The Spanish spoken in Costa Rica is known as Costa Rican Spanish, a distinct variety that falls under the broader category of Central American Spanish.
Official Language and Local Variety
Spanish serves as the official and predominant language throughout Costa Rica, being the primary language for government, education, and daily communication across the nation. The specific form of Spanish commonly used by its inhabitants is referred to as Costa Rican Spanish.
A Branch of Central American Spanish
Linguistically, Costa Rican Spanish is classified as a form of Central American Spanish. This regional grouping encompasses dialects spoken across several countries in Central America, sharing various linguistic features that differentiate them from other Spanish dialects found in South America, Mexico, or Spain.
Key Characteristics
While dialects within Central American Spanish can vary, some common characteristics are often found, including in Costa Rican Spanish:
- Voseo: A prominent feature across many Central American Spanish dialects, including Costa Rican Spanish, is the widespread use of vos instead of tú for the second-person singular informal pronoun. This affects both the pronoun itself and the corresponding verb conjugations. You can learn more about this linguistic phenomenon on Wikipedia's page about Voseo.
- Pronunciation: Like other Central American varieties, Costa Rican Spanish may exhibit certain phonetic features, such as the aspiration or loss of /s/ at the end of syllables or before consonants in some regions, and the specific pronunciation of certain vowels and consonants.
- Lexicon: There are also unique vocabulary words and expressions (colloquialisms) specific to Costa Rican Spanish, known as "Tico" slang, which contribute to its distinct identity.
