Equatorial Spanish

Equatorial Spanish, Colombian-Ecuadorian Ribereño or Chocoano, called in Ecuador simply costeño, is the set of varieties with similar characteristics that are spoken on the Pacific coasts of western and southern Colombia, the coastal region of Ecuador and the northern coast of Peru, making up the transition between the Caribbean dialect and the coastal Peruvian dialect.

From the tonal-accentual point of view, this dialect governs the phonematic transition focus of American Spanish that expands geographically from the semi-low intonation of the Caribbean and Central America in the north, towards the intense acuity located to the south, typical of the Peruvian, Chilean and Argentine tones.

The main urban center of the region is the port city of Guayaquil, in Ecuador. There are important black communities, such as the Colombian department of Chocó, the coastal areas of the departments of Cauca and Nariño, and the Ecuadorian province of Esmeraldas, or the Peruvian department of Tumbes, which give it an "African" touch. 3. 4; to the accent in this international dialect macro-region.

Phonology and phonetics

It presents features similar to those of the Caribbean but noticeably attenuated:

• The /s/ at the end of the syllables is aspirated or elide, although the most schooled classes tend to avoid it.

• Like in Caribbean varieties, the letter "j" and "g" is done in a soft way (sound [h], instead of [x])

• The word /n/ end is to watch as in the Caribbean, sometimes bilabialy /m/ as in the Cauca Valley.

• Among the less-schooled classes there is confusion of liquids /l/ and /r/, although their elision is rare.

• In the area of Chocó, and the Pacific Coast south of Colombia, the /d/intervocálica is performed as / reading/. In this same region the /s/ aspirated and /k/ can result in glotal occlusive.

• There is no distinction between "y" / y/ and "ll" /./ unlike the Andean areas.

• As in virtually all American dialects, sessium is the norm, which means that the fonema /θ/ of European Spanish is absent and instead is used /s/. There are rural areas on the coast of Ecuador, for example San Lorenzo in Esmeraldas, where the phonetic realization of /s/ is non-sybilant ([θ]), instead of sibilante [s]. This is called ceceus and is rare in the Americas (it is also found in several areas of Andalusia).

• Some coastal regions have a singing rhythm and an intonation similar to the Venezuelan Spanish and the Spanish rioplatense that reflects the pronunciation of the southern Italians that were established in Guayaquil and the province of Guayas. ^{[chuckles]required]}

Morphology

The morphology and conjugation are the same as those of Caribbean Spanish. Voseo and its verbal forms are very rare, except in the northern area of Colombia, due to the influence of Antioquian Spanish and Vallecaucano Spanish, being more common in the Andean variant. There are rural areas of Ecuador where the Andean has mixed with the equatorial, in certain rural areas in the transition between the coast and the mountains, such as in the provinces of Bolívar or El Oro.

Syntax

The only distinctive syntactic aspect is possibly that of the double negation: I don't speak English, no, spoken by people of African descent and their areas of influence; but it is not a generalized aspect in the rest of this linguistic region.

Ecuadorian coastal dialect

On the Ecuadorian coast a local version of Equatorial Spanish called costeño is spoken. Generally, the "j" sound is softened, pronouncing it like the English /h/; unlike the "j" strong and aspirated that is pronounced in the Andes or Spain. The coastal dialect can vary considerably. For example in Esmeraldas, where the largest amount of Afro-descendant population is concentrated, the Ecuadorian coastal dialect is spoken with a slightly Africanized variant similar to that of the Colombian Pacific, although there may be variations between urban or rural areas.

In Guayaquil, the accent is loaded with idioms and borrowings from English ("man", "jeans", etc.). In rural regions the letter "s" when it follows a consonant (e.g. costa, pronounced /'coh.ta/; aspect pronounced /ah'pek.to/), and there is omission in certain cases of the "s" at the end of words. Even so, in general, in the more educated classes the accent is corrected towards a more standardized Spanish, while in less educated classes there are certain variants. An example is the pronunciation of "s" like /ʃ/: serious is pronounced /'ʃe.rio/.