Una contribución al estudio del léxico guatemalteco. Estudio sobre términos relacionados con prendas de vestir en Guatemala

Abstract

This master thesis presents original research on the lexicographic representation, corpus presence and use of four clothing terms that are characteristic of Guatemala, as a contribution to our current understanding of the lexical properties of the Guatemalan Spanish variety, within a Central American context and more broadly under the light of geographically considered language variation. The results of the study show that the current lexicographic representation of these terms does not represent the real language use for Guatemala, insisting on the need of more detailed and more systematic studies of Central American varieties. Beyond this, our study provides evidence that the Central American variety should be treated separate from the Mexican variety, and that within it Guatemala, perhaps with El Salvador, have transitional properties that differentiate this country from other Central American countries. The study connects our lexicological observations with the general cultural situation in Guatemala, suggesting the the absence of indigenous influence in the lexical items chosen for this research might be explained by the markedly dichotomical nature of current Guatemalan society, with a strict division between an indigenous and a non-indigenous identity.