The small print of the dictionary: how register is marked
«coloq.», «desus.», «p. us.», «Esp.»: the italic abbreviations do not tell you what a word means, but who says it, where, when and with what intent.
Las letras pequeñas del diccionario: cómo se marca el registro
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A mastery-level Spanish reading text on the usage marks of the academic dictionary and the pragmatic information they carry. It covers who writes the Diccionario de la lengua española today, the families the marks fall into, what separates «desus.» from «p. us.», why a geographic mark describes a distribution rather than a hierarchy, what the differential criterion of the Diccionario de americanismos amounts to, and why «coloq.» is the hardest mark to assign. It ends on the observation that a word's register ages far faster than its meaning, and with questions for the reader.
El Diccionario de la lengua española no lo redacta ya una sola institución. Lo hacen conjuntamente las veintitrés academias reunidas en la ASALE, entre ellas la Real Academia Española, repartidas por América, España, Filipinas y Guinea Ecuatorial. Esa arquitectura importa para lo que viene después: cuando una obra la firman veintitrés academias, declarar que algo es regional deja de ser una observación inocente.
Las marcas no forman una lista suelta, sino varias familias. Unas sitúan la palabra en el mapa; otras, en el tiempo. Unas describen el registro en que suele aparecer; otras, la intención de quien la emplea, como «despect.» o «irón.»; otras, en fin, avisan del efecto que produce el mensaje, como «malson.». Leer una entrada sin mirarlas se parece bastante a firmar un contrato saltándose las cláusulas.
Las cronológicas son las más precisas y las que menos gente conoce. «desus.» indica que la palabra se perdió en la lengua general antes de 1900. «p. us.» dice algo distinto: que a partir de esa fecha la voz se sigue documentando, aunque muy raramente. La diferencia parece de matiz y no lo es. La primera manda la palabra al archivo; la segunda la deja en circulación, aunque con poca clientela.
Las geográficas son las que peor se interpretan. Que una acepción lleve la marca «Esp.» no significa que sea la buena, ni que las demás sean desviaciones de ella: significa que ese uso se documenta en España y no en el resto del dominio. El ordenador de Madrid y la computadora de Lima están los dos en el diccionario, el primero con la marca «Esp.» y la segunda sin marca geográfica alguna, y ninguno corrige al otro. Lo que la marca describe es un reparto, no una jerarquía.
El caso extremo de esa lógica es el Diccionario de americanismos, publicado por la ASALE en 2010. Se define a sí mismo como diferencial: deja fuera lo que nació en América pero hoy pertenece al español general. El criterio, otra vez, no es el origen sino el reparto. Que una palabra haya entrado por el náhuatl o por el quechua no la convierte en americanismo si hoy la usa todo el mundo.
Y luego está «coloq.», que es la marca difícil. Las demás se pueden documentar: una fecha se documenta, un país se documenta. El registro, en cambio, no está en la palabra: está en la relación entre la palabra y la ocasión. Un verbo como «currar», que en España vale por «trabajar» en una conversación pero no en un informe, no es coloquial en abstracto; lo es porque hay situaciones, y son muchas, en las que quien lo diría no lo escribiría. Marcar eso obliga al lexicógrafo a imaginar escenas, y ahí ninguna base de datos decide sola.
About this article
What you'll learn
How to read usage marks: register with «coloq.», chronology with «desus.» and «p. us.», geographic distribution rather than hierarchy, the spoken and written axis, «sonar + adjective» for commenting on register, and «de ahí que» with the subjunctive.
A mastery-level Spanish reading text on the usage marks of the academic dictionary and the pragmatic information they carry. It covers who writes the Diccionario de la lengua española today, the families the marks fall into, what separates «desus.» from «p. us.», why a geographic mark describes a distribution rather than a hierarchy, what the differential criterion of the Diccionario de americanismos amounts to, and why «coloq.» is the hardest mark to assign. It ends on the observation that a word's register ages far faster than its meaning, and with questions for the reader.
After reading
Article learning block
Phrases, words, grammar, and quick practice from this text.
Phrases for training
Add useful phrases to SRS or mark them as already known.
cuela una advertencia
newto slip something in
`Colar` literally means to strain or filter, but it is very often used for slipping something in unnoticed: colar un dato, colar una errata. The reflexive `colarse` means to jump a queue or to sneak into somewhere uninvited.
Colloquial in origin but perfectly at home in journalism, and the literal sense will not get you there.
saltándose las cláusulas
newto skip, to disregard something
The pronominal `saltarse` means to skip or to flout: saltarse una clase, saltarse un semáforo, saltarse una norma. It is not the same as plain `saltar`, which is to jump. Here the pronoun changes the meaning outright rather than adding a nuance.
One of the most frequent verbs whose pronominal form means something different from the plain one.
vale por «trabajar»
newto be equivalent to, to stand for
`Valer por` means to be worth the same as, or to stand in for: in Spain `currar` vale por `trabajar`; una firma vale por un contrato. Keep it apart from `valer la pena` (to be worth the trouble) and `más vale` (it is better to).
A compact way of saying that one word or thing does the job of another.
en fin
newlastly; in short
A discourse marker that closes an enumeration and sums it up: `unas..., otras..., otras, en fin,...`. On its own, `en fin` also signals resignation: `En fin, qué se le va a hacer`. Keep it apart from `al fin` and `por fin`, both closer to `at last`.
One of the basic ordering markers in both written and spoken Spanish.
Key words
Vocabulary that carries the school-day topic.
la acepción
una acepción
the sense, the numbered meaning in a dictionary entry
An `acepción` is each separate meaning listed under a headword. Do not confuse it with `aceptación`, which means acceptance or approval: two letters apart, entirely different words. You say `la primera acepción`, `una acepción en desuso`.
The key word for talking about dictionaries, and a classic trap because of `aceptación`.
el reparto
el reparto
the distribution; also the cast
`Reparto` is the result of `repartir`, the sharing out of something. In the text it is the geographical distribution of a usage. The same word means the cast of a film or play, and also home delivery: `reparto a domicilio`.
Three common senses of one word, each belonging to a different kind of text.
el dominio (linguistic)
el resto del dominio
the language area, the whole territory where a language is spoken
In linguistics `el dominio` is the entire territory in which a language is used: el dominio hispánico, el dominio del español. Outside that context the same word means command of a subject (`tiene un gran dominio del tema`) or a domain or field.
A technical sense you need in order to read Spanish writing about language varieties.
grosero
grosero
rude, coarse
`Grosero` describes something offensive through its coarseness: un gesto grosero, una palabra grosera, un chiste grosero. Of a person it means ill-mannered. The noun `grosería` is the rude remark or act itself. It has nothing to do with `grocer`.
One of the usual words for judging register: it describes what many speakers would not say in polite company.
soltar (a word)
soltarla
to come out with, to let slip
Besides its literal sense of releasing, `soltar` very often means saying something abruptly or out of place: soltar una palabrota, soltar un dato, soltar una barbaridad. In the text it is whether you can come out with the word at a job interview. The pronominal `soltarse` means to loosen up or become fluent.
The natural verb for describing an ill-judged or unexpected remark.
en cursiva
en cursiva
in italics
`Cursiva` is the sloping type; upright type is `redonda` and bold is `negrita`. The usual phrasings are `en cursiva`, `poner en cursiva`, `ir en cursiva`. Italics mark titles of works, foreign words and emphasised terms.
Basic typographic vocabulary, needed to read editorial instructions and dictionary entries.
Grammar in context
Patterns from the text worth noticing after reading.
`coloq.`: a mark of situation, not of quality
«coloq.»
colloquial register
The abbreviation `coloq.` does not say the word is wrong or poor: it says that use belongs to informal conversation and strikes a false note in a formal text. Register is not a property of the word but of the relation between the word and the occasion, which is why one and the same word can sound natural among friends and out of place in a report.
This is the information that decides whether a newly learnt word belongs in a work email.
`desus.` versus `p. us.`: two ways of being old
«p. us.»
little used
Both marks are chronological and they do not mean the same thing. `desus.` indicates that the word was lost from the general language before 1900; `p. us.` indicates that after that date it is still documented, but very rarely. The first describes a word that has been withdrawn; the second, a word that is merely rare.
Telling them apart saves you from reviving in a present-day text a word nobody recognises any more.
A geographic mark describes distribution, not rank
El ordenador de Madrid y la computadora de Lima
the ordenador of Madrid and the computadora of Lima
When a sense carries a country or region mark, the dictionary is saying where that use is documented, not which use is the good one. `Ordenador` is the ordinary word in Spain and `computadora` across much of Spanish America; the dictionary records both, the first with a mark for Spain and the second with no geographic mark at all, and neither is offered as a correction of the other.
It heads off the commonest mistake a learner makes: taking the variety they studied for the norm and the rest for deviations.
Said versus written: one axis of register
quien lo diría no lo escribiría
the person who would say it would not write it
The opposition between speech and writing is one of the axes of register in Spanish, and the one noticed first, although it does not map exactly onto the scale of formality. Many words marked `coloq.` are not forbidden: they simply belong on the oral side of that axis. The sentence in the text puts this as two parallel conditionals, `lo diría` and `no lo escribiría`, describing the same person in two different situations.
It is the practical test for deciding whether a word picked up in conversation belongs in a text.
`sonar` + adjective: how register is talked about
le sonaba grosero
it sounded rude to him
To judge the register of a word, Spanish uses `sonar` with an indirect object: me suena formal, te suena anticuado, le sonaba grosero. The subject is the word or expression, and the person judging appears as an indirect object, as with `gustar` or `parecer`. The verb therefore agrees with what is being judged: `esas palabras me suenan raras`.
It is the ordinary formula for discussing register without declaring anything right or wrong.
`de ahí que` with the subjunctive
De ahí que las marcas envejezcan
hence the marks age
`De ahí que` introduces a consequence of what has just been said and normally calls for the subjunctive: de ahí que envejezcan, de ahí que resulte difícil. Careful written Spanish prefers that construction by a wide margin, although the indicative is occasionally found. Do not confuse it with plain `de ahí`, which simply names a place of origin.
A very frequent consequence connector in expository and opinion prose.
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