Guatemalan Spanish


Guatemalan Spanish is the national variant of Spanish spoken in the Central American country of Guatemala. About 13.7 million of the 16 million population speak Spanish. It includes the use of the second-person singular personal pronoun Voseo alongside the standard Spanish second-person singular pronouns tú and usted to form a three-level system of second-person singular address.

Phonetics and phonology

A number of words widely used in Guatemala which have Mayan or other native origins, in particular names for flora, fauna and toponyms. Some of these words are used in most, or all, Spanish-speaking countries, like chocolate and aguacate, and some are only used in Mexico and most Central American countries, like Guatemala and El Salvador. The latter include guajolote "turkey" < Nahuatl huaxōlōtl ; papalote "kite" < Nahuatl pāpālōtl "butterfly"; and jitomate "tomato" < Nahuatl xītomatl. For a more complete list see List of Spanish words of Nahuatl origin. Local words include
There are also many words unique to Central America, for example, chunche or chochadas or babosadas means "thing" or stuff in some places. The words used to describe children vary among the countries in Central America; in Guatemala they are often called patojos. Cipotes is also used in Guatemala in the eastern departments. In the western and northern departments of Guatemala "chamacos" is used to say children or kids. In Guatemala and Honduras the word güiros is also used. In Guatemala people with money are said to have pisto, a term originally used by Maya peoples in Guatemala.