La periferia olvidada: el español de Ushuaia

Abstract

This article deals with the issue of linguistic research on the Spanish of Ushuaia, in the extreme south of Argentina, as an example of a peripheral variety of Spanish that until now has not been taken into account in the description of Argentinian Spanish and in classifications of its varieties. Furthermore, the contribution analyses the possible reasons why this variety has not been sufficiently dealt with or been neglected overall. It is shown that the uncritical adoption of positions considered as sacrosanct and the attitudes of linguists themselves, who reproduce (pre)conceptions that are dominant in their own communication community, are of particular relevance. Periphery is understood not only geographically—with Ushuaia belonging to the absolute periphery of the Spanish speaking world—, but also in its social dimension, as the classifications of the Spanish from Patagonia which are relevant in this context are based on the exclusion of the Spanish of the lower social strata in favor of the variety of the higher strata of society seen as educated and urban.