Synchronic vitality of Catalanisms in American Spanish

Abstract

Words of Catalan origin introduced into the Castilian Spanish language in different centuries are recorded here in a project col- lating Americanised vocabulary using texts from different peri- ods. These words are recorded as Catalanisms in the Diccionario de la Lengua Española (RAE, 2023) and appear in the Diccionario de Americanismos (RAE & ASALE, 2010) with different degrees of vitality. They demonstrate adoption processes, the creation of new lexical units and meanings in their diachronic develop- ment of transmission. These lexies are preferentially analysed using a quantitative methodology, according to usage trends in the Spanish Golden Age, their American meaning, lexical field and distribution in American linguistic areas. The results show that these words were already integrated into Castilian Spanish before its expansion to American, and their trend of vitality coin- cides with other contributions from patrimonial words Hispani- cised in America.