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-ico in Spanish - where is it used? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5335 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes  Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 1 of 15 05 December 2011 at 12:36am | IP Logged | ||
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I partly grew up in a small village in Almeria, Spain called Antas. One of the peculiarities of the dialect, was that they would use -ico in stead of -ito in diminutives. (I was called "bonica" a lot:-), and people would say "Sí, un poquico" (or un poquillo)if asked wether they wanted wine, or water. As far as I can remember this was not used in Granada capital- they used bonita, un poquito etc.
Fast forward 17 years, I am at a grammar course at the University of Madrid, where the teacher claims that this does not exist in Andalusian, it only exists in Aragon. I protested most vehemently, but nobody believed me, since he was a Spanish professor of grammar, and I was a Norwegian student. Fast forward another two years, and I meet a Spanish girl from Murcia, who tells me that this is indeed a feature of the dialect in Murcia, and I figured that since Murcia is close to Almeria that was probably the explanation. And then the other night I happened to fall on a web site about Antas, and was quite surprised to read that at one point there had been a shortage of women in the village, and women were brought in from Murcia, and married the local men. Therefore I am now totally confused. - Is -ico used in other parts of Andalucia? - Is -ico used generally in Almeria? - Or is -ico used exclusively in Antas because of the peculiar story about the ladies from Murcia? Does anyone have a clue? Edited by Solfrid Cristin on 05 December 2011 at 12:39am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tractor Tetraglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5454 days ago 1349 posts - 2292 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, Catalan Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 2 of 15 05 December 2011 at 5:02am | IP Logged | ||
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La Reconquista reshaped the linguistic landscape of the Iberian Peninsula. People from the north moved southwards
and occupied land. This resulted in the Mozarabic language (a Romance language) spoken in the south gradually being pushed back by the closely related Romance languages spoken in the north. From west to east, these languages were: Galician-Portuguese, Astur-Leonese, Castilian, Navarro-Aragonese and Catalan. Since then, Castilian has continued to spread in all directions, especially at the expense of Astur-Leonese and Navarro- Aragonese (not to mention Basque or the languages spoken on other continents). This part of Andalusia could have had a large portion of settlers from Aragón. Traces of their dialect could have survived in the local dialect today. But, I don't know. It's probably far fetched looking for an explanation that long back in time. Edited by tractor on 05 December 2011 at 5:03am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| fiziwig Senior Member United States Joined 4866 days ago 297 posts - 618 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 3 of 15 05 December 2011 at 3:48pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm only a beginner in Spanish so my exposure is limited, but the only place I've encountered "-ico" as a diminutive ending so far is Colombia.
Here is a podcast (episode 32) where a Colombian native discusses the use of "-ico" in Colombia: http://radiolingua.com/category/shows/show-time-spanish/page /2/ 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| georgiqg Triglot Newbie Spain Joined 4905 days ago 36 posts - 50 votes Speaks: Bulgarian*, Spanish, English Studies: German, Russian | Message 4 of 15 06 December 2011 at 12:47am | IP Logged | ||
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I don't now if "ico" is used in other parts of Andalucía, but I'm sure it's used in some other parts of Spain, like Albacete, which is in Castilla-La Mancha. If you watch some videos by the Spanish stand-up comedians Joaquín Reyes or Ernesto Sevilla (both of them are from Albacete), you'll find out they use "ico" instead of "ito" a lot.
I'm also sure that people in Madrid (where I've been living for the last 8 years) use "ito" and sometimes "illo" in diminutives, but I've never heard anyone here say "ico". 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| mrwarper Diglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member Spain forum_posts.asp?TID=Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5227 days ago 1493 posts - 2500 votes Speaks: Spanish*, EnglishC2 Studies: German, Russian, Japanese | Message 5 of 15 07 December 2011 at 1:32pm | IP Logged | ||
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It's one of those conundrums you face from time to time.
AFAICT (usual disclaimers apply here), -ico diminutives are used all over Spain, although its use is heavier in some regions/areas. And yes, they are widely used in Granada. In the capital, yes :) The main issue with them is that most people I know of won't use them unless they are entirely comfortable with their audience (there are always those sassy speakers, but in general the observer's paradox is beautifully exemplified here), precisely because it is perceived as 'dialectal' and possibly related to non-educated speech. So, the same as -illo diminutives, just magnified. Diminutives using different suffixes can convey different nuances in meaning, so "niñito" is quite neutral, while "niñico" shows your little appreciation for the boy's qualities (immediately suggest a mischievous behavior). For the less versed readers -- when in doubt, remember: -ito diminutives should be OK for everyone, -illo is a bit tricky, and -ico should almost always avoided by foreign speakers, just as swearing. And then take into account that -ito/-illo/-ico are not always diminutives, or their diminutive etymology has been lost; for example, "chico" (boy) and "chiquillo" (little child) are clearly etymologically related, but "chiquillo" is not used as diminutive of "chico"; "bonita" and "bonica" (beautiful) are not diminutives of "buena" (good), etc. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| floydak Tetraglot Groupie Slovakia Joined 4855 days ago 60 posts - 85 votes Speaks: Slovak*, English, German, Spanish Studies: French | Message 6 of 15 08 December 2011 at 11:43am | IP Logged | ||
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what about word "bocadillo" is it diminutive of something (big bocado?:D) or just regular
word for sandwich? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| mrwarper Diglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member Spain forum_posts.asp?TID=Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5227 days ago 1493 posts - 2500 votes Speaks: Spanish*, EnglishC2 Studies: German, Russian, Japanese | Message 7 of 15 08 December 2011 at 12:47pm | IP Logged | ||
It is one of those things. It comes from 'having a small quantity of food' ('a little bite'), and over time it became the regular word for 'sandwich' (more or less, 'sandwich' is used too, but just for the small ones made with sliced bread). 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Camundonguinho Triglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 4750 days ago 273 posts - 500 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, English, Spanish Studies: Swedish | Message 8 of 15 11 December 2011 at 11:11am | IP Logged | ||
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Well, we can consider words like BONICO a typical easternism/levantinism (used in Eastern parts of Spain but not in other parts of Spain). It's common in Aragón and Murcia, and it can be heard in Cataluña, Valencia, Almería...Also the form REBONICO...
In Extremadura the suffix is -ino, in Galicia -iño (bonitiño), in Cantabria -uco (bonituco) and so on. Common diminutives in Spain are in ito (ratoncito) or illo (ratoncillo), I would say the one in -illo is tipically Castillian. And there is also -ete (guapete). bonico = used in Eastern parts of Spain, but not in other parts of Spain coruja (instead of lechuga) and raposa = used in Western parts of Spain, but not in other parts of Spain (coruja is also used in Canaries). Edited by Camundonguinho on 11 December 2011 at 11:18am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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