Nicaraguan Spanish

Nicaraguan Spanish
Español nicaragüense
Pronunciation	[espaˈɲol nikaɾaˈɣwense]
Native to	Nicaragua
Region	Central American Spanish
Native speakers	5.3 million (2014)[1] 577,000 in Nicaragua (2014)
Language family	Indo-European Italic Latino-Faliscan Romance Western Ibero-Romance West Iberian Castilian Spanish North American Spanish Central American Spanish Nicaraguan Spanish
Early forms	Old Latin Classical Latin Vulgar Latin Old Spanish Early Modern Spanish
Writing system	Latin (Spanish alphabet)
Official status
Official language in	Nicaragua
Regulated by	Academia Nicaragüense de la Lengua
Language codes
ISO 639-1	es
ISO 639-2	spa[2]
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	None
IETF	es-NI
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Spanish language
A manuscript of the Cantar de mio Cid, 13th century
Overview
Pronunciation stress Orthography Names
History
Old Middle Influences
Grammar
Determiners Nouns gender Pronouns personal object Adjectives Prepositions Verbs conjugation irregular verbs
Dialects
Andalusian Andean Argentine Belizean Bolivian Canarian Caribbean Central American Chilean Colombian Costa Rican Cuban Dominican Ecuadorian Equatoguinean Guatemalan Honduran Mexican Murcian New Mexican Nicaraguan Paraguay Panamanian Peninsular Peruvian Philippine status Puerto Rican Rioplatense Saharan Salvadoran Standard Uruguayan Venezuelan
Dialectology
Seseo Yeísmo Voseo Leísmo Loísmo
Interlanguages
Llanito Jopara Judaeo-Spanish Portuñol Spanglish Castrapo Creoles Roquetas Pidgin Chavacano or Chabacano Palenquero or Palenque
Teaching
Hispanism RAE Instituto Cervantes
v t e

Nicaraguan Spanish (Spanish: Español nicaragüense) is geographically defined as the form of Spanish spoken in Nicaragua. Affectionately, Nicaraguan Spanish is often called Nicañol.^[3]

The Spanish dialect in Nicaragua is heavily influenced by Nahuatl and Nawat in its vocabulary and substrate.^[4][5] The Nawat language was spoken by the Nicarao people who inhabit the western half of the country. Despite its extinction in Nicaragua, words of Nahuatl and Nawat origin can be seen and heard in daily Nicaraguan speech and literature.^[6][7]

Nicaragua has the highest frequency, among Central American countries, of the use of voseo—use of the pronoun vos and its verb forms for the familiar second-person singular ("you"), in place of the tú of Standard Spanish. In this regard it is similar to the usage of Argentina and Uruguay in the Río de la Plata region of South America. Vos is used frequently in colloquial and familiar settings, but Nicaraguans also understand tuteo. The use of "vos" can be heard in television programs and can be seen in written form in publications.^[8]

In the North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region and the South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region, language and pronunciation is strongly influenced by Indigenous and creole languages such as Miskito, Rama, Sumo, Miskito Coastal Creole, Jamaican Patois, Garifuna and Rama Cay Creole but Spanish has become the main language spoken.