| Panamanian Spanish | |
|---|---|
| Español panameño | |
| Pronunciation | [espaˈɲol panaˈmeɲo] |
| Native to | Panama |
Native speakers | 2.5 million (2014)[1] L2: 463,000 in Panama (2014) |
Early forms | |
| Latin (Spanish alphabet) | |
| Official status | |
Official language in |  Panama |
| Regulated by | Academia Panameña de la Lengua |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | es |
| ISO 639-2 | spa[2] |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | None |
| IETF | es-PA |
Panamanian Spanish is the Spanish language as spoken in the country of Panama. Despite Panama's location in Central America, Panamanian Spanish is considered a Caribbean variety.[3]
The variations among different speaker groups of the same language can be lexical (vocabulary), phonological (pronunciation), morphological (word forms), or in the use of syntax (grammar).
Historically, Panama and Colombia were part of the same political entity. Colombia, governed from the Real Audiencia of Panama during the 16th century, then part of Castilla de Oro, with its capital in Panama, during the 17th century, and after independence from Spain, Panama voluntarily became part of the Republic of Gran Colombia along with Venezuela and Ecuador, with its capital in Bogota. From the colonial times and periods and also during most of the 19th century and until 1903, and even though there are still lexical similarities shared by the two countries (e.g., pelao in both Colombia and Panama means "kid" or "child"), phonetically, Panamanian Spanish is very similar with the Spanish as spoken in the coastal areas around the Caribbean, specifically Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and the Caribbean coasts of Colombia and Venezuela. As Panama is located in Central America, Panamanian Spanish is transitional between Central American and Caribbean dialects.
- ^ Spanish → Panama at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ "ISO 639-2 Language Code search". Library of Congress. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
- ^ Lipski 1994, pp. 294, 299.