The linguistic change of the salvadorean speaker, based on the words used in the book Cuentos de barro by Salarrué (1933-2022)

Abstract

The speech of the salvadorean, known as “salvadoranisms” (the speech of salvadorean people), used by young people and adults between 18 and 80 years old has changed immeasurably in almost a century; and to investigate this phenomenon, the reduction of "salvadoranisms" in young and adult speakers is documented, whose period dates from 1920 to 2022, exploring mainly the "salvadoranisms" that are preserved, having passed more than 100 years. The objective of this article is to explore the linguistic changes of the Salvadoran speaker that emerged from the beginning of the 20th century to the present year, in order to disseminate the results and promote interest in research into these phenomena. To obtain the results, a mixed method (quantitative-qualitative) was used and an instrument was designed that was answered by 34 participants out of a sample of 50, with open questions and words (extracted from the book mud stories) as variables to collect the amount of "salvadoranisms" that are present in the speech. To analyze the results, the words were classified as follows: those that are extinct, those that are best known and little used, those that are known and used, and those minimally known and used. Of the 100% (122 words), it was found that 42% correspond to those that are extinct; 40% to those that are better known and little used; 11% those that are known and are used; and 7% those that are minimally known and used. Finally, this article offers a proposal to investigate issues about the rescue of the salvadorean dialect identity.