Chirimoya
It is interesting that you bring up this thread again because I am currently reading a linguistic resource about Spanish spoken in the USA released this year and it covers false cognates, extended cognates, loan translations and loan words. It's a very thorough resource and of course interesting. These are topics that I need to stay on top of as well as the terminology and examples.
Anyway thanks for adding to the list of false cognates and indeed those on your new list are ones that are commonly used incorrectly. The resource clearly outlines USA word meanings and the traditional variants. For example carpeta as mentioned in my post # 8 was on the list of many false cognates whose meaning in the USA although incorrect is accepted instead of the traditional variant alfombra. What I mean is carpeta= folder or file. In the USA carpeta= carpet, rug. This area of study is a branch of linguistics known as 'sociolinguistics' thus referring to characteristics of speech of a group, region, etc. influenced by sociocultural factors.
One aspect that I disagree with though from a linguistic point of view is those who know the true meaning of carpeta why would they use the false cognate over alfombra. It's different if the speaker does not know that the Spanish meaning is not equivalent to the English meaning. All of this contributes to the disintegration of language in my opinion.
Yesterday I read an interesting essay by Pedro Juan Gutiérrez about the evolution of the way people speak and one of the last phrases caught my attention:
Es así. El idioma evoluciona. Hoy empleamos un lenguaje más relajado, fresco y sabroso que en siglos anteriores, tanto semántica como gramaticalmente.
I think that this statement is so true and very evident when one hears how Spanish is spoken in the USA- a prime example.
LDG.
Last edited by Lesley D; 10-10-2005 at 01:45 PM.
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