toledo, 1894^
4. — Blumentritt,F., Vocabular spanisch-phUippinischer Aus-
drucke und Redensarten, Leitmeritz, 1882, 1885.
5. — Bonaparte, L., El Evangelio segun San Mateo, traducido-
al dialecto asturiano, Londres, 1861.
6.  El Evangelio segun San Mateo traducido al dia
lecto gallego, Londres, 1861.
7. — Borao, G., Diccionario de Voces Aragoneses, Zaragoza,.
1859. 2d ed. 1884.
8. — Brugmann, K., Comparative Grammar of the Indo-Ger-
manic Languages, 3 vols., London, 1888-1892.
9. — Caveda, Poesias en Dialecto Asturiano, Oviedo, 1887.
10. — Coleccion de Poesias en Dialecto Asturiano, Oviedo,
1839. 11. — Cuervo, R. J., Diccionario de Construccion y Regimen
de la Lengua Castellana, i, n, Paris, 1886, 1893.
12. — Cuveiro Piflol, J., Diccionario Gallego, Barcelona,
1876. 13. — Encina J. del., Teatro Completo, Madrid, 1893.
14. — Fernandez, Lucas, Farsas y Eglogas, Madrid, 1867.
15. — Foerster, P., Spanische Sprachlehre, Berlin, 1880.
16. — Gessner, Das Leonische, Berlin, 1867.
17. — Goldschmidt, M., Zur Kritik der AUgermanischen Ele-
menten im Spanischen, Lingen, 1887.
18. — Gramdtica de la Lengua Vulgar de Espana, Loviano,
1559. Reprint by Conde de laVifiaza, Zaragoza, 1892.
19. — Grober, G., Grundriss der Romanischen Philologie, I,
Strassburg, 1886.
20. — Horning, A., Zur Geschichte des Lateinisohen C vor E
und I im Romanischen, Halle, 1883.
21. — Joret, C, Du Cdans les Langues Romanes, Paris, 1874.
22. — Keller, A.,Altspanisches Lesebuch, Leipzig, 1890.
23. — Knapp, W. I., A Grammar of the Modern Spanish
Language, Boston, 189-.
24. — Korting, G., Lateinisch-romanisches Worterbuch, Pan-
derborn, 1891.

THE SPANISH DIALECT OP MEXICO CITY. 7
25. — Literaturblatt fur germanische und romanische Philolo-
gie, Heilbronn, 1880-1895.
26. — Marroquin, J. M., Tratados de Ortologia y Ortografia
de la Lengua Castellana, Mexico, 1882.
27. — Mayans y Siscar, Origines de la Lengua Espanolaf
Madrid, 1837. New edition by Eduardo de Mier, Madrid,
1875. 28. — Meyer-Liibke, W., Grammaire des Langues Romanes,
i, Paris, 1890.
29. — Michaelis, C, Studien zur Romanischen Wortschopfung,
Leipzig, 1876. (Wortschp.)
30. — Modern Language Notes, Baltimore, 1886-1895.
31.— Morel-Fatio, A., L'Espagne au XVP et au XVIF
Siecle, Heilbronn, 1878.
32. —  "Spain (Language of)" in Encyclopaedia
Britannica, Ninth Edition, xxii.
33. — Mugica, P. de, Dialectos Castellanos, Montanis, Viz
caino, Aragonis. Primera Parte : Fon6tica, Berlin, 1892.
(Dial. Cast.)
34. —  Gramdtica del Castellano antiguo, Primera
Parte: Fonetica, Berlin, 1891.
35. — Munthe, A.W.,Antecningar omfolkmalet i en trakt af
vestra asturien, Upsala, 1887.
36. — Pott, A. ~F.,Etymologische Forschungen aufdem Gebiete
der Indogermanischen Sprache, Detmold, 1859-1873. (Etym.
Forsch.) 37. — Rato y Hevia, A. de, Vocabulario de las Palabras y
Frases Babies, Madrid, 1891.
38. — von Reinhardstoettner, C, Grammatik der Portugies-
ischen Sprache, Strassburg, 1878.
39.— Revue Hispanique, Paris, 1894-1895.
40. — Rivod6, B, Voces Nuevas en la Lengua Castellana, Paris,
1889. 41.— Romania, Paris, 1872-1895.
42. — Saco Arce, J. A., Gramatica Gallega, Lugo, 1868.

8 C. C. MARDEN.
43.— Schuchardt, H., "Die Cantes Flamencos," in Zeitschrift
fur Romanische Philologie, V.
44  "Ueber das Malaiospanische der Philippi-
nen," in Sitzungsberichte der Wiener Akademie der Wissenschafi,
xc, Wien, 1884.
45. —  Der Vocalismus des Vulgarlateins, 3 vols.
Leipzig, 1866-1868.
46. — Secades, F. C, Estudios Asturianos, Oviedo, 1886.
47. — Storm, J., Englische Philologie, 1 Abtheilung, Vho-
netik und Aussprache, Leipzig, 1892.
48. — Viflaza, Conde de la, Biblioteca Histdrica de la Filolo-
gia Castellana, Madrid, 1893.
49. — Wulff, F., Un Chapitre de Phonitique Andalouse,
Stockholm, 1889.
50. — Zeitschrift fiir Romanische Philologie, Halle, 1877-
1895. (Zts.) II. American Spanish.
51. — Alcedo, A. de, Diccionario geogrdfico-histdrico de las
Indias Occidentales, 5 vols., 1786-1789. (Vol. V contains a
vocabulary of provincial American words.)
52. — Alonso, M. A., El Jibaro, Cuadro de Costumbres de la
Isla de Porto Rico, Barcelona, 1849.
53. — Blackmar, F. W., "Spanish American Words," in
Modern Language Notes, Vol. VI, pp. 91-97.
54. — Brinton, D. G., The Gueguence, A Comedy in the
Nicaragua Spanish Dialect, Philadelphia, 1884. (Library of
Aboriginal Amer. Literature, Vol. in.)
55.— Coelho, F. A., "Os Dialectos Romanicos ou Neo-
Latinos na Africa, Asia e America," in Boletim da Sodedade
de Geographia de Lisboa, 1880, 1882.
56. — Cuervo, R. J., Apuntaciones Criticas sobre el Lenguaje
Bogotano, 4" edicion, chartres, 1885. (Leng. Bogot.)
57.— Elliott, A. M., "The Nahuatl-Spanish Dialect of
Nicaragua," in American Journal of Philology, v.

THE SPANISH DIALECT OF MEXICO CITY. 9
58. — Gagini, C, Diccionario de Barbarismos y Provincialis-
mos de Costa Rica, San Jos6 de Costa Rica, 1893. (Prov. de
C. R.)
59. — Kroeh, C. F., The Pronunciation of Spanish in Spain
and America, Hoboken, 1888.
60. — Lentzner, C, Tesoro de Voces y Provincialismos His
pano- Americanos, Part i, Leipzig, 1892.
61.  "Observations on the Spanish Language of
Guatemala," in Modern Language Notes, viii.
62. — Lenz, R., " Chilenische Studien," in Phonetische Stu-
dien, in, v, vi.
63. —  " Zur Spanische-Amerikanischen Formen-
lehre," in Zeitschrift fur Romanische Philologie, XV.
64. —  " Beitrage zur Kentniss des Amerikano-
Spanischen," in Zeitschrift fur Romanische Philologie, xviii.
65.  Ensayos Filoldgicos Americanos. I Introduc
tion al Estudio del Lenguaje Vulgar de Chile. II Observaciones
generales sobre el estudio de los dialectos i literaturas populares,
Santiago de Chile, 1 894. (Reprint from Anales de la Univer
sidad de Chile.)
66.  "Uber die gedriickte Volkspoesie von San
tiago de Chile," in Abhandlungen Herrn Adolf Tobler, Halle,
1895. 67. — Maspero, "Sur quelques singularites phonetiques de
1'espagnol parl6 dans la campagne de Buenos Ayres et de Monte
video," in Mimoires de la Societi de Linguistique de Paris, n,
Paris, 1875. (Soc. de Ling.)
68. — Menendez y Pelayo, M., Antologia de los Poetas His
pano- Americanos, Tomo I, Mexico y America Central, Madrid,
1893. 69. — von Name, A., " Contributions to Creole Grammar,"
in Transactions of the American Philological Association, 1869-
70, Hartford, 1871.
70. — Page, F. M., " Remarks on the Gaucho and his Dia
lect," in Mod. Lang. Notes, viii.

10 C. C. MARDEN.
71. — Rios, Amador de los, "Voces Americanas empleadas
por Oviedo," in Oviedo y Valdes, Historia General de las
Indias,Vol. IV, Madrid, 1855.
72. — Rivod6, B., " Venezolanismos," in Voces Nuevas de ke
Lengua Castellana, Paris, 1889.
Mexico.
73. — Chimalpopoca-Galicia, F., Silabario de Idioma Mexi
cano, 4a edicion, Mexico, 1883.
74. — Compendio de Ortologia, escrito por un profesor de
instruccion primaria, 34a edicion, Mexico, 1891.
75. — Garcia de San Vincente, N., Ortografia Espanola
acomodada d la Pronunciacion Megicana. Undeeima edicion
publicada por Galvan, Mexico, 1857.
76. — Gonzalez Obregon, L., Mexico Viejo, Noticias His
toricas, Tradiciones, Leyendas y Costumbres del periodo de
1521 d 1821, Segunda Edicion, Mexico, 1891.
77. — Mendoza, E., "Apuntes para un Catalogo de las Pala
bras Mexicanas introducidas al Castellano," in Boletin de la
Sociedad Mexicana de Geografia y Estadistica, Mexico, 1872.
(Palab. Mex.)
78. — Molina, A. de, Arte de la Lengua Mexicana, Mexico,
1576. Reprinted in Anales del Museo Nacional de Mexicor
iv, Mexico, 1886. (Mus. Nac.)
79.  Vocabulario en Lengua Mexicana, Mexico,
1571. 80. — Olmos, Arte de la Lengua Mexicana, Mexico, 1524.
Reprint, Paris, 1875.
81. — Pefiafiel, A., Nombres Geogrdficos de Mexico. Catd
logo Alfabitico de los Nombres de Lugar pertenecientes al
Idioma Nahuatl, Mexico, 1885. (Nomb. Geog.)
82. — Pimentel, F., Cuadro deseriptivo y comparativo de las
Lenguas Indigenas de Mexico, 2 vols., Mexico, 1862.
83. — Prieto, G., La Musa Callejera, Mexico, 1884.

THE SPANISH DIALECT OF MEXICO CITY. 11
84. — Rincon, A. del, Gramdtica y Vocabulario Mexicanos,
1575. Reprint, Mexico, 1885.
85. — Rosa, A. de la, Estudio de la Filosofia y Riqueza de la
Lengua Mexicana, Guadalajara, 1889.
86. — Sanchez, J., " Glosario de Voces castellanas derividas
del Idioma Nahuatl," in Anales del Museo Nacional de Mexico,
Mexico, 1883. (Voces Mex.)
87. — Sanchez Samoana, J., Modismos y Locuciones Mexi
canos, Madrid, 1892.
88. — Semeleder, F., "Das Spanische der Mexicaner," in
Mittheilungen des deutschen Wissenschaftlichen Vereins in
Mexico, I, Mexico, 1890. ( Wissenschf. Ver.)
89. — Tallichet, H., "A Contribution towards a Vocabulary
of Mexican words used in Texas," in Dialect Notes, Parts
IV, V.
90. — Tapia Zenteno, C, Arte Novisimo de la Lengua Mexi
cana, Mexico, 1873. Reprinted in Anales del Museo Nacional
de Mexico, Mexico, 1885. (Mus. Nac.)
91. — Vasquez Gastelu, A., "Arte de la Lengua Mexicana,"
in Anales del Museo Nacional de Mexico, in, Mexico, 1885.
92. — Zamacois, N. de,El Capitan Rossi, Mexico, 1882.
 El Mendigo, Mexico, 1882.
93. — Los Bandidos del Rio Frio, Mexico y Barcelona (no
date). 94. — Periquillo Sarniento, por el Pensador Mexicano,
Mexico, 1884.
95. — Periodicals and Newspapers published in Mexico
City; El Valedor (1884), Nos. 1-53; El Nahual (1885),
No. 1 ; El Hijo del Valedor (1886), Nos. 1-8 ; El Nieto del
Valedor (1888), Nos. 3-4; El Fandango (1892), Nos. 1-18;
Don Pepito (1892), Nos. 1-2 ; Juan Cuerdas (1892), Nos. 1-
8. In addition to these there are two periodicals which,
though not primarily written in the dialect, frequently make
use of the vulgar speech for humor or satire. The publica
tions in question are Gil Bias and El Hijo del Ahuizote.

12 C. C. MARDEN.
CHAPTER I.
Expansion and Contraction of Words.
§ 1. Accent.
As a general rule, the position of the tonic accent is the same
in Mexican as in Castilian ; there are, however, a few special
cases which call for comment.
In the first place, in regard to the diphthongs ai, ei, oi, and
au. The rule of accentuation in Popular Latin was, that of
two contiguous vowels, the more sonorous receives the accent.1
In the dialects we find a re-working of this accent law in regard
to vowels which were not contiguous in Latin, but have been
brought together by the fall of an intermediate consonant. In
Castilian, such words have retained the accent on the vowel
which was tonic in Latin, and consequently we have a falling
diphthong only when the first vowel of the group corresponds
to the Latin tonic vowel. For example donXrium > dondire,
probAtis Pprobdis. On the other hand pagensem Ppais,
AUDTTUM > oido.
In Mexico we find a re-working of the old accent-law in
the class of Castilian words last mentioned, and the stress is
moved back to the preceding vowel which is the more sonor
ous. Hence, we have such words as 6ido (Cast. oido), pdis
(Cast. paIs), bdul (Cast. baIjl) ; also por di for por ahi, di
di for de ahi. In Spanish America this law has been estab
lished for Bogota2 and Chile,3 and Lenz remarks in regard to
the phenomenon : "Aus alien spanischen landern Siidamerikas
liegen mir beweise vor, dass aussprachen wie pdis, leido, bdul,
6ido, nicht nur im niederen volke, sondern audi unter den
gebildeten gebrauchlich sind."4 In Mexico, however, this
change of accent has not taken place in the speeeh of the edu
cated classes.
1Gram. des Lang. Bom., p. 526; Orundriss, p. 360, \ 11.
'Leng. Bogot., \ 92 et seq. *Phon. Stud., vi, p. 287. *Ibid., p. 288.

THE SPANISH DIALECT OF MEXICO CITY, 13
In ddka < da acA, we have a case of mistaken etymology
where the change of accent is due to a supposed infinitive dacar
which would regularly form an imperative ddca. This im
perative form is of frequent use in Spain, and Mugica mentions
it particularly in connection with the dialect of Santander.1
There can be no doubt that the change is due to a supposed
infinitive dacar, since deque as an imperative is used by Lope
de Vega : " Deque presto, 6 matarela."
(Los locos de Valencia, acto i, esc. in.) *
Furthermore, in Quito we find a redundant form ddca acd.3
§ 2. Dissimulation.
When of two consecutive syllables of a word both contain
the vowel i, the vowel of the first syllable (if atonic) is changed
to e by dissimulation : visitar > besitar, principal ~pprensi-
pal, Trinidad > Trenidd, invito > enbito, escribir > escre-
bir, medicina > meftesina.
Dissimulation of e-e to e-i occurs in Old Spanish/ and the
law is particularly striking in the North Spanish provinces of
Vizcaya" and Aragon.6 § 3. Metathesis.
Metathesis does not appear to be so frequent in Mexican as
it is in the other dialects of Spain and America. The cases
noted are pobre > probe, permiso > premisg, Gabriel >
Grabiel, nadie > ndti&en, ciudad > suiftd.
Of the above forms probe occurs in Santander, Vizcaya and
Aragon ;7 premiso and Graviel in Vizcaya.8 Hence, owing to
'Dial. Cast., p. 1. *Leng. Bogot, p. 131.
' Wien. Akad.,Yol. cv, p. 145. 'Grundriss, I, p. 700, \ 33.
'Dial. Cast., p. 2. 'Ibid., p. 75. ' Ibid., pp. 5, 43 and 76.
sDial. Cast., p. 43. Schuchardt mentions the form Grabiel as current in
Popular Latin : Volkalismus, in, 5 ; cf. Leng. Bogot., p 449.
2

14 C. C. MARDEN.
the rare/>ccurrence*of Metathesis in Mexico, we may suppose
these words to have been introduced from North Spain.
The form suidd is used even by the educated classes of
Mexico, and is also occasionally heard in Chile and Peru.1
Naide is the popular Spanish form, and Cuervo states that
it is found in the writings of Santa Teresa, who died in 1582.2
The word occurs, however, as early as 1514 in the writings of
Lucas Fernandez.3
§ 4. Prosthesis.
Only a few cases of prosthesis occur : figurarse > afigu-
rarse, fusilar > afusilar* seg-un > asigun.
In Mexico we see preserved the intensive prefix re- which
may be further strengthened to re-te- : reye.no (relleno),
reggrdg, reteye.no, reteggrdg. The prefix rete- occurs also in
Bogota.5 § 5. Epenthesis.
In addition to the particle -te of rete, mentioned above, the
following cases of epenthesis occur : digre6 (aire), diga (haya),
munchg 7 (mucho), ansina (asi), lamber 8 (lamer).
For explanation of the g in digre, cf. remarks on palatals,
§ 52 ; diga is by analogy to forms like traiga, caiga, etc. ;
the g occurs in all forms of the Present Subjunctive of haber;
muncho and ansina9 represent the preservation of Old Spanish
and popular forms of general occurrence in Spain ; 10 lamber
represents the regular Galician form which has preserved the
original Latin 6.11
'Phon. Stud., vi, p. 293.
"Leng. Bogot., p. 449, note 3. For the final n in the Mexican form, cf.
2 68. 3 Cf. Edicion of Span. Acad., p. 141.
4Gagini states that this word is in use in Costa Rica, and "es corriente
entre el vulgo de Espafia y de America." Prov. de C. B., p. 23.
'Leng. Bogot., p. 108. "Also in Costa Rica, cf. Prov. de G. JR., p. 30.
"•Ibid., p. 452. *Ibid., p. 409. »SeejS67.
10 Gagini mentions ansina as occurring in Asturia, and asina in Galicia.
Prov. de C. B., p. 68.
llGram. Gal, pp. 34, 48 and 118, and Diccionario Gallego, p. 177.

THE SPANISH DIALECT OF MEXICO CITY. 15

§ 6. Epithesis.
An s is added to the second person singular of all preterit
forms : 'huites (fuiste), mandates (mandaste), etc. Cafis
(plural of cafi) forms a double plural kafeses. Other cases
of Epithesis are nadie > nMSen, asi > ansina, red > rfSe.

§ 7. Apheresis.
The most common case of apheresis is the dropping of
initial atonic a in verbs of more than two syllables: atra-
sado > trasdu, apetecer > peteser, arrastrar > rastrar,
arrancar > ravkar, ahogar > ggar, also ahora > ora,
hamaca > maka.
Initial atonic u of UsU (Usted) always falls when preceded
by a word ending in a : a Usted > asU, manda Usted ? >
mandaste? Other cases of the fall of initial vowels are helados > lags,
ilustre > lustre, ocote > kgte.
Initial d does not occur in gnde (donde) and espasig (des
pacio). Initial syllable falls in hermano > mano,1 conversar >
bersar, conversacion > bersasign, balastre > lastre, 'esta
> tdf estan > tan, etc., estanque > tarjke.
The forms ta (esta), tan (estan), etc., are used only when
the verb is followed by a predicate; for example, ta weng
(esta bueno), but di (e)std (AHf esta). The reason for this
is that when a predicate follows, the verb is in an unaccented
position in the stress group, and consequently, the unaccented
initial syllable falls more readily ; compare in French, Lat.
ellas > tonic dies, atonic les. In Curacoa, only the con
tracted forms ta, tan, etc., exist.3
1 Cf. Prov. de C. B., p. 431 ; El Jibaro, p. 160.
* Cf. Dentals, \ 46. iAmer. Phil, Ass., I, p. 156.

16 C. 0. MARDEN.
§ 8. Syncope.
The most common case of syncope is the fall of the d
between a-a and a-o: curado > kurao > kurdu, pelado >
pelao > pddu,1 nada ]> naa > naT Medial r falls in para
> paa > pa. Other examples of syncope are aunque >
anke, estearina > esterina. § 9. Apocope,
The two most important cases of apocope are the fall of the
final s before a word beginning with I, r or a sibilant, and;
the universal fall of the final d: DOS reales > dg riales, mas.
rico > ma rikg, mas largo > ma largg, dos cientos > dg
sientgs, also buenas noches > wena ngches; verdad > berSd,
ciudad > suffid, usted > usti.
In regard to the fall of a final vowel before a word begin
ning with a vowel, no fixed rule can be given, since custom
varies with the individual, and the kinds of conversation
engaged in. In rapid or excited discourse elision is naturally
more frequent than in careful conversation,
Final a generally falls before initial a of a following word,
and final e falls before initial e of following word: esta
amante > eslamante, este era > estera, etc.

CHAPTER II.
Tonic Vowels.
§ 10. Tonic a.
Tonic a, free or checked, generally retains the Castilian pro^
nunciation : malo, palo, altg, afio, etc.
When tonic a is followed by the group of consonants ct, the
o falls, leaving behind an epenthetic i which forms a falling
lTerm applied to the lowest class of citizens.

THE SPANISH DIALECT OF MEXICO CITY. 17
diphthong with a; for example, acto > ditg, caracter >
kdrditer, exacto > esditg, etc. The development is the same
as that which takes place in Lat. factum > Fr. fait. A more
detailed discussion of this change and the extent of its occur
rence in the Spanish dialects, will be found under Palatals.
¦ In tru%e for Cast, traje, we have a preservation of the Old
Span, and popular form. The perfect trw^e probably goes
back to an analogous m-perfect in Latin, that is, .traxui
instead of traxi; hence, we have the same stages of develop
ment as in habui > haubi > hobe > hube. Indeed, the inter
mediate stage troje is found in Old Span.1
Cuasi (casi), though seldom used, is nevertheless a good
classic Spanish form. § 11. Tonic e.
Tonic e has retained the Castilian pronunciation ; for ex
ample, pdg, 8$, mesa, aparese (aparece), etc.
§ 12. Tonic e.
Tonic e has generally retained the Castilian pronunciation ;
for example, kuenta, el, kgmer.
In words of Indian origin, where tonic e has become final
through the fall of a following consonant, the e has retained
its open sound ; for example, Popocatapetl~pPgpgcatapi. The
same is true of English beefsteak, which, passing through a
stage bistek, becomes bistS.
Lenz states that it is a general rule in Chile to pronounce
close e (e) after palatals ; for example : mu%er, %enfe.2 • This is
not the case in Mexico.
When tonic e is followed by the group of consonants ct, the
c falls, leaving behind an epenthetic i; the e becomes e and
forms a falling diphthong with the following i: defecto >
•Foerster, Span. Sprachlehre, p. 344; Zts., ix, p. 259.
7 'Phon. Stud,, IV, p. 276.

18 C C MARDEN.
def&ito, respecto > respiito, recto > riUo, etc. The epen
thetic i has the same explanation as that developed after a in
the same position.
e ~p.i in trdir, kdir which correspond to Castilian traer,
caer. Here we have in the first place a change of accent to
the more sonorous vowel,1 followed by a wearing away of the
posttonic e to i in the falling diphthong ; thus, trair > trder
> trdir, ca$r > kder > kdir, A peculiarity of Chile is that
while atonic ae > ai, tonic ae (i. e. de) remains unchanged y
hence we find trairS, traird, but trde, trden?
§ 13. Tonic i.
Tonic i retains the Castilian pronunciation of close i: primo ,
gritg, mil, etc.
Mesmg for Castilian mismo shows a regularly developed e,
which is retained in the Old Span, mesmo? In Spain this form
has been noted for Andalucia and Asturia,4 and in America it
is found in Guatemala5 and the Argentine Republic.6
§ 14. Tonic p.
Tonic p retains the Castilian pronunciation : sgla, matri-
mgfig (matrimonio), tgmg, etc.
§ 15. Tonic p.
Tonic p retains the Castilian pronunciation : gr&en, gi (hoy),
etc. In pps (Cast, pues) we have a preservation of the Old
Span, form which shows development in atonic position in
the stress-group. Compare the Old French doublets car and
quer. The form pos occurs in Andalucia, Asturia 7 and San-
1 For change of accent, cf. § 1. *Phon. Stud., VI, p. 286. (
'Gram, des Lang. Bom., I, p. 125. *Ibid., p. 125.
6Mod. Lang. Notes, viii, p. 84. "Soc. de Ling., n, p. 56. nZts., v, p. 304.

THE SPANISH DIALECT OF MEXICO CITY. 19
tander. Pus, which is found in Bogota and occasionally in
Andalucia and Santander,1 is explained by Schuchardt as a
further development of pues.2
§ 16. Tonic u.
Tonic u retains the Castilian pronunciation : purg, ftetubg,
chulg, etc. § 17. Tonic ie.
In the stem-accented forms of querer there is non-diph-
thongization of Latin e, hence we have such forms as kerg,
keres, kere, kera, etc. The same development of querer is
characteristic of Galicia,3 which fact may lead us to suppose
that the Mexican forms are of Galician origin.
When the diphthong ie is preceded by n, the i of the diph
thong is absorbed by the nasal which in turn becomes fi; for
example, nieve > nebe, nieto > fletg, etc.
iep i in diez when used in combination with other numerals;
for example, diez y ocho > disigchg, diez mil pesos > dis-
mil pesgs. The same reduction of ie to i takes place in Chile,
and here the phenomenon is not confined to diez used in com
bination with other words, nor even to diez used alone ; other,
examples are miedo > mio, quien > kin. Lenz, in considering
this change of ie to i in Chile, remarks : " Nicht selten tritt
deutliche neigung hervor, bei ii den akzent zu-verschieben,
ohne dass es mir bisher gelungen ware, bestimmte bedingungen
dafiir zu finden." 4 We must necessarily suppose a change of
accent from ii to ie before the reduction of the diphthong took
place. In fact Lenz adds: "Wahrend im algemeinen die
betonung des span, ii, ui fest zu stehen scheint, erinnere ich
mich, einen nordspanier, er war, glaube ich, aus Zaragoza,
gehort zu haben, der immer cuerpo, tiempo, siempre, tiene, etc.,
betonte." ° It is interesting to note in connection with Lenz's
'Dial. Cast., p. 11. *Zts., V, p. 304. 'Gram. Gal, p. 107.
*PAom. Stud., vi, p. 292. 6Ibid., p. 293, note.

20 C C. MARDEN.
location of the phenomenon, that the reduction of ie to i and
ue to u was of frequent occurrence in the Old Span, province
of Leon.1 In Buenos Ayres, we find an occasional reduction of
ue to u, but no cases where ie becomes i?
§ 18. Tonic ue.
Tonic ue > e in the stem-accented forms of the verb probar;
for example, pruebo > prebg, prueba > preba, prueben >
preben, etc. The reduction in the stem-accented forms of this
verb has been noted also for Asturia 3 and Porto Rico.4
This change of ue to e is physiological. The u of the diph
thong is semi-consonantal, and consequently has a more marked
labial element than pure vocalic u; the preceding consonantal
combination is labial (p) -4- dental (r), and as these two conso
nants must be pronounced with a single expiratory current,
the tongue must necessarily anticipate the ^-position while the
lips are in the p-position ; the e of the diphthong ue is much
nearer the r-position than is the labial u, hence u falls and we
have pre instead of prue. In other words, by the law of least
action, labial (p) -4- dental (r) -f- labial (u) -4- approximate den
tal position (e), is reduced to labial (p) -4- dental (r) -4- dental
(e). Furthermore, in Mexico, analogy to the stem-accented
forms has affected all other parts of the verb, hence we find
prebar, prebamgs, prebdu (prebado), etc.
The change of ue to e is interesting in connection with
Modern Spanish frente < Lat. frbntem. The Spanish form
should befruente which actually exists in the older language.
The change from fruente to frente is due to the law which
changes prueba to preba in Mexico. Compare in this connec
tion the following remark of Meyer-Liibke's : " En Espagnol
ue est rSduit a e, sans que la loi de cette reduction ait encore
pu etre formulee." 6

1 Gessner, Das Leonisehe, pp. 23, 24. sSoc. de Ling., n, p. 55.
3 Rato y Hevia, Palab. y Prases Babies, p. 101. r 'EUibaro, p. 91.
'Gram, des Lang. Bom., i, p. 202.

THE SPANISH DIALECT OF MEXICO CITY. 21
CHAPTER III.
Atonic Vowels.
§ 19. Atonic a.
Pretonic a generally remains as in Castilian ; for example,
amar, tiradgr, ensayg, etc.
When pretonic a is followed by the palatal groups ct or ce,1
the c (= k) falls, leaving behind an epenthetic i which forms
a falling diphthong with the a: factura ~pfaiiura, actor >
ailfyr, accion > aisipn, etc. The development is the same as
that of tonic a -j- ct.
For the fall of initial pretonic a in ggar, maka, etc., cf.
'Apheresis,' § 7.
Posttonic a remains as in Castilian ; for example, mala, trata,
sima, etc. The only exception noted is siinega(P_ cienaga)
and Gagini states : " Pronunciase asi en casi toda la America
Espanola la palabra castellana ci&naga, corrompida por influ
encia de la e accentuada sobre la silaba siguente." 3
§ 20. Atonic e.
Pretonic e generally remains as in Castilian ; for example,
mesgnerg, pelaus (pelados), fdisitar, etc.
Pretonic e, followed by a, o or u, regularly becomes i. This
change takes place whether the following vowel is tonic or
atonic; also when e is final before a word beginning with a,
o or u: real > rial, mear p miar; peon ~ppion, Leonora
~p- Ligngra; deuda > iSwSa/ also de aquel > dialed, de
otro > digtrg, de hule > ftiule. The change of e to i before
a, o is of general occurrence in Spain and America ; the rais
ing of e to i before u is apparently characteristic of Mexico,
1 cc occurs only before e or i, and among the educated classes of Mexico is
pronounced ks.
*Prov. de C. B., p. 133.

22 C. C. MARDEN.
though a more careful study of the dialects will doubtless
reveal its occurrence elsewhere, both in Spain and America.
At all events the change of e to i is a natural one. The e
before a, o, u is in hiatus, and the development into i was
common in Old French and in certain pure Castilian words
of " mi-savant" origin, as criar < creare.1
Pretonic e > i in sifigr « senor). Schuchardt, in con
sidering the occurrence in Andalucia of such forms as ispertd,
piscueso, asibuche, etc., remarks : " Wie * fur unbetontes e als
Schwachung aufzufassen, weiss ich nicht." 2
Meyer-Liibke mentions a similar inexplicable change of e
to i in Asturia, Bogota and Buenos Ayres, and for Old Spanish
he cites examples from the Poema de Alexandro and the Fuero
Juzgo.3 The examples cited by Mugica for Santander admit
of no classification, yet the author attributes them all to the
influence of the Leon dialect.4 Thus it is evident that no
satisfactory explanation can be offered until a more careful
study has been made of the Spanish dialects.
§ 21. Atonic e.
Pretonic e generally retains the Castilian pronunciation ; for
example, espgsa, desting, etc.
When pretonic e is followed by the palatal groups ct or cc,
the c falls, leaving behind an epenthetic i. The e at the same
time becomes e and forms a falling diphthong with the] i:t*
rectitud > rbititu, rector > r&itpr, leccion > leisidn, etc*
Posttonic e generally retains the Castilian pronunciation ;
for example, kgmen, Fernan^Ses, etc.
Verbs of the second conjugation, whose stem ends in a,
regularly change the tonic accent to the stem vowel,? and the
infinitive ending from er to ir: caer > kdir, traer > trdir.
The same change of e to i takes place in all other formsilof
lGram. des Lang. Bom., I, p. 321. "Zts., v, p. 314.
3Gram. des Lang. Bom., I, pp. 297-8. *Dial. Cast., p. 10.
'For territory covered by the phenomenon, cf. \ 56. 6Cf. \ 1.

THE SPANISH DIALECT OF MEXICO CITY. 23
these verbs where the e does not bear the tonic accent; for
example, cae > kdi, traen > trdin, traera > traird, etc.
The development of e to i in the infinitive occurs only in
Mexico ; the change of ae to ai in the stem-accented forms is
found also in Asturia, Andalucia,1, Galicia,2 Vizcaya,3 Buenos
Ayres4 and Chile.5 Thus it is evident that the phenomenon
is not confined to any definite locality, either of Spain or
America. The change of de to di represents a natural wear-
ing-away of unaccented e in a falling diphthong, and is the
same phenomenon that occurs in the second person plural of
Castilian verbs of the first conjugation ; for example, amdtis
> amddes > amdes > amais.
Final atonic e has the open sound : grange, este, erre, etc.
Araujo, in his study of Castilian pronunciation, transcribes it
as close e.
rede (Castilian red) doubtless shows the preservation of a
North Spanish form since the only provinces where rede seems
to exist are Asturia 6 and Galicia.7

§ 22. Atonic i.
Pretonic i preserves the Castilian pronunciation : mirar
tina^a, karti&d, etc.
Pretonic i > e, by dissimulation, in words which have i
occurring in two immediately following syllables. The change
takes place whether the second i is tonic or atonic : divino >
Sieging, medicina > me&esina, visitar > besitar, etc. Such
a change took place in some cases in the Old Spanish period,
for we find in the earliest monuments such forms as devino,
escrebir, etc.
Posttonic i preserves the Castilian pronunciation : fdsil
(facil), rdpifg, etc.
1Zls., v, 313. "Gram. Gal., p. 247. 3Dial. Cast., p. 46.
lSoc. de Ling., II, p. 54. hPhon. Stud., vr, p. 286.
^Palabras y Frases Babies, p. 105. ''Dice. Gal, p. 268.

24 C C MARDEN.
When ia, io are preceded by n, the i is absorbed by the n,
which in turn becomes fl: Antonia > Antgna, matrimonio
^> matrimgno, etc.
n&tfSen (nadie) shows attraction.
suv&a (ciudad) shows metathesis. Schuchardt places a form
suida as the basis of Andalusian suidia.
§ 23. Atonic g.
Pretonic p retains the Castilian pronunciation : mglina,pgner,
obispo, etc.
In the words poema and poeta the pretonic p > u: puema,
pueta. The o in these cases is in hiatus before tonic e, and is
naturally raised from o to u. A similar change takes place in
the Philippine Islands in nuay for Castilian no hay.1
Posttonic p retains the Castilian pronunciation : muchg,
bgnitg, traba%g, etc.
When posttonic p is contiguous to tonic a through fall of
medial d, the resulting do becomes du by the natural wearing-
away of o in a falling diphthong ; for example, pelado >
peldo > pddu, curado > kurdo > kurdu, etc. The same phe
nomenon occurs in Chile.2 An exception to this in Mexico is
helados > lags, a word used by the venders of ' water ices.'
The ao does not become du in this word, for, being a street-
cry, both elements are distinctly pronounced with a level stress.
§ 24. Atonic g.
Pretonic p remains as in Castilian ; for example, grtSinarig,
kgntinug, gmgresitg.
Posttonic p does not occur in Mexican Spanish.
§ 25. Atonic u.
Pretonic and posttonic u remain as in Castilian ; for example,
lugar, chulg, disipulg, etc.
1 Blumentritt, Vocabular, s. v. "Phon. Stud., vi, pp. 288-9.

THE SPANISH DIALECT OF MEXICO CITY. 25
CHAPTER IV.
Consonants. Labials.
§ 26. Pronunciation.
The 6 and v in Mexican, as in Castilian, have the sound of
bi-labial fricative and are not distinguishable one from the
other. Marroquin, in the following passage, extends this
bi-labial pronunciation to the whole of Spanish America :
" No damos regla alguna que se refiera al origen latino de las
voces, ni admitimos como algunos autores, que la pronuncia-
cion puede servir de norma para distinguir y emplear oportuna
mente la c, la s, la z, la 6 y la v pues nadie ignora que en la
America Espanola es uno mismo sonido que se da d las tres
primeras y uno tambien que se da d las dos ultimas."1 An
exception must, however, be made to the above statement in
the case of Cuba,2 the Curacoa islands3 and Costa Rica,4 where
6 has in all cases supplanted v and is a bi-labial fricative in
character. Semeleder, in speaking of the Mexican pronunciation, re
marks : " Eine andere Quelle von Fehlern in die Rechtschrei-
bung ist die besonders weiche Aussprache von B welche wie
V(W) klingt; so wird Bazo (braun, die Milz) zu Vaso (Glas
oder Gefass)." 6
Thep and /have retained the Castilian pronunciation,
§ 27. Initial 6, v.
Initial 6 and v before ue have disappeared in pronunciation :
bueno > weno, buey > wey, vuela > wela, vuelta > welta,
etc. The same fall of 6, v is found in Chile.6 Remembering
1Tratados de Ortologia, p. vn. 'Wortschp., p. 112.
3Amer. Phil. Ass., I, p. 150. *Prov. de C. B., p. 512.
6 Wissenschf. Ver., l, p. 15. <Phon. Stud., vi, p. 292.

26 C. C. MARDEN.
that ue is a rising diphthong (ui), and that the u is conse*
quently semi-consonantal (u), the disappearance of initial 6 (v)
is a natura] phenomenon, due to assimilation of the 6 to the
following u. The only difference between 6 and ii is that
the lips are slightly opened for the latter, while the friction
is more marked for the former; hence, anticipation of the
w-sound changes the 6 from a pure bi-labial fricative conso
nant to a semi-vowel, u, and bueno > uuen'o > weno. This
change of 6 to u is exactly the same as that which takes place
in Old French for Latin words ending in -vum before a word
beginning with a vowel ; for example, clavum -f- vok. > elauu
> clou. Here the u of -vum is made semi-consonantal by the
presence of the initial vowel of the following word ; the u then
exerts an assimilating influence upon the preceding v which
was bi-labial in Latin.1
Another development which is characteristic of the rural
districts, rather than of Mexico City, is the change of initial
bue (vue) to gue; for example, bueno > gueno, buey > guey,
vuelto >¦ guelto, etc. The phenomenon is wide-spread among
the lower classes of Spain ; 2 the extent of its occurrence in
America is not yet determined, but it is known to exist in
Buenos Ayres,3 Bogota,4 Costa Rica5 and the rural districts
of Uruguay and the Argentine Republic.6
This gue is simply a further development of we mentioned
above; namely, the initial w underwent exactly the same
change as Gothic and Arabic w which became gu in Spanish.
Goldschmidt remarks on this subject : " Lat. v- in einer anzahl
von worten zu gu geworden ist, und zwar meist in solchen,
denen ein ahnliches germ, wort zur seite steht, zb. vastare >
guastar, vulpes > golpe (cf. germ, wastan wulfs) und so konnte
man wohl an ' eine deutsche schattierung rom. worte ' glauben.
Aber man bedenke, dass sich dieser wandel auch in worten
findet, wo kein germ, einfluss vorliegen kann, und dass er
xZts., viii, pp. 382-384. sGrundriss, I, p. 702.
sSoc. de Ling., n, p. 58. lLeng. Bogot., p. 483.
bProv. de C. B., p. 363. "Mod. Lang. Notes, vin, p. 23.

THE SPANISH DIALECT OF MEXICO CITY. 27
sich spontan auch nach aufhoren der germ, invasion ent-
wickelt hat  So wird im astur. jedes vu- (gleichgiltig
ob primar oder secundar) > gu- ; bonus bueno > gueno, sp.
[a] buelo = ast. guelo, sp. hueso = ast. gueso." x Meyer-
Liibke mentions a similar change in Italian : "v devant o, a
peut ou bien tomber, ou bien devenir gu, g, en passant par «." 2
§ 28. Initial p.
Initial p remains as in Castilian; for example, pena, puerta,
plata, etc. § 29. Initial f.
Latin initial / became h in Castilian and remained aspirate
until late in the sixteenth century. The only exception to
this rule was before ue, ui where Latin/ remained; all other
Castilian words having initial / show learned influence or a
borrowing from the Galician or Asturian dialects. In Mexico
/ has become h even before ue, ui, and in this case it has
retained its aspiration, while in all other cases the h has become
silent as in Spain. Examples : fuerza p'huersa, fuete >
'huete, fuerte p'huerte, fui ~p'hui, fuimos p'huimgs. In
Spain this change has been noted for Audalucia, Asturia,
Estremadura and Santander,3 and in America the phenome
non is equally wide-spread, even including Porto Rico. In
transcribing the popular speech of these districts, the letter j is
generally used to represent the aspirate sound just mentioned.
Schuchardt, after a careful study of the Andalusian dialects,
concludes that the sound is simply an aspirate h (the h of
German haben), and Storm reaches the same conclusion in
regard to the Spanish of Porto Rico.4
It is worthy of mention that in Andalucia, Estremadura
and East Asturia, every h out of Latin/ is still pronounced,
while in Galicia, Latin / has remained in all cases, giving such
'Germ. Elem. im Span., p. 5. 'Gram, des Lang. Bom., I, \ 446.
*Dial. Cast., p. 13. *Bomania, v, p. 179.

28 C. C. MARDEN.
forms zs facer, fijo, etc.1 In Buenos Ayres, not only fue-,fui-
~p'hue-, 'hui-, but fu- >Vm-; for example, pro'hundo (pro
fundo), 'husil (fusil).2 In Mexico one hears occasionally
al'hombra (alfombra), o'hicio (oficio).
A few isolated words show preservation of the sixteenth cen
tury pronunciation ; for example, 'humg for Castilian (h)umo,
'hgyg for Castilian (h)oyo. § 30. Medial 6, v.
Medial 6 (v) has the same history as when initial, that is, it
remains as 6 except before ue, ui, in which case there is a double
development to we or gue; for example, haber > oher, iba
> iba; but abuelo > awelo or agudg, envuelto > enweltg or
engueltg. 6 > m in bagamundg < vagabundo. This is doubtless a
case of popular etymology, due to a confusion of the element
-bundo with mundo, since the expression " correr el mundo "
is so frequently used in connection with the vagabond. A
confusion of the two forms of this word is by no means rare
in Spain.
lamber (Lat. lambere) calls for explanation. The Castilian
form is lamer, but lamber occurs in Portugal, Galicia3 and
Santander,4 hence we may suppose that the word came into
Mexico from one of the North Spanish provinces, and is a
survival from the Old Spanish. The Mexican form is found
also in Bogota s and Venezuela.6
The verbs caer and traer form an imperfect tense kdiba,
trdiba. The first stage in this development is a change of
accent, caia > kdia, TRAf A > trdia; later there is a confusion
with verbs of the first conjugation which regularly have an
accented a preceding the termination.
'Gram. Gal., p. 249. 'Soc. de Ling., n, p. 59.
'Gram. Gal., pp. 34, 44, etc. *Dial. Cast., p. 3.
iLeng. Bogot., p. 471. • Rivod6, Voces Nuevas, p. 245.

THE SPANISH DIALECT OF MEXICO CITY. 29
§ 31. Medial p, f.
Medial p and / remain as in Castilian ; for example, kapa
(capa), xfff (jefe), etc. § 32. Finals.
The labials have not remained as finals in Castilian or
Mexican Spanish. The only exception is klub < English
CLUB. § 33. 6 -)- cons.
Araujo states that 6 is not pronounced in Castilian in com
binations subst- and subsc-; for example, sustancia, suscripdon.
In Mexico 6 of the prefix sub- falls in every case where it is
followed by a consonant except I: substancia > sustansia,
subscripcion > suskrisign, subterraneo > suterrang, sub
marino > sumaring, subdiacono > swSiakgng. The same
rule holds good for the prefix 06-, which, however, rarely
occurs in Castilian except before s: observar > gserbar,
obscuro > gskurg obtener > gtener.
§ 34. p -4- cons.
The combinations pt, ps and pc occur in Castilian only
in learned or borrowed words ; in all other cases the p has
fallen. In Mexico these learned or borrowed words have
undergone the same reduction as original Latin words having
the same combinations of consonants. Examples : acepto >
aseitg, preceptor > preseitgr, eclipse > eklis, corrupcion
^pkgrrusign, proscripcion > prgskrisign. Forms like aseuto
(acepto), conseuto (concepto) occur occasionally and are
probably introduced from North Spain.
kdusula (< capsula) shows the same development as that
which has taken place in Castilian cautivo, bautisar, etc.

30 c. c. marden.
Dentals.
§ 35. Initial t, s.
Initial I and s remain as in Castilian ; for example, tgftg,
sala, etc. § 36. Initial d.
Initial d does not occur in gn'Se (Cast, donde). This word
is a survival of the Old Spanish form (< Lat. unde) which
has been preserved in the popular speech, both of Spain and
America. With quite a large number of people in Mexico, there is
a tendency to drop the initial d in pretonic syllables, hence
such forms as estruir, espachg, e, etc. The same tendency is
especially strong in Aragon,1 and is due to the characteristi
cally weak pronunciation of d, which, from its very nature,
may easily fall. Isolated cases may be found in Spanish-
speaking provinces ; for example, ecir is the common form in
Andalucia for dedr, diz que in Bogota has become es que,
which in Venezuela is still further reduced to i que.2
On the other hand, we find inorganic initial d in Asturian3
dalgun, and in Porto Rico4 such forms as diba, diban are of
frequent occurrence. § 37. Initial c (-4- e, i), z.
Initial c (followed by e and i) and z have the sound of pure
dental sibilant s; for example, sena (cen a), sidg (cielo),
sapatg (zapato), sgrrg (zorro), etc.
The pronunciation of c (-f- e, i) and z in Spain before the
eighteenth century is one of the unsettled questions of Spanish
phonetics. It is, however, generally supposed that c repre
sented a voiceless s, while z indicated a voiced dental sibilant,
lDial. Gait., p. 82. %Leng. Bogot, p. 234.
3Palab. y Frases Babies, p. 41. *El Jiba.ro, pp. 49, 50, etc.

THE SPANISH DIALECT .OF. MEXICO CITY. 31
though the symbols are frequently confounded in the same
word. In the manuscripts of the Old Spanish period, s is
often used for z, but Baist remarks that the sign which has
been mistaken for s was simply another form of writing z and
had the voiced quality of the latter.1 However this may be,
there is an interesting statement made in the Didlago de la
Lengua (written, according to Ticknor, before 1536), which
throws some light on the subject of pronunciation :
"Marcio. De d6nde viene que algunos espafioles en muchos
vocables, que por el ordinario escribis con z, ellos ni la
pronuncian ni la escriben ?
Valdes. Eso es vicio de las lenguas de los tales, que no les
sirven para aquella asperilla pronunciacion de la z, y
ponen en su lugar la s, y por hacer dicen haser, y por
razon, rason, y por redo, resio." 2
The s to which Valdes refers must be voiceless, otherwise
there would be no difference between s and z. And moreover,
remembering that Valdes was a courtier at the court of Charles
V, the force of his remarks would be lost if he were not refer
ring to the educated classes. In fact the word escriben gives
a fair idea of the status of the people whose pronunciation is
criticised. Hence we may infer that at this time (1536) there
was creeping into the literary speech a vulgarism which con
fused the pronunciation of c and s and made them both voice
less instead of keeping the latter voiced.
Velasco (1582), writing at the time when c and z had become
interdental, says that they represented different sounds, the
first being voiceless, the second voiced. Storm, after a con
sideration of Velasco's statement and having in mind the fact
that c and z were frequently confounded, comes to the following
conclusion : " Velasco ist wahrscheinlich durch die Verschie-
denheit der Zeichen verleitet worden, auch eineVerschiedenheit
der Aussprache anzunehmen." s Now as both voiced and
1Libro de la Ca;a, p. 207.
"Mayans y Siscar, Orig. de la Leng. Esp., p. 72.
3Eng. PhU., i, p. 48.

32 C. C. MARDEN.
voiceless dental sibilant were used by the more careful and
conservative speakers before 1536, it is more natural to sup
pose that in Velasco's time (1582) there existed side by side
both a voiced and voiceless interdental, but this pronunciation
belonged to the conservative element of society and naturally
represents the custom that Velasco would describe in his work.
On the other hand, there may have existed among the majority
of the educated classes only the voiceless interdental, since they
knew only the voiceless dental fricative out of which the inter
dental was developed.
Another point is to be noted. The Spanish c before e, i,
and z in all positions have the sound of s in the speech of the
educated classes of Mexico, South America 1 and Cuba,2 and
this conformity of pronunciation would argue strongly for the
filet that the simple sibilant was the sound used in the literary
speech of Spain at the time of the colonization of these terri
tories. It is a very general idea with those who have written on
American Spanish, that the pronunciation of c and z as s
is due to a large Andalusian element among the American
colonists. In contradiction to this idea compare the follow
ing watement of Morel-Fatio : " In Andalusia c and z are
seldom pronounced like s, but a feature more peculiar to the
Andalusians is the inverse process — the softened or interdental
pronunciation of s (the so-called ceceo) zefior (senor), etc."3
Von Name mentions an interesting development among
certain inhabitants of Cuba and the Curacoa islands : " z has
the sound of s as has also c before e, but before i like s in
the same position, it passes into English sh thus ... . shdu
(ddo), dushi (dulce), shete (siete)."* These Creole words have
of course passed through the stage sido, dulse, siete, and the
modern form represents the same development that took place
in original Latin words in the Old Spanish pronunciation;
for example, vesica > vesiga, dixit > dise, etc. Lenzner men-
1 Marroquin, Ortologia, p. viii. a Forster, Span. Sprachlehre, p. 13.
3 Eney. Brit., xxii. p. 351 . 'Amer. Phil. Ass., I, p. 150.

THE SPANISH DIALECT OF MEXICO CITY. 33
tions certain Indian loan-words in Guatemala which contain
the sound s; namely, misco (mixto), tapiscar (tapixcar), cacaste
(cacaxte).1 In Mexico there are at least three words which
have initial s-sound ; namely, soko, sunde and soma. The last-
mentioned, soma, is the name of a wooden drinking-cup and
hence may be in some way connected with the vulgar Spanish
chomar ' to drink.' § 38. Medial t, s.
Medial t and s remain as in Castilian ; for example, rgtg,
kasa, etc. § 39. Medial d.
Medial d between a-o and a-a regularly falls; thus, -ado>
-ao, -ADA > aa. These forms are further reduced to du and
a respectively ; for example, mamado > mamao > mamdu,
Colorado > colorao > cglgrdu, pegada > pegaa > pega,
nada > naa >¦ na.
The fall of d in the cases mentioned above, is general
throughout Spain and America. The extent to which d has
fallen in the termination -ido has not yet been determined,
and the opinions on this subject are widely different. Kroeh
states that " This practice of dropping the d is very general
in Spain and America when this letter is final or when it
occurs in the endings ido and ado." 2 Mugica, on the other
hand, seems to regard the phenomenon as characteristic of
Andalucia.3 bffie, btiSg for Castilian vi, vio are the Old Spanish forms
which have been preserved in provincial Spain and America.
§ 40. Medial c (+ e, i), z.
Medial c (-(- e, i) and z (+ a, o, u) have the same sound as
when initial, that is, voiceless dental sibilant; for example,
aser (hacer), presigsg (precioso), plasa (plaza), asul (azul).
'Mod. Lang. Notes, viii, p. 84. 'Pronunciation of Spanish, p. 11.
"Gram, de Cast. Antig., \ 259.

34 c. c. marden.

§ 41. Final d.1
Final d falls; for example, usted > usti, verdad > berdd,
virtud > birtu. The fall of final d is very general in Spain,
in fact Cuervo states that it is silent "dondequiera que se habia
nuestra lengua," 2 and Araujo remarks that even the educated
of Madrid say usti.
An interesting exception in Mexico is rede, which corres
ponds to Castilian red (< Lat. rete). The Mexican form is
doubtless introduced from the Galician dialect in which Latin
final e is preserved ; for example, bondade, piedade, mercede.3
Saco Arce states that the final e of these Galician words is
added, but Morel-Fatio is probably correct in supposing that
the e is the Latin posttonic which was retained in the Old Leon
dialect.4 In fact, similar forms occur as far back as the Poema
del Cid. The Creole form of red in Cuba and Curacoa is reda.
Cuervo mentions a similar retention of posttonic e in Bogota;
namely, huespede (huesped).6 § 42. Final s.
Final s before a word beginning with a vowel or voiceless
consonant has the sound of voiceless dental sibilant : mes, tras,
despues, etc.
Final s before a word beginning with a voiced consonant
(except I or r) becomes a voiced dental sibilant : tres dias >
tres ftias, les digo > les 'Sigg, los borregos > Igs bgrreggs,
LOS mismos > ?pc mesmos. A discussion of this phenomenon
Will be found under ' s -f- cons.' § 45.
Final s falls before a word beginning with I, r or a sibilant.
Before r: mas rico > ma rikg, dos reales > dg riales, los
remedios pig remedigs; before I: mas largo > ma largg,
todos los dias > tgdg Igs ftias; before a sibilant : DOS CIEN
TOS (= dos sientos) > dg sientgs, las sillas > la siyas.
1 Final t does not occur. 'Leng. Bogol., 473. sGram. Gal., p. 20.
tBomania, rv, p. 33. sLmg. Bogot, p. 465.

THE SPANISH DIALECT OF MEXICO CITY. 35
Meyer-Liibke, in treating the final s in Spanish, remarks :
"En espagnol \'s est maintenant en voie de s'assourdir, et
l'assourdissement a deja ete realise en andalous."1 Kroeh,
speaking in a rather indefinite manner of the Spanish of Spain
and America, states that "Final s is frequently dropped in
conversation when the next word begins with a consonant,
especially I, m, n, r." 2 Schuchardt states that in Andalucia
s before a consonant or when final has become h, that is, it has
passed from "tonlose Enge zu tonlose Weite,"3 and Cuervo
mentions the same pronunciation in Bogota.4 For Mexico
we have Semeleder's statement that " Die Bewohner der Ost-
kiiste, so wie die Cubaner, verschlingen das s am Ende der
Worte oder verwandeln es in einem hauchenden Laut der fast
wie / klingt. Derselbe geschieht oft sogar mit inlautendem
s." 5 The /-sound here referred to is doubtless the / before ue,
ui, that is, 'h.
From the remarks noted above it is evident that the fall of
« in Mexico City is much more restricted than in the districts
just mentioned ; in other words, if we omit the fall of final s
before a sibilant (which is a case of simple reduction of two
identical sounds) the fall takes place only before the liquids I,
r. Brugmann6 shows that the fall of s in Old Latin took place
first before the consonants n, d, I. In this connection, one case
can be cited where s falls before n in Mexico ; namely, buenas
noches > wena ngches. Compare also the forms dejimolo,
Uamimola, etc., in Costa Rica,7 and the literary Spanish forms
vamonos, hablamonos, etc. In Old French, s early became
silent before m, n, I, r; in modern Provencal, we find lai, lei
before d, I, m, s, but les, las before the consonants p, k, t.s
Thus it is evident that the fall of s in Mexico, though not so
extensive as in other Spanish domains, is in harmony with the
principles established for other languages ; that is to say, the
break was made before the liquids and in Mexico before /, r (n).
1Gram. des Lang. Bom., I, p. 509. 'Pronunciation of Spanish, p. 14.
sZts., y, pp. 319-320. 4Leng. Bogot, p. 481.
6 Wissenschf. Ver., I, p. 14. 'Comparative Grammar, I, pp. 505-507.
''Prov. de C. B., p. 513. sGram. des Lang. Bom., i, fj 627.

36 C. C MARDEN.

§ 43. Inorganic final s.
The second person singular of the preterit tense always ends
in s, hence the words estubites (estuviste), tubites (tuviste),
kgmites (comiste), mandates (mandaste), etc. The final s is
added by analogy to the second person singular of all other
tenses.1 In Andalucia2 and Bogota3 the corresponding forms
are comistes, hablastes, etc.
The noun cafi forms a plural kafises (Cast, cafes). Cuervo
mentions two analogous examples for Bogota ; namely, pieses
plural of pie, and ajises plural of aji; he mentions also
Quindale's statement that such plurals are " inficionados de
gitanismo." 4 Now, whether the forms found in South Amer
ica and Mexico represent a direct borrowing from the gitanos,
or whether they represent a parallel development in the folk-
speech of America, the explanation of the final es is evident,
especially for pieses and cafeses. There are but few words in
Spanish which end in accented e. These words regularly form
a plural by addition of s, thus making a final -is, which end
ing is naturally confused with the large number of words
having -is in the singular, that form their plural by adding
an atonic es; for example, mes meses, coiiis corteses, Frances
Franceses. In Spanish America the number of such words is
greatly enlarged by the fact that -ez is pronounced es, hence
ves (vez) veses,jues (juez) jueses, etc. Therefore the formation
of a plural cafises, piises upon the original plural cafis, piis
seems a very natural process.

§ 44. d-r- cons.
d followed by m regularly becomes I; for example, admitir
> almitir, admirable > almirable, administrador > almi-
nistra'Sgr, etc. Maspero mentions similar forms in Buenos
1Bomania, xxn, pp. 71-86. *Zts., v, p. 320. "Leng. Bogot, p. 134.
iLeng. Bogot., p. 76.

THE SPANISH DIALECT OF MEXICO CITY. 37
Ayres.1 This change of d to I is a physiological one ; the sides
of the tongue are lowered in anticipation of the following
liquid m, thus changing the explosive d to the liquid I.
dr > gr in madre and padre, which become respectively
magre and pagre. These forms, however, are confined chiefly
to the Indians of the interior and are rarely heard in Mexico
City. The word pagre is found also in Chile.2 An explana
tion of the Mexican words may be found in the fact that r did
not exist in the Nahuatl language, consequently the Indian,
in attempting to pronounce the Spanish r, made it guttural,
then, in anticipation of this guttural r, the tongue is drawn
back from the d- to the ^-position.
§ 45. s -4- voiced consonant.
s followed by a voiced consonant regularly becomes voiced :
mbmo > mesmg, durasno > fturasng, etc. This change of s
to s is the same as that mentioned for final s before a word
beginning with a voiced consonant.3
The extent of the occurrence of voiced s in Spain is an
unsettled question ; for example, Kroeh 4 and Knapp 5 deny
its existence in Castilian ; Meyer-Liibke states that " l'espag-
nole en general possede aucune sifflante sonore;"6 Baist admits
the voiced sound " im Auslaut und vor g." 7 The latest opinion
on the subject is by Araujo, whose results correspond to those
noted for Mexico: "Kuando la s ortografika ba delante de
alguna konsonante sonora, se kontajia mas o menos de su
sonoridad." 8 § 46. s + t.
The initial syllable es- falls in estanque and in all forms
of the verb estar. The fact that tanque is found in Galicia9
1 Soc. de Ling., n, p. 62. 'Phon. Stud., vi, p. 160. 5 Cf. I 42.
* Pronunciation of Spanish, p. 14. *Span. Gram., p. 13.
'Gram, des Lang. Bom., I, p. 393. ''Grundriss, I, p. 694.
'FonUika Kastelana, p. 54. 3Dicc. Gal, p. 297.

38 C. C. MARDEN.
and Asturia1 makes it possible that the Mexican form was
introduced from North Spain. Tanque is found also in Vene
zuela.2 The fall of es- in estar takes place also in Asturia 3 and
Cuba.4 The weakening of s before a consonant is character
istic of Andalucia and Bogota, and Schuchardt remarks on
this subject: "Dass das spanische s vor consonanten anders
articulirt wird, als zwischen Vocalen und dass diese Verschie-
denheit im Portugiesischen noch scharfer hervortritt, ist oben
schon bemerkt worden. Es ist dieses s, welches in Andalu-
sischen zu h wird, so : ehtd, bohco, mihmo." 5 Mexico represents
a stage of further development than that just quoted ; that is,
the eh has fallen entirely and we may suppose the stages estd
> ehtd "p'td > td. The Andalusian stage ehta has been pre
served in Chile 6 and Bogota,7 where we find such forms as
cohta, ehta, etc.
In td < hasta there must have been a change of accent
before the weakening of the s took place, that is, hasta >
hastd, > a'htd >'td > td.

Palatals.
§ 47. Initial c, qu.
Initial c (-4- a, o, u) and qu (+ e, i) retain the Castilian
pronunciation ; for example, kasa, kgmg, kuna, kedg, kintg.
§ 48. Initial g.
Initial g generally remains as in Castilian; for example,
gana, ggbierna, gerra (guerra), giar (guiar).
g before ua regularly disappears in pronunciation; guarda
> war&a, guajolote > wayolgte, Guadalajara > wada-
'Palab. y Frases Babies, p. 114. 'Voces Nuevas, p. 245.
3Palab. y Frases Babies, p. 113. *Amer. Phil. Ass., I, p. 156.
iZts., v, p. 319. 'Plum. Stud., vi, p. 23. ''Leng. Bogot, p. 481.

THE SPANISH DIALECT OF MEXICO CITY. 39
layara, guadalupe > wadalupe. Other portions of Spanish
America where the same pronunciation is found are Chile,1
Cuba and the Curacoa Islands.2 Kroeh in his Pronundation
of Spanish in Spain and America remarks : " When gua
begins a word some drop the g and pronounce u like w;
guardar = wardar." 3 This statement throws no light on the
extent of the phenomenon, and furthermore, we shall see later
that in Mexico it is not confined to initial gua, for g falls also
in medial gua and guo.
Since Castilian initial gua occurs only in words of Germanic
or Arabic origin, a natural supposition is that the Mexican
pronunciation may be a preservation of the original wa-sound.
In support of such an explanation we should expect to find
traces of the w in Old Spanish and in some of the modern
dialects of Spain. But the wa does not occur in Old Spanish,
and if it exists in the modern vulgar speech of Spain, the fact
has not been mentioned by any of the numerous writers on
Spanish dialects. On the contrary, the phenomenon is found
only in Spanish America, and even here it seems to be limited
to Chile, Cuba, Curacoa and Mexico. Another point against
the supposition that Mexican wa represents the original Gothic
or Arabic sound is the fact that it is found also in medial
position, out oi gua that goes to back Latin qua; for example,
agua > awa, igual > iwal. Hence we must suppose that wa
is a later development of gua, which took place after the
Spanish conquest of America.
The physiological explanation of such a change is a natural
one; it represents an assimilation of g to the following semi
vowel u, that is, gua > uua > wa. This development has a
counterpart in the history of the Old French development of
Latin -cum, -gum, followed by a word beginning with a
vowel : fagum -)- vok>/a#y>/ow.4 A still closer analogy
may be seen in Provencal, where fauu pfau.6 In English,
lZts., xv, p. 519. 'Amer. Phil. Ass., I, p. 151. 3 he. cit, p. 12.
4Zts., Vin, pp. 385-395. 'Gram, des Lang. Bom., I, p. 391.

40 C. C. MARDEN.
also, there is a series of words showing a similar change to
that found in Mexico ; namely, wait, warison, warrant, in which
the initial wa has its origin in French gua, which, in turn,
goes back to Germanic wa.
§ 49. Initial j, g (-f- e, i).
Initial j and g (-\- e, i) have preserved the Castilian pro
nunciation of guttural spirant -%: yamas, general, %p6^w, etc.
In Galicia1 and the Philippine Islands,2 j has the sound
of s, that is, it has preserved the sixteenth century pronun
ciation. § 50. Initial ch.
Initial ch retains the dento-palatal sound of the Castilian :
charla, chikg, chulg, etc.

§ 51. Medial c, qu.
Medial c(-\- a,o,u) and qu (-\- e, i) remain as in Castilian ;
for example, sakg, tgke, chikitg.
kgggte (Cast, cocote) is the preservation of a Northern
Spanish form which is found in Vizcaya and Aragon.3
§ 52. Medial g.
Medial g generally remains as in Castilian ; for example,
ftidlggg, trdigg.
Medial g before ua, uo has the same development as initial
g before ua, that is, it disappears in pronunciation by means
of assimilation to the following u : agua > auya > awa,
chichigua > chichiwa, antiguo > antiwg, etc.
Medial g has disappeared in au%erg (agujero), auya
(aguja). The Mexican form occurs also in Bogota,4 Chile5
1Gram. Gal., p. 13. * Wyen. Alead., cv, p. 141. 3Dial. Cast, pp. 50, 53.
iLeng. Bogot, p. 484. bPhon. Stud., VI, 289.

THE SPANISH DIALECT OF MEXICO CITY. 41
and Costa Rica,1 and may possibly show a borrowing from
the Aragonese dialect.2
(h)diga (Cast, haya) is a survival of the Old Spanish and
provincial form which is similar in development to Castilian
traigo <C trayo. Cuervo mentions other analogous forms for
Bogota ; namely, creigd (crea), Idga (lea), reiga (rea), etc.3
digre (Cast, aire) shows an epenthetic g which is probably
called into existence by the velar r in the Indian pronuncia
tion ; compare magre, pagre, § 44. The form aigre is found
also in Costa Rica.4 Lenz offers the following explanation for
the Chilian adre: "Ein schones beispiel von ' iiberentausse-
rung ' nach Gartners benennung, ist die bildung adre statt
aire, die aber natiirlich nicht popular, sondern dem mediopelo
(dem halbgebildeten) eigen ist; eine falsche analogiebildung
nach der verbesserung des vulgaren pdire zum 'gebildeten'
padre?" Such an explanation cannot apply to Mexican aigre
(cf. pagre) which is strictly popular in its use.
§ 53. Medial j, g (+ e, i).
Medial j and <? (-(- e, i) remain as in Castilian; for example,
mu%er, traye, etc.
ftamasana (Cast, damajuana) shows a preservation of the
popular Spanish form. § 54. Medial ch.
Medial ch remains as in Castilian ; for example, muchg, echa,
leche, etc. § 55. Finals.
The palatals do not occur as finals in Castilian. Final c has
fallen in Indian and foreign words ; for example, Cuitlahuac
>Kuitlawd, Chapoltepec > Chapultepi, Tehuantepec >
'Prov. de C. 22., p. 74. 'Dice, de Voces Arag., s. v.
'Leng. Bogot, p. 484. 'Prov. de C. B., p. 30.
bPhon. Stud., vi, p. 286.

42 C. C. MARDEN.
Tewantepi, Huautemoc > WautemS; New York >Nueba Ygr,
BEEFSTEAK > bisti.
English check > cheke in which a posttonic e is added to
prevent the occurrence of a final guttural stop.
The final j of reloj is silent both in Spain and Mexico.
§ 56. c -f- cons.
ct: Latin ct has regularly become ch in Spanish, conse
quently all modern Castilian words having the group ct must
be either learned or borrowed, and it is these words that call
for explanation.
c of the Castilian combination ct has fallen in Mexico, leav
ing behind an epenthetic i if the preceding vowel is a or e;
for example, redactor > redaitgr, actor > aitgr; defecto
pdefiitg, respecto > respiitg; doctor > dgtgr, octavo >
gtabg; conductor > kgndutgr, octubre > gtubre.
Meyer-Liibke, in treating of original Latin ct which became
ch in Castilian, remarks : " En Espagne, ch ne se rencontre plus
dans le Nord-Ouest qui, pour d'autres traits aussi, s'eloigne du
castilian, non plus que dans l'aragonais, le navarrais et l'astu-
rien ou nous trouvons le degre portugais it. Mais est-ce que
feita .... dereyta .... feito, etc., sont reellement des formes
dialectales, ou bien reproduisent-elles le plus ancien 6tat castil
ian, c'est ce qui est douteux." 1 In connection with this passage
compare Baist's statement: "ct wird intervokalisch zu ch; die
Zwischenstufe yt tritt in der Einwirkung auf den vorausge-
henden Vokal zu Tag, hat sich im Aragonischen wie Portugie-
sischen erhalten." 2 Hence it is evident that the ct of Spanish
words has had the same development in Mexico that Latin ct
had in the North Spanish dialects ; the physiological expla
nation is the same as that of ct > it in French. Carolina
Michaelis speaks of the fall of c in the popular speech of Spain,
but does not mention the development of an epenthetic i: " Der
'Gram, des Lang. Bom., I, p. 416. 'Grundriss, I, p. 705.

THE SPANISH DIALECT OF MEXICO CITY. 43
vulgaire Spanier, ob er Kastilianer oder Katalane oder Valen-
cianer, etc., ist, sagt . . . .letor,protetor, efeto."1
In addition to forms like defeito, aitor, we find occasionally
in Mexico defeuto, autor, etc., but not in sufficient numbers to
be called a characteristic of the dialect. Similar double forms
are found in Bogota,2 Buenos Ayres,3 Chile,4 and for Spain
Mugica states that the twofold development occurs in San
tander, Andalucia, Galicia " y otras provincias." 5
cc: The development of cc is similar to that of ci, that is, c
falls, and if the preceding vowel is a or e, an epenthetic i is
introduced ; for example, accion > aisign, satisfaccion >
satisfaisign, leccion p-leisign; AFLicciON>o/K«pn, instruc
cion > instrusign. Similar forms are found in Andalucia,6
Buenos Ayres7 and Bogota.8
x (ks) > s; for example, exacto > esditg, texto > testo,
index > inSes, Maximiliano > Masimiliang.

§ 57. g + n.
g falls in the group gn: indigno > inding, ignorante >
ingrante, magnifico > manifikg, Ignacio > Inasig. The
reduction of gn to n is very general in Spain and has been
noted for Santander, Vizcaya,9 Asturia 10 and Andalucia. In
the latter province Schuchardt heard also r/n.11 In Galicia the
resulting sound is sometimes fl (inorar, afio),12 that is, it has
the same development as original Latin gn, while in Mexico
the g has been completely assimilated to the following n instead
of palatalizing it.

'Wortschp., p. 110. 'Leng. Bogot, p. 448.
"Soc. de Ling., n, p. 60. *Phon. Stud., vi, p. 153.
"DM. Cast, p. 17. "Zts., v, p. 311. ' Soc. de Ling., n, p. 60.
'Leng. Bogot., p. 472. 'Dial. Cast, pp. 17, 51.
">Pahb y Frases Babies, p. 70. "Zts., v, p. 310. "Gram. Gal, p. 20.

44 c. c. marden.
Liquids.
§ 58. Initial I, r.
Initial I and r remain unchanged ; for example, Igkg, largg,
rarg, rig, etc.
The intensive prefix re- is of frequent occurrence and is
often strengthened to rete- : reggrdg, reteggrdg, etc.
§ 59. Initial ll.
Initial 11 has become y: llamar > yamar, llegan >
yegan, llevo > llebg, etc. The y-sound Js characteristic of
the higher as well as the lower classes in Mexico. The same
pronunciation is very general in the popular speech of Spain
and America; in Spain Baist makes an exception in regard to
Aragon where "das altere 11 bleibt,"1 in America the y-sound
prevails in Cuba, Peru,2 Chile,3 Costa Rica,4 Puerto Rico.5
In Puebla (Mexico) ll > z: lleno > zeno, llamar >
zamar, etc. The same pronunciation is found also in San
Salvador and Buenos Ayres. Gaston Paris' remark in regard
to the ll in Buenos Ayres applies to Puebla as well: "A
Buenos Ayres on a et6 plus loin, non seulement U a passe a y,
mais y a passe au son chuintant du francais^'."6 That is, the
tongue pushes forward the point of contact with the hard
palate, thus passing from the voiced palatal to the voiced
dento-palatal fricative; in other words, it is the same change
that took place in the passage of original Latin Ij, to Old
Spanish z. § 60. Medial I, r.
Medial I remains: malg, sido (cielo), mula, etc.
Medial r generally remains : tirar, tgrg, bara, etc.
'Grundriss, i, p. 704. 'Etym. Forsch., n*, p. 60.
"Phon. Stud., vi, p. 31. *Prov. de C. B., p. 512.
'El Jfbaro, pp. 49, 69, etc. 'Bomania, vni, p. 622.

THE SPANISH DIALECT OF MEXICO CITY. 45
. Medial r falls in para > paa > pa,1 and mira usted >
miasti. The fall of intervocalic r takes place in isolated
words in Andalucia, Asturia,2 Santander and Vizcaya,3 and in
America similar cases are found in Buenos Ayres,4 Cuba, the
Curacoa Islands,5 Bogota,6 Costa Rica,7 and Porto Rico.8
Metathesis takes place in pobre > probe, pared > pader,
Gabriel > Grabiel.
Interchange of I and r is not so common in Mexico as in
provincial Spain ; the only cases noted are calzetin > kar-
setin, peregrino > pdegring . To these may be added marina
which in the speech of the Aztec soldiers became malinche."
In Peru intervocalic r is occasionally changed to d (cavalledo,
queded),10 a phenomenon which is also found in Vizcaya and
Aragon.11 Medial rr retains the Castilian pronunciation : charrg, tgrre,
etc. § 61. Medial ll.
Medial ll has the same history as when it is initial, that is,
it becomes y: calle \~pkaye, tortilla > tgrtiya, cavallo
> cabayg, etc.
In Puebla K > z : gallina > gazina, tortilla > tgrtiza,
etc. § 62. Final I.
Final I remains : d, al, mgral, fiel, etc,
§ 63. Final r.
Final r has become voiceless (r), so that the only audible
sound is a voiceless glide after the preceding vowel ; for ex-
1 Cf. Herrig, Archiv., xxiv, p. 177. 'Zts., v, p. 317.
'Dial. Cast, pp. 18, 51. *Soc. de Ling., n, p. 64.
'Arner. Phil. Ass., I, p. 151. "Leng. Bogot., p. 478.
'Prov. de C. B., p. 475. 'El Jibaro, pp. 49, 69, etc.
9 Bancroft, Hist, of Met,., I, p. 119. "Etym. Forseh., n*, p. 60.
"DM. Cast., pp. 51, 84.
4

46 C C MARDEN.
ample, comer > kgmer, senor > siflgr, hablar > abh/r, etc.
The process of weakening final r has been taking place in
other Spanish dialects, but the ultimate result is not the same
in the various districts. Bristed speaks of "the apparent
negroism prevalent in Cuba of substituting a vocalized r for
the strongly trilled final r, e. g. amaw (or something very like
it) for amar." 1
In Porto Rico final r is sometimes confounded with I (desit)
but more frequently it becomes weakened to y; for example,
cuay, mejoy, etc.2 In Andalucia3 and Curacoa4 final r has
developed one stage further than in Mexico, that is, it has
disappeared entirely ; the same is true of the coast population
of U. S. of Colombia, where are found such words as seno,
muje, etc.5 This wearing away of final r is well-known in the
European languages, and in the United States it is found in
the pronunciation of the negroes of the South, in their familiar
do (door), flo (floor), matta (matter).
§ 64. r, I, -4- cons.
r and I remain unchanged in consonantal combinations ; for
example, algo, alma, pierng, arka, etc.

Aspirate.
§ 65. Initial h.
Initial h is silent in Modern Castilian, except before the
diphthong ue; in Mexico it is silent before ue, and is aspirate
in a few isolated cases when followed by a, o, u; for example,
hueso > wesg, huevo > we.bg ; but, 'hoyo ((h)oyo), 'humo
((h)umo), 'halar ((h)alar). The conditions in Mexico are
very similar to those in Cuba, according to the following
'Zts., v, p. 317. 'El Jibaro, p. 49, etc. 3 Zts., v, p. 318.
*Amer. Phil. Ass., I, 153, 155. 'Leng. Bogot, p. 478.

THE SPANISH DIALECT OF MEXICO CITY. 47
remark of Von Name : " The h is dealt with quite after the
cockney fashion. Before the diphthong ue, where in Spanish
it is strongly aspirated, in Creole as also in Cuba it is silent ;
thus, webu (huevo), wesu (hueso), werfano (huerfano). Before
other vowels it is silent in Spanish, but generally aspirate in
Creole."1 The aspirate forms in Mexico are probably isolated cases
of the preservation of the sixteenth century pronunciation,
and this is doubtless true of the many districts of Spain and
America where initial h is represented by the sign /, as for
example, in Ecuador, Buenos Ayres, Chile, Costa Rica, Porto
Rico, Santander, Andalucia, and likewise the Philippine
Islands. In Andalucia the process has gone one step further,
and original Castilian j (= ^) has become h; for example, iho
(hijo), hente (gente).2
There is, in Mexico, another development of h before the
diphthong ue; namely, hue >#ite: huero > guerg, huevo
> guebg, hueso > guesg. Similar forms are still in provin
cial use in Spain and a large portion of Spanish America.
The history of the change is similar to that of bue > gue,
that is, the initial h becomes silent and the following u being
semi-vocalic, the g arises as explained in § 27.
§ 66. Medial h.
Medial h is silent in Mexican as well as in Castilian ; as a
graphic sign it does not prevent the diphthongization of the two
vowels which it separates in ahogar > aogar > augar, etc.

Nasals.
§ 67. Initial m, n.
Initial m and n generally remain : malg, muchg, numerg,
nata, etc.
'Amer. Phil. Ass., l, p. 151. 'Wulff, Chap, de Phon, Andal., p. 41.

48 c. c marden.
Initial n before the diphthong ie regularly becomes fl, at
the same time absorbing the i of the diphthong : nieto >
Hetg, nieve > flebe , nervios > fierbgs (through a stage niervos
which is found in Old Spanish as well as in the modern
dialects). The stem-accented forms of the verb negar are fiego (<
niego), fiegas « niegas), flega (< niega), etc. These forms
have exerted an influence on the initial n of all other forms of
the verb, hence we find ftegar, ftegaftg, negamgs, etc.
fiw'&g (Cast, nudo) shows the preservation of a North
Spanish form. Mugica, in his remarks on the dialect of San
tander, states that " La n se muda en fl en nudo, tambien del
dialecto vizcaino, vocable en que se manifiesta la influencia
asturiana como en afiudar (anudar)."1 Baist also regards
fludo as of Asturian origin.2

§ 68. Medial m, n, fl.
Medial m, n and fl generally remain : amo, sima (cima),
mang, tener, sifigr, pena, etc.
Medial n before the diphthongs ie, ia, io regularly becomes ft,
at the same time absorbing the i of the diphthong : Antonio
> Antgflg, matrimonio > matrimgng, aniega > anega, etc.
Muncho (Cast, mucho) shows the preservation of an Old
Spanish form which is still in use in the dialects. According
to Meyer-Liibke the n of muncho is due to the initial nasal :
" Dans beaucoup de loealites une n et une m initial de la syllabe
nasalisent la voyelle suivante, cf. encore la-dessus 1'espagnol
manzana, ninguno, mancha, muncho, etc." 3 Baist restricts the
rule as follows : "Anlautendes m erzeugt mehrfach vor z, ch, s,
dr, c, ein n." 4 In other words, the n occurs before a dental
or dento-palatal, provided the syllable begins with m. The
influence of the dental upon the development of the nasal is
'Dial Cast., p. 20. 'Grundriss, i, p. 702.
'Gram, des Lang. Bom., I, p. 519. 'Grundriss, I, p. 707.

THE SPANISH DIALECT OF MEXICO CITY. 49
seen in the Creole of Curacoa in such forms as cominda
(comida), landa (nadar). § 69. Finals.
m and fl do not occur as finals in Mexican or Castilian.
Final n generally remains : %p&ero, kgmen, sm, etc.
In Puebla, and occasionally in Mexico City, final n~pn;
for example, guen (buen), ben (ven), en fir) (en fin), etc.
This pronunciation of final n is very common in Spain, as
may be seen from Meyer-Liibke's statement : " N finale est
presque partout velaire : it, tel est surement le cas, en asturieny
en andalous et dans l'Estramadure, dans la province de Leon
et la Galice, puis dans les Canaries et a Cuba."1 Lenz also
mentions velar n as a characteristic of Peru.2 According to
Lentzner there is in Guatemala a "tendency to the nasalization
of the final -n similar to the termination -ng; for example,
tambieng (pronounce tambieng-ge, the last syllable being quite
faintly sounded) instead of tambien; teniang (pronounce teni-
ang-ge) instead of tenian''
The final n of naiden (Cast, nadie) is probably by analogy
to combien, alguien, quien, rather than the inexplicable final n
that occurs in some of the Eastern French dialects. The
basis of the Mexican naiden is the popular Spanish naide.
A striking characteristic of Guadalajara (in the State of
Jalisco, Mexico) is the adding of a n-glide after a final sr
arroz (= arros) > arrgsn, pues > puesn. This n-glide is
caused by lowering the velum before the s-sound is completed ;
the tongue-position remains the same and stream of breath con
tinues its passage through the nose, thus producing the nasal-
glide. Semeleder, in speaking of the inhabitants of the State
of Jalisco, states "dass sie den worten ohne Auswahl einen
nasaleden klang anhangen." 3 My own observations of the
1Gram. des Lang. Bom., I, p. 510. 'Zts., xvn, p. 195.
8 Wissenschf. Ver., i, p. 14.

50 C. C. MARDEN.
speech of Guadalajara limit the nasal glide to words ending
in s or z. § 70. n + cons.
n, in the groups ng, nc, has been drawn back to the post-
palatal position by influence of the following guttural; for
example, bengg, teriga, fandarjgg, arrarjkar, etc.
n falls in the groups nst, nsp : instrumento > istrumentg,
instante > istante, transparente > trasparente. The same
phenomenon is found in Galicia,1 Asturia,2 Bogota,3 and Costa
Rica,4 and is simply a re-working of the law established for
Popular Latin.

CHAPTER V.
Phonetic Changes in Words of Nahuatl Origin.
A. Tonic Vowels.
§ 71. Accent.
The Latin system of accentuation made all other syllables
subordinate to that which bore the tonic stress. In Nahuatl,
on the other hand, there are five accents each of which has a
distinct character of its own ; a detailed discussion of these
accents is, however, beyond the limit of the present work.
Compare the following remark of Antonio del Rincon : "Nota
que para la colocation del accento no se ha de mirar como en
el latin solo un accento predominante en la diction, porque en
esta lengua todos los accentos que tienen las palabras se pro-
nuncian, y asi algunas veces conforme a lo que la diction pide,
se hallan dos y tres accentos predominantes semejantes o difer
entes."5 The reason of this system of accentuation is probably
due to the fact that a large number of the polysyllabic words
1 Grant. Gal., p. 263. 'Zts., xvn, p. 301. 'Leng. Bogot, p. 492.
'Prov. de C. B., p. 394. 'Gram, y Vocab. Mex., p. 63.

THE SPANISH. DIALECT OF MEXICO CITY. 51
are made up of smaller words and particles, each of which has
retained, to a marked extent, its original force and meaning.
, All Nahuatl words which have come into the Spanish of
Mexico are accentuated in conformity with Castilian words,
that is, the accent is on the penult if the word ends in a vowel
or n, and on the final if the word ends in a consonant (except
n). Hence the number of esdrOjulos is small, in fact only two
examples have been noted; namely^&ara (<xiCALLi),y$£ama
(< xicamatl), and of these the etymology of the first is far
from certain. § 72. Vowel signs.
Fray Alonso Molina, who was the first systematically to
transcribe the Nahuatl language in Roman characters, uses
five vowel signs, a, e, i, o, u.1 He remarks, however : "Puesto
caso que los naturales hagan poca diferencia entre la o y la u
por quanto usan ansi de la una como de la otra."2 Later
grammarians have noted a similar confusion of the vowels e
and i. When o and e have been preserved in the dialect, they
have the open or close sound in accordance with the rules of
pronunciation of Mexican Spanish. The orthography used in
the following pages is that of Mendoza and Sanchez,3 who in
turn have followed Molina. § 73. Tonic a.
Tonic a remains with the Castilian pronunciation : Ahua-
catl > awakate, quauhcalli > wakal, chinampa > chi-
nampa, etc. § 74. Tonic e.
Tonic e has the sound of open or close e according to the
rules of Castilian pronunciation : ahuehuetl > awewetf,
coconetl > kgkgnete, tlapechtli > tapeskle, etc.
¦Cf. Bibliography, No. 79. 'Mus. Nac, iv, p. 128.
'Cf. Bibliography, Nos. 77, 86.

52 c c. marden.
§ 75. Tonic i.
Tonic i remains as close *.• cacomitl > kakgmite, misquitl
> meskite, apipitzca > apipiska, etc.
§ 76. Tonic o.
Tonic o remains as close p : xilotl > yttgte acocotl >
akgkgte, tzopilotl > sgpilgte. Exception : tollin > tule.
§ 77. Tonic u.
Tonic u becomes p ; amulli > amgle, atulli > atgle,
cayutl > caygl, chimulli > chimgle. The only exception
is ulli > ule. A similar change has taken place in aboriginal
words in the Spanish of Buenos Ayres ; for example, kuntur
> condor, purutu > poroto.1
Owing to the lack of scientific study of Nahuatl phonetics,
the explanation of the change of checked u to p must be purely
constructive. It seems probable that the u being in checked
position was originally short and open, or became open on
account of its shortness. The passage of such an u to p would
be the same as that which took place in Popular Latin after
the colonization of Sardinia.
§ 78. Diphthongs ua, ue, ui.
When preceded by a vowel (or h) the diphthongs ua, ue, ui
become respectively wa, we, wi; when preceded by a conso-*
nant they retain the Castilian pronunciation ; for example, UA :
acahualli > akawal, ahuatl> awate, tlalcacahuatl>
kakawate ; tlalquazin > klahiachg. ue : ahuehuetl >
awewde; motzincuepqui > machirjkuepa. ui : chahuiztli
> cawiskle, chiquihuitl > chikiwite; moyocuilli > moyo-
kuil, itzcuintli > eskuvqkle.

1 Soc. de IAng^ n, p. 32.

THE SPANISH DIALECT OF MEXICO CITY. 53
B. Atonic Vowels.1
§ 79. Atonic a.
Initial a generally remains : ahuizotl > awisgte, ahua-
catl > awakate, ahuehuetl > awewde, etc.
Exceptions: ahu acamolli > wakamok, atzizicuilotl >
chichikuilgtf, acocotli > kgkgle.
The prosthetic a in achichinar (< chichinoa) is probably
due to a confusion with Castilian achicharrar which has the
same meaning as the Nahuatl word.
. Pretonic a remains : tepalcatl > tepalkate, pinacatl >
pinakate, caxitl > kayite.
Final a remains : apipitzca > apipiska, chachalaca >»
chachalaka, chinampa > chinampa. In the termination -an,
the consonant falls and the vowel is treated as final a; for
example, chian > chia, teipiloyan > klapiloya.
huilotl should have become wilgte, but the final e is
changed to a in order to make the word feminine in form,
since it corresponds to Castilian paloma.
§ 80. Atonic e.
Initial e remains in ecpalli > ekipale, which seems to be
the only example of initial e.
Pretonic e remains : tepetatl > Update, ahuehuetl >
awewde, etc. Exceptions : e > i in chiltecpin > chilpikin,
nexcomitl > neskgmil; e > o in ayecotl >• aygkgte.
Final e remains : tiltnque > pilinke.
§ 81. Atonic i.
Initial i > e : itzcuintle > eskuvrfkle, izquitl > eskite,
ecpalli > ekipale.
'Posttonic Towels will be treated as finals, since an atonic penult occurs
in only two words, jicara and jicama. ,

54 C. C. MARDEN.
Pretonic i remains : apipitzca > apipiska, ahuizotl >
awisgte. Exceptions : i > e in mizquitl > meskite, tequis-
quitl > tekeskite, huipilli > wepil.
Tompiatl becomes regularly tgmpiate, which, however, in
literary Spanish is written tompeate. It is customary for the
lower classes to pronounce Castilian ea, eo, eu as ia, io, iu,
hence the form tompiate was supposed to be an example of
the popular pronunciation of ea, consequently the word is
found in the dictionaries as tompeate.
Final i > e : chichi > chiche, mulli > mgle, atolli >
atgle , chilli > chile . The same change of Indian i to e takes
place in the Spanish of Buenos Ayres.1
When posttonic i is followed by n, the consonant falls and
the final vowel becomes e; for example, HUAXIN > huaxi >
waffi, tepehuaxin >• tepewa%e, etc.
§ 82. Atonic o.
¦ Initial o remains : ocotl> gkote, ocelotl> gselgte, OTLATL
> gtate.
Pretonic o remains : tzopilotl > sgpilgte, ACOCOTLi > akg-
kgte, cacomitl > kakgmite.
oa > ua : coatl > kuate, cencoatl > senkuate .
Final o remains in wakalkg < quauhcalco, which is the
only example. § 83. Atonic u.
Initial and final u do not occur.
Pretonic u > o : mulcaxitl > mglkayde, mumuztli >
mgmgskle. § 84. Atonic ua, ue, ui.
The atonic diphthongs ua, ue, ui have the same develop
ment as when tonic ; for example, ahuacate > awakate,
'Soc. de Ling., ll, p. 52.

THE SPANISH DIALECT OF MEXICO CITY. 55
AHUEHUETE > awewde, HUILOTL > wilote; but MOTZINCUEP-
qui > machinkuepa, cuitlacochi > kuitlakgche.
§ 85. Atonic uau.
The triphthong uau is redued to wa in strictly popular
words ; for example, quauhcalco > guakalko > wakalkg,
quauhcalli > guakalli > wakal, quauhcamotli > waka-
mgte. These words are often written guacalco, guacal, guaca-
mote, and the change from gua to wa in the popular speech is
the same as that noted for initial gua in words of Castilian
origin.

C. Consonants. Labials.
§ 86. Pronunciation.
There is only one pure labial consonant in Nahuatl, namely,
p. There seems, however, to have been a v-consonant in the
pronunciation of the women, and concerning this consonant
Molina remarks : " Los varones no usan de v consonante,
aunque las mugeres mexicanas solamente la usan. Y assi
dizen ellos ueuetl .... que es quatro silabas, y elias dizen
vevetl con solas dos silabas." § 87. p.
p occurs as initial, medial and in consonantal combinations,
and has in all eases remained with the Castilian pronunciation.
Initial : papachoa > papachg, petlatl > petate, petla-
calli > petaka; medial : tzapotl > sapgte, tzopilotl >
sgpilgte, CHAPOPOTLi>cAapopp<e; consonantal combinations:
chinampa > chinampa, tompiatl > tgmpiate, chilpoctli >
chilpgkle, tecpan > tekpan, icpalli > ekipale.

56 c. c marden.
Dentals.
§ 88. Pronunciation.
The dental signs in Nahuatl are t, c (+ e, i), z, tz, x (d and
s do not occur).
t has the value of Castilian t.1
e (+ e, i), z: Mendoza thus describes these sounds : "La e
suave que se pronuncia casi igual a la s, un poco mas silbada,
pegando la lengua en el nacimiento de los dientes, lo que ha
hecho formar la opinion antes dicha, de que no debe dester-
rarse la s del mexicano  La z que poco se parece a la
castellana, pues tiene un sonido muy semejente a la s, que es
el que generalmente se da en Mexico a la c suave y a la z." 2
Now, knowing that " c suave " and z did not differ in sound
from s in the Spanish of America, and adding to this Men-
doza's statement that the " c suave " of the Nahuatl is " un
poco mas silbada," we may safely say that Nahuatl c (and z)
represents an s slightly more aspirated than the Castilian s.
tz : This sound is treated as a single consonant, and Molina
says it is equivalent to Hebrew tzade ; 3 Tapia Zenteno makes
the same statement, and adds the following description of the
sound : " En todo se pronuncia cerrando los dientes y difun
diendo por elias la lengua formando un ligero silbo sin vio
lencia."4 Mendoza states "que se pronuncia encorvando la
lengua y pegandola en medio del paladar." 5 Combining these
two descriptions we may conclude that in giving the tz sound,
the tongue is curved upwards toward the hard palate, and
it is the point of the tongue that presses against the back of the
teeth (instead of the tip as in Spanish s).
x: The sound of this letter in the Castilian of the sixteenth
century (until 1582) was s, consequently, the symbol x was
used by the early grammarians in order to transcribe the
S-sound which was found in Nahuatl. Since the 8-sound was
'Nornb. Geog., p. 33. 'Palab. Mex., p. 9. 3Mus. Noe., rv, p. 128.
*Mus. Nac., in ; Appen., p. 7. 'Palab. Mex., p. 9.

THE SPANISH DIALECT OF MEXICO CITY. 57
common to both Castilian and Nahuatl, none of the early
grammarians call especial attention to it, consequently, the
first mention of it must be sought in the period when Castilian
x had passed from 8 to %, that is, when the symbol x ceased
to represent the Nahuatl sound. Tapia Zentena (who wrote
in 1752) makes the following remark concerning the x in
Nahuatl : " La x 6 sigasele vocal 6 consonante, siempre se
hallare escrita en diccion mexicana, se pronuncia distincta-
mente diversa del Castellano y el Latin : hallase en primeras
medial y ultimas silabas. . . . Sabrase pronunciar bien teni
endo algo apartados los dientes sin llegar a ellos la lengua y
asentandola toda en lo inferior de la boca, bien abiertos los
labios."1 § 89. Initials.
Initial t remains : tamalli > tamal, tecolotl > tekglgte,
TEZONTLI > tesgrjkle.
Initial t > p in pilvr/ke (< tilinque), probably due to a con
fusion of the prefixes til- and pil-.
Initial c (-)- e, i) and z remain as s: cencoatl > serjkuate,
cenzontli > sensgnklf, zacatl > sakate.
Initial tz occurs only before the vowels i, a, o. tzi > chi :
tzitzicaztli > chichikasklf, tzilcayutl > chilkayute, tzipil
>¦ chipil. tza, tzo > set, so: tzapotl > sapgte, tzoacatl >
sgkate, tzopilotl > sgpilgte, tzompantli > sgmpankle. The
reason for the two developments is evident. Before i, the front
of the tongue is raised in anticipation of the high vowel posi
tion, hence tzi > chi; before a, o, however, the front of the
tongue is low, hence the tz is reduced to simple s.
There are, however, two exceptions found in Sanchez'
Vocabulario ; namely, tzotzocolli > chgchgcgl, tzahuitli
> chaukle. Mendoza's etymon chiauhotli 2 would explain
the form chaukle, but no satisfactory explanation can be given
for chochocol.
'Mus. Nac., ui, Appen., p. 7. 'Palab. Mex., p. 23.

58 C. C. MARDEN.
Initial x, which had the value of s in the sixteenth century,
has undergone the same change as original Castilian x, that is,
it has become %: xacalli > yakal, xilotl > yilgte, XITO-
matl > ytigmate. § 90. Medials.
Medial t remains : totopochtli > tgtgpg, which is the
only example.1
Medial c (+ e, i) and z remain as s: ahuizote > awisgte
epazotl > epasgte, ocelotl > gsdgte.
Medial tz has the same treatment as when initial, tzi >
chi : tlaquatzin > klakuache, tzitzicaztli > chichikaskle,
atzitzicuilotl > chichikuilgte ; tzo2> so: quahtzontli>
wasgrjkle, tetzontli >> tesgnkle. Exception : tzotzocol >
chgchgcgl. Mendoza states that the tz of Indian words " ha desaparecido
casi por completo para dar lugar a la z escrita, no pronunciada
sino como s; algunas veces en los diminutivos se cambia en c
suave como en Mexicaltzingo que se escribe y pronuncia Mexi-
caldngo." 3 This statement of Mendoza's fails to include the
development of tzi to chi. The change of tz to c (= s) in
Mexicaltzingo is the regular development in consonantal com
binations; cf. § 91.
Medial x has the same history as initial x, that is, it passes
from original s to %: taxitl > tayile, exotl > eyote, tepe-
huaxin > tepewaye.
§ 91. Denials in consonantal combinations?
With the exception of tl and tz, which are treated as single
consonants, t does not occur in consonantal combinations.
z remains as s in the groups zc, ztl, nz : temozcalli >
temaskal, mizquitl > meskite, piztli > piskle, tlacomiztli
> kakgmiskle, cenzontli > sensgnkle.
1 Sanchez, Voc. Mex., s. v. ' tia, does not occur in medial position.
'Palab. Mex., p. 11. 4 Dentals do not occur in final position.

THE SPANISH DIALECT OF MEXICO CITY. 59
tz occurs in the groups tzc and Uz, and remains as s: API-
pitzca > apipiska, itzcuintli > eskuiijkle, mexicaltzingo
> mexikalshjgg.
x occurs only in the group xk, and remains as s .• tlax-
calotl > kaskalgte, mexcalli > meskal.

Palatals.
§ 92. Pronunciation.
c,1 qu, ch,2 and y s occur in Nahuatl, and have the sound of
the corresponding Castilian letters.
§ 93. Initials.
Initial c (+ a, o, u) and qu (+ e, i) remain as k: cacomitl >
kakgmite, caxitl > cayjte, quimilli > kimil, quiotl > £iol£.
Labialized form: cui-'pkui;* for example, cuico > kuikg,
CUITLACOCHE > kuitlakgche. quai'Pgua~pwa; for example,
quauhcalli > guakal > wakal, quauhcamotli > guaka-
mote > wakamgte. The later change of gua to wa is the same
as that which took place in original Castilian words. In
the Nicaragua Spanish of the sixteenth century, guayake/Ho
(< quahuaqui) shows the first stage of the development
mentioned above.
qua- > ka- in macuahuitl > makana, amaquahuitl >
anakawite. Each of these words has other peculiarities which
make their etymology doubtful.
Initial ch remains : chichi > chiche, chilli > chile, Cha
poltepec > Chapultepi.
Initial y remains in yolozochitl >• yglgsgchil, which is the
only example.
'Nomb. Geog., p. 26. 'Mus. Nac., ni, Appen., p. 8.
3Nomb. Geog., p. 35. * cue does not occur in initial position.
5 quo does not occur in initial position.

60 C C. MARDEN.

§ 94. Medials.
Medial c (+ a, o, u) and qu (+ e, i) remain as k: acocotl
> akgkgte, cuitlacoche > kuitlakgche, chiquihuitl > chiki-
wite. Medial ch remains: PAPACHOA>^3opacAp, cuitlacoche
> kuitlakgche.
Medial y remains : ayatl > ayate, coyotl > cgygte.
§ 95. Finals.
The use of palatals in final position is foreign to Castilian
and Mexican Spanish. In Nahuatl, c and ch may occur as
final consonants, but on their passage into Spanish the conso
nant falls or a final e is added.
Final c generally falls ; for example, Chapoltepec >
Chapultepi, Huauhtemoc > Watemp, etc. Compare New
York > Nueba Ygr. A final e is added in xococ > yokgke;
compare English check > cheke.
Cuernavaca (< Cuahnahuac) is a case of popular ety
mology. The form should have been kuanawa or kuanawake,
but owing to the similarity in sound to the Spanish words
cuerna + vaca, the meaning of the Mexican noun was changed
from ' a place surrounded by woods ' to ' cow-horn.'
Final ch occurs in only one Nahuatl word that has come
into Spanish, and here a glide e has developed after the ch :
mapach > mapache. Mendoza mentions the fact that a glide
i was often developed, even in Nahuatl, in the case of words
ending in ch.1
§ 96. Palatals in consonantal combinations.
c occurs in the groups xc, zc, pc, cp, and remains as k. xc
> sk: zacatlaxcalli > sakaklaskale, mexcalli > meskal;
xc > k in nexcomitl > neskgmite; zc ~psk: mizquitl > ',
'Palab. Mex., p. 9.

THE SPANISH DIALECT OF MEXICO CITY. 61
kite, temazcalli > temaskal. pqui > pa in motzincuepqui
> machmkuepa, probably due to a substitution of cuepa for
cuepqui. cpP-kp: tecpan > tekpan.
ch occurs only in the complex chtl, which is reduced to
ski: michtlapiqui > mesklapikes, quapachtli > kuapaskle.
Pigcha < piochtli may be due to a confusion with Castilian
pwcha. Tgrnachile < tonalchilli shows a change of I to r accom
panied by metathesis.

Liquids.
§ 97. Pronunciation.
The liquids in Nahuatl are I, ll and tl, and of these I alone
has the same sound as in Castilian.1
ll does not represent the Spanish ll, but according to Men
doza "sola indica un prolongacion en el sonido."2 Molina
states that "ll se ha de pronunciar como en el latin dezimos
villa."3 tl is regarded as a single sound in Najiuatl and may occur
in initial medial or final position. It is equivalent in value
to the tl in Atlantico, if we consider the t and I as belonging
to the same syllable ; thus, Atl-anticoS
§ 98. Initials.
I and ll do not occur at the beginning of a word.
Initial tl > kl: tlaco > klakg, tlemulli > klemgle, tla-
tolli > klakgle. Tapia Zenteno speaks of the tendency to
mispronounce tl: " Este letra se expresara abiertos los labios,
procurando no equivocarla con la c, como los que ignoran este
dialecto dicen claclacolli, clamancli, etc. en lugar de tiatlacolli,
'Ncmb. Geog., p. 31. 'Palab. Mex., p. 9.
3Mus. Nac., iv, p. 128. 'Nomb. Geog., p. 33.
5

62 C. C. MARDEN.
tlamantli." 1 The change of tl to kl is the same as that which
took place in Popular Latin veclus < vetlus < vdulus.
Initial tl > t in the following words mentioned by Sanchez :
tlAxamanilli > taxamanil, tlapanco > tapankg, tla-
pechtli > tapeskle? § 99. Medials.
Medial I remains : olotl > glgte, ocelotl > gselgte, texo-
lotl > teyolgte, papalotl > papalgte.
In yikara < xicalli the etymology is doubtful, for besides .
the change of I to r and the addition of a final a, we must
also account for the change of accent.
Medial ll occurs only hi the terminations -Hi and -llin and
is regularly reduced to I. In some cases the endings i and in
disappear, in others they remain as e.
-alli > -al: acahualli > akawal, comalli > kgmal, co-
palli > kgpal, chimalli > chimal, etc. -alli > -ale in the
following words : tezcalli > tekale, zacatlaxcalli > ka-
klaskale, icpalli > ekipale. The fall of the final vowel in
the large majority of alli-words is probably due to the fact
that the termination -al is of much more frequent occurrence,
in Castilian words, iban the ending -ale. The same remark
applies in general to -illi, olli and ulli.
-illi > -il: huepilli > wepil, metlapilli > meklapil, qui-
milli > Tamil, tlaxamanilli > taxamanil, etc. -illi > -ile
in chilli > chile, tonalchilli > tgrnachile.
-olli > -ol: xocoyolli > sgkgygl, tzotzocolli > chgchg-
kgl. -olli > -ole : atolLi > atgle, tlatolli > klatgle, pinolli
Ppingle. -ulli > -gle : amulli > amgle, chimulli > chimgle, mulli
> mgle. ulli > ule : ulli > ule.
Medial tl occurs in a few words ending in -tl. In these
words the first tl > t by assimilation to the te which regularly
develops from final tl; for example, metlatl > metate, pet-
latl > petate, tepetlatl > tepetate.
'Mus. JVac, in, appen., p. 34. 'Voc. Mex., s. v.

THE SPANISH DIALECT OF MEXICO CITY. 63
In pdaka (< petlacalli) the t is by analogy to t in pdate,
since petlacalli is a compound petlatl -j- calli. The
words petaca and pdate are found in Nicaragua Spanish in
the first half of the sixteenth century.1
§ 100. Finals.
Final r does not occur in Nahuatl, but is added to the fol
lowing verbs by analogy to Castilian infinitives which always
end in r : chichinoa > chichinar, pepena > pepenar.
Final I remains : tzipil > chipil, quachichil > wachichil.
In tenkiia (< tencuapil) the entire final syllable has fallen.
The three examples just cited are the only words with final I
that have come into Spanish from the Nahuatl.
Final ll does not occur.
Final tl > te : xilotl > yjlote, mecatl > mekate, ocotl
> gkgte, coyotl > cgygte. The change of tl to te is due to a
wearing-away of the final consonant to a voiceless glide ; the I
first becomes voiceless, after which it easily passes to the front
vowel e by influence of the t.
Final tl > I in the following words : oyametl > oyamel,
cempoalxuchitl > sempasuchil, yoloxochitl > yglgsgchil.
A possible explanation of the two last mentioned words is that
they are by analogy to the large number of forms in -il < -illi.
§ 101. Liquids in consonantal cambinations.
I generally remains in consonantal combinations. Ip: CHIL-
POCTLI > chilpgekle ; It: piltontli ~ppiUgvkle; kl: quauh-
calco > wakalkg, xaltomatl > ^aftpma^. I > r in tonal-
chilli > tgrnachile, where the change is due to a confusion
with Spanish torna. I is assimilated to m in chilmolli >
chimmole > chimgle. Entire syllable falls in tlalcacahuatl
> kakawate.
'Amer. Jour, of Phil., v, p. 63.

64 c c marden.
tl occurs only in combination with a preceding consonant,
and becomes kl in all cases, ntl'prjkl:1 cenzontli > sen-
sgvkle, itzcuintli > eskuvrjkle, tesontli > tesgrjkle ; ztl >
ski: teponaztli > tepgnaskle, piztli > piskle; dl > kl:
CACTLi > kakle, chipoctli > chipgkle; chtl > ski: ichtli >
iskle, michtlapiqui > mesklapikes.

Aspirate.
§ 102. Pronunciation.
Pefiafiel states that Nahuatl h " en medio y en fin de diccion
es aspirada. No se encuentra al principio de diccion en los
escritores de los siglos xvi y xvii, supliSndola en los dipthongos
de la u con v. Por regla general, al principio de diccion s61o
hiere a la u y apenas si hay tres 6 cuatro palabras con que
precede a otra vocal." In the Nahuatl words that have come
into Spanish, h occurs only before ua, ue, ui, or as final letter
of a syllable. § 103. Initial.
Initial h falls and the following u becomes w : huaxin >
wa%e, huipilli >• wepil, huaxolotl >• wayolgte.
§ 104. Medial.
Medial h falls and the following u becomes w : ahuacatl
> awakate, chiquihuitl > cfc*w«»v* 2

§ 105. h -f- cons.
h falls before a consonant : quauhcalli > wakal, quauh-
CALCO > wakalkg.
1 Cf. ? 110. 3 h does not occur in final position.

THE SPANISH DIALECT OF MEXICO CITY. 65

§ 106. gua, gue.
Initial and medial hua is often written and pronounced
gua among the educated classes, such a form of writing
and speaking being due to a mistaken etymology. The sound
wa is foreign to Castilian, and, therefore, since the lower classes
say wa for Castilian gua (cf. agua > awa), the educated sup
pose that the correct form for every folk-wa is gua; hence,
for awakate (ahuacate) they write aguacate, for wa%e (huaxe),
guaje, etc. -#;
In Nicaragua the aboriginal hue has become gue in the
Spanish folk-speech ; this, however, is a different phenomenon
from the wa > gua in Mexico. The Nahuatl hue >• we by the
fall of the aspirate, this we then becomes gue just as bueno >
weno > gueno, hence in Nicaragua huehue > guegue, etc.1

Nasals.
§ 107. Initials.
Initial m, n remain with the Castilian pronunciation :
mecatl > mekate, mulli > mgle; nahualli > nawal, no-
palli > ngpal. § 108. Medials.
Medial m, n remain with the Castilian pronunciation : caco-
mitl > kakgmite, com alli > kgmal; pinolli > pingl, chi
nampa > chinampa. § 109. Finals.
Final m does not occur.
Final n regularly falls : tollin > tule, chian > chia,
huaxin > wa%e, etc. A similar fall of aboriginal final n
takes place in Nicaragua.2
'Amer. Jour, of Phil., v, pp. 60, 62. 'Ibid., p. 62.

66 C. C MARDEN.
Final n remains in the following words : capollin >
kapglin, chapulin > chapglin, chiltecpin > chilpikin, qua-
tezon > kuatesgn. In Nahuatl words the final syllable never
bears a tonic accent (except in certain vocative forms in e", none
of which have been preserved in Spanish), hence, in the class
of words which have preserved the final n, we must suppose a
change of accent to the last syllable on their passage into
Spanish, which change of accent would naturally tend to pre
serve the final n.
§ 110. Nasals in consonantal combinations.
m occurs in the groups Im, mp, and remains unchanged :
pilmama > pilmama, tilmatli > tilma ; chinampa > chi
nampa, tompiatl > tgmpiate, etc.
n occurs only in the groups nz, nc and ntl. tl regularly
becomes kl in consonantal combinations, hence in the last two
cases just mentioned, n is followed by a guttural and is natu
rally changed to ij. nc > nk : cencoatl > serjkuate, tla-
panco > klaparjkg, tzincualli > chinkual. ntl > nkl > rjkl:
cenzontli > sensgnkle, itzcuintli > eskuirjkle, tezontli >
tesgrjkle. nz > ns : CENZONTLI > sensgvkle.
Charles Carroll Marden.

LIFE.

I was born in Baltimore, December 21, 1867. My early edu
cation was received in this city, and after an attendance of three
years at the Baltimore City College, I entered the Johns Hopkins
University in 1886, and received the degree of A. B. in 1889.
During the year 1889-90 I was Instructor in French and German
in the Norfolk Academy ; 1890-91, Instructor in French in the
University of Michigan ; in October, 1891, entered the Romance
Department of the Johns Hopkins University as a graduate
student, and was Assistant in French and Spanish until January,
1893; during the following academic year I held a University
Scholarship. The summer of 1890 was spent in Paris for the
purpose of gaining a practical knowledge of French, that of 1892
was passed in Mexico City collecting material for the present
thesis. My studies have been in French as the principal subject
with Spanish and History as first and second subordinates. In
pursuing the courses indicated, I have been under the instruction
of Professors A. M. Elliott, H. B. Adams, Paul Haupt, Maurice
Bloomfield, Doctors J. E. Matzke, L. E. Menger and Christopher
Johnston, to all of whom I desire to express my thanks. To Prof.
Elliott in particular I shall always feel deeply indebted, not only
for his instruction and guidance, but also for the friendly interest
he has ever manifested in my work.
Charles Carroll Marden.
Baltimore, Md.,
April 16, 1894.

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