Some Features of the Influence of African Languages on the Development of the Cuban National Version of Spanish

Ignashina Zoya Nikolaevna PhD in Philology Senior Lecturer, Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation 125167, Russia, Moscow region, Moscow, Leningradsky Prospekt, 49 tirroleland.@mail.ru

The study of the peculiarities of Latin American national variants of the Spanish language, their variability has been and remains one of the key issues of domestic and foreign Spanish studies. As researcher L.V. Barannikova notes, variability manifests itself "both in the process of reflecting reality and expressing generalized mental images in a sensually perceived, that is, sound, form, and in the process of functioning of language as the most important means of human communication," being thereby a common property inherent in the very "device" of the language system as a way of "the existence and functioning of all units of a language without exception, revealing specific features within each level" ^[1]. At the same time, one of the most important factors in understanding this aspect is the factor of intensive language contacts – the interaction of languages that influence the structure of one of them – in a synchronous and diachronic section at various stages of the formation of Latin American national variants.The term "language contacts", which replaced the previously existing term "mixing of languages", criticized by many philologists, was introduced into scientific circulation by A. Martine; further considered by W. Weinreich in his scientific work "Language contacts".

Within the framework of the term "language contacts", 1) dialects and adverbs of the same language are considered; 2) languages of different social groups within the same language; 3) closely related languages; 4) languages different in structure.

There are different approaches to classifying language contacts. For example, A.V. Garnik distinguishes depending on the duration of contact: 1) casual language contacts that occur during irregular contacts of languages with each other.  2) permanent, established as a result of intensive contacts of languages with each other. Two subtypes stand out among permanent contacts: 1) external relations established between the peoples of different states located in close territories that have close economic, political, and cultural ties 2) internal, which arise between the languages of the peoples forming one state ^[2]. 

Speaking about the Caribbean countries, first of all, about Cuba, it should be noted that an important feature of their formation was the presence of permanent language contacts between native speakers of Spanish and African languages, which was expressed in interference at various levels of the language. The famous Cuban linguist P. Choi Lopez, highlighting several main stages of the formation of the Cuban variety of the Spanish language, roughly coinciding with the main periods of the formation of the Cuban nation, speaks about intensive language contacts of various ethnic groups as a key factor in the formation of the Cuban cultural and linguistic identity. ^[6].

Here are the most frequent Africanisms of the modern Cuban national version of the Spanish language, distributed by us into lexico-semantic groups:

1. Food, foodstuffs: endila – 'a dish made of flour, water and eggs'; fufu – 'fried bananas'; tasajo – 'dried meat'; zambumbia – 'a drink made of sugar cane'; c hibirico – "'tongues' with sugar" (a type of pastry), agualoja– "a refreshing drink made of honey, cinnamon and spices", calalu is a vegetable dish made of taro leaves or xanthosome leaves, cocada is a kind of sweet dish,

2. Musical instruments, musical culture: m ar?mbula – ‘marimbula’, a folk plucked instrument’; g uapach? – ‘guapacha’, a dance common in the Antilles; c hach? – ‘chacha’, a musical instrument made of empty guiro (guiro is the fruit of a turtledove tree common in Cuba and Puerto Rico); a ggb? – ‘Cuban maracas’, etc.

3. Negative characteristics of a person:t renin? – 'beggar';e nsonga – 'speechless'; e ntumbo – 'drunk', candanga – stupid,

4. Household items:emeruaba – "pot"; kumaka – "palm leaf bag"; orual – "clay disk", etc.

5. The world of flora and fauna: sus ? –‘groundnut'; m usenga, misenga – ‘sugar cane‘; m ancueva – ’tiger‘; c alabongo – ’firefly', biajaca – a kind of fish of the acara group,

It is interesting that there are so-called regional-customary borrowings common within a certain dialect zone of Cuban Spanish, first of all, the Southeastern zone (Santiago de Cuba, Guantanamo) and the Southern zone (Baracoa), which, according to researcher R. Choy Lopez ^[4,5,6]), are the most dialect-specific in the force of a certain isolation at some historical stages. The following examples can be given: benubu – ‘a kind of medicinal plant’, bolondro – a kind of hibiscus, tahona – an event with loud music, initially, a kind of drum common in the eastern part of Cuba, serens ? – funcha, corn flour balanda, etc.

Afrocubanisms often become part of verb-type phraseological units. So, the expressions ser una bunga – to be false, inaccurate, quedar de arronga – to make fools of, comer cazuela – to make careless comments about a person in his presence or in the presence of his relatives and friends are very common (comes from the original meaning of the word cazuelo in the donor language of the congo - "to speak" ^[7]).

Of considerable interest are the culturally specific phraseological units of the Cuban national version of the Spanish language, which is based on an equivalent vocabulary related to the verbalization of African religious cults, which the inhabitants of Cuba had no idea about before the European expansion and the deployment of economic management with the involvement of Negro slaves. Let's look at some examples.

In the modern Spanish language of Cuba, there is a phraseology bajarle el chang ? / darle chang ?, meaning that someone got very angry, fell into a rage, "throws thunder and lightning". This phraseology, the semantically supporting component of which is the anthroponym Chang ?, goes into the complex of mythological representations of the Yoruba people originating from Nigeria.  The Yoruba has a polytheistic pantheon of gods (orisha), demigods and spirits, where one of the main deities is considered to be Chango (Shango / Sango), who was once the fourth king of the Yoruba and became the God of Thunder.

The "Dictionary of Americanisms" RAE can find the following definition of the above-mentioned anthroponym: Deidad de la religion o n yoruba que representa al trueno, la justicia, la virilidad, la danza y el fuego('A deity from the Yoruba religion who is the embodiment of thunder, justice, masculinity, dance and fire’). Thus, the meaning of the anthroponym Chang ? becomes clear as part of the above phraseological construction, which also acts as its culturally conditioned component. As the Cuban linguist A. Laurencio Tacoronte notes, the phraseology bajarle (el) Chang ? also has a religious meaning: 'to fall into a trance': bajarle Chang? "a" sant. caer en trance (sin. bajarle el santo) ^[8].

In the corpus of Spanish-language texts, you can find a significant amount of actualization of this phraseology marked "Cuba" or "USA":

– Lo que pasa es que cuando se enfrentan a alguien, que demuestra zonas de conocimiento a las que ellos no pueden siquiera asomarse, en especial de la verdadera historia de Cuba, les da chang? con conocimiento y comienzan a ehcar espuma por la boca y pistilencias por todas partes... (‘So the following happens: when they [representatives of generation Y] meet someone who demonstrates such knowledge that they did not even dream of, especially in the field of the real history of Cuba, they just get mad / furious with this knowledge, foam starts coming out of their mouths and arrows – in different directions...')

Another Yoruba deity who left a mark in Cuban phraseology is Yemanja /Yemanji (Yemay?) – the goddess of salty waters: "The Mother of fish and the Mother of all orisha, the goddess of the ocean. In the Cuban national version of the Spanish language, this anthroponym has undergone changes through metathesis and is currently pronounced as Mayeya. Exclamation A gua pa’ Mayeya! it means the joy of the fact that it has rained heavily, thanks to which the earth will bring a good harvest, or acts as a periphrase for the word "downpour" itself. This exclamation has become a part of Cuban folklore and is found in folk songs in the context of the call for rain:

– En las canciones populares se ha hecho referencia a ofrendar agua a los santos, como por ejemplo: Agua pa' Mayeya y (...) Pregunta ?qu? necesita? Aguabendita (‘Folk songs talk about sacrificing water to saints, such as: "Water for Yemanji, and (...) she asks: "What do you need?" – "Blessed water"'

–  Agua Pa' Mayeya 

Si va a llover que llueva (‘Water for Yemanji [= downpour],

if it's going to spill,

then let it spill’)

Another stable expression that includes this anthroponym is collar de Mayeya suciedad que se forma en el cuello (lit. ‘Yemanji necklace – dirt on the neck'): so they say to children, urging them to wash (cf. rus. "You're blacker than a chimney sweep, look at yourself!"). According to Yoruba beliefs, each deity of the Pantheon has a distinctive sign in the form of a necklace of certain colors, which is a magical amulet, and for Yemanji as the mistress of the seas, these colors are blue and white. On the other hand, there is a legend that Yemanji used amulets for other purposes, playing with them, for which she received a reprimand from the supreme deity: Mayeya, ?respeta los collares, no juegues con los santos! (‘Yemanja, respect the necklaces, don't play with the saints’) ^[9]. In the Cuban national version of the Spanish language, in this way, children are encouraged to stop being naughty and think about their behavior, they are warned about the possible negative consequences of pranks.

Another deity of Orisha, whose name has passed into the category of common names, is Elegba / Eshu (Eleg(g)u? / Esh?, Ech?). L. M. Nunez, a researcher of Santeria, describes him as the god of intersections, roads, establishing contacts between people and other Orishas. Without his approval, it is impossible to establish a connection with any spirits; moreover, he is a joker, and he is feared, because a huge force controlled only by his whim can cause great harm ^[9]. The lexeme echo in Cuba means failures – representaci ? n de la mala suerte, and the expression evitar el echo is used in the meaning of ‘to avoid trouble':

– A ?l se le hacen ofrendas y para ?l hay ba?os de purificaci?n o de preparaci?n de el ambiente (casa o local de reuni?n) con incienso o perfume. El echu es evitado (‘Sacrifices are offered to Him [the deity], there are cleansing baths for him and the preparation of the space (the house or the place where the meeting takes place) with the help of incense. So there will be no trouble’)

In addition to African beliefs, the Spanish language of Cuba was also influenced by the daily life of Afro-Cubans, in which a significant place was given to oral folk art. The phraseological fund of the Cuban national version of the Spanish language has been replenished with expressions with the names of characters about which it is almost impossible to say with certainty whether they belong to real people (as in the case of the aforementioned Marcos Perez from Buenavista). Examples of such anthroponyms of African origin are the names a a a (a a n? / Nan ?) Ser ?, Cafunga and Chacumbele.

Phraseological units ser m?s viejo que N Ser?(lit. ‘older than Nianya Ser?') and en tiempos de Nia Ser? (lit. ‘at the time of Nyanya Sere’) are used in ironic contexts, characterizing something very old or some long-standing event (cf. Spanish en los tiempos de Maricasta, rus. in the time of the king of Peas). According to African legend, a slave with that name managed to shirk work in every possible way and, thus, was able to live up to the time when slavery ended and, already being free, died at more than a century old. According to another version, n a n? Ser ? is a common name for a group of Yoruba (Lukumi) tribes with an ancient history, whose representatives (also called n a n? ser ? due to metonymic transfer), having appeared on the Island as slaves, did not forget their roots and passed on customs, traditions and beliefs from generation to generation ancestors.

The name of another African character, Chacumbele, acts as a semantically supporting component for the phraseological comparisons pasarle como a Chacumbele (que ?l mismito se mat ?) and morir como Chacumbele (‘to happen like Chakumbele (who killed himself)’and ‘die like a Chakumbele'): d i cesele a alguien cuyo descuido o superficialidad podr i a acarrearle graves consecuencias o hasta da n os f i sicos (‘so they say to someone whose carelessness or superficiality can lead to serious consequences (up to physical damage') ^[10]. Like many urban legends, the history of Chakumbele is complicated and has several interpretations:

– Se dice que Chacumbele fue un personaje real, un polic?a que, atormentado por las traiciones de su mujer, se quit? la vida. Todo ocurri? a principios del siglo XX en La Habana. Pero hay otra versi?n de la historia, donde la mujer muy celosa lo busc? y, cansada de sus ausencias en parrandas y fiestas con otras mujeres, lo apu?al?; en esta versi?n el estribillo “?l mismito se mat?” refuerza la ense?anza de quien mal anda, mal acaba (‘They say that Chakumbele, indeed, there was and was a policeman who, exhausted by his wife's infidelities, took his own life. It all happened at the beginning of the XX century in Havana. There is another version of the story in which Chakumbele's very jealous wife was looking for him and, tired of his absence from home due to constant partying and partying with other women, stabbed him; according to this version, the saying "killed himself" edifiingly emphasizes that a bad end awaits the one who commits bad deeds')

The anthroponym Kafunga (Cafunga), acts as a semantically supporting component for another phraseological comparison – morir como Cafunga (lit. ‘die like Kafunga'). In the works of Spanish linguists we find the following meanings:

(1) morir en forma inesperada (‘to die suddenly');

(2) morir en forma violenta (‘to die a cruel death');

(3) terminar mal (‘it's bad to end (xia)’) ^[10];

(4) morir en un acto altamente arriesgado (‘to die as a result of risky actions’);

(5) morir en un acto de valor (‘to die the death of the brave’)

The famous Cuban linguist F. Ortiz gives 2 versions of the origin of this expression: la primera, es que la voz Cafunga viene por alteraci?n del vocablo Kakanf?, t?tulo conferido al guerrero Lucum? cuyo valor lo convert?an en h?roe de su pueblo por tanto en una figura admirada dentro del folklore afrocubano (...) La otra versi?n cuenta que un moreno desmochador de palmiche en la zona de Santi Spiritus, quien ten?a como sobrenombre Cafunga, un d?a al no ajustarse bien las trepaderas que lo aseguraban, cay? estrepitosamente desde lo alto de una palma real (?rbol nacional de Cuba) (‘According to the first version, the proper name Kafunga (Cafunga) is a modified lexeme Kakanf?; so called a warrior Lukumi, thanks to his courage, who became a folk hero and an exciting figure of Afro-Cuban folklore (...) According to the second version, a dark–skinned palm cutter in the forests of Santi Spiritus, nicknamed Kafunga, once without properly securing the ropes that insured him, collapsed from the very top of the royal palm tree - the national tree of Cuba’).

There is also a third, regional version of the appearance of this comparison, which originated in Santiago de Cuba and became widespread in the eastern part of the Island. According to legend, Kafunga was an old ladies' man who worked as a messenger in a small shop in Santiago and in 1823, having fallen madly in love with a 16-year-old slave girl, seduced her. The groom of that girl, being much younger and stronger, took a huge stick and went to take revenge. Kafunga was able to escape from his pursuer, but when the danger was over, he died of a heart attack on the steps of the church. Based on this version, a dialectal meaning can be added to the general Cuban meanings of this phraseology, updated in Santiago de Cuba:

(6) to die an inglorious death: Y as ? muri ? Cafunga, seg ? n los santiagueros, para quienes su muerte – a diferencia de la versi ? n m ? s extendida – no fue un acto de valor, sino todo lo contrario(‘That's how Kafunga died, say the residents of Santiago, for whom his death, unlike the generally accepted version, was not the result of courage, but exactly the opposite’)

Thus, the spectrum of meanings of the phraseological unit morir como Cafunga reveals the phenomenon of enantiosemia (‘to die the death of the brave' vs. ‘to die ingloriously’), which is not revealed with the help of dictionaries, but is revealed as a result of the analysis of its regional actualization. In this case, it can be concluded that it is necessary to study the functioning of culturally conditioned NES in speech within the framework of inter-variant dialectology.