Castrapo
Pejorative term for Galician-influenced Spanish
Castrapo (a portmanteau of castelán and trapo, meaning rag) is a term used in the region of Galicia to refer to a local variety of the Castilian language that uses a lot of code-switching, vocabulary, syntax and expressions directly from the Galician language although they do not exist or have equivalents in Standard Castilian. This way of speaking is mainly prevalent in the densely populated urban areas of Galicia and is sometimes stereotyped as "the way Galician politicians speak".
01Origin
The phenomenon of Castrapo traces back its origins to the imposition of the Castilian language in Galicia and the attempted Castilianization of the region after it was absorbed by the Kingdom of Castile (also known as the Doma y castración del Reino de Galicia; "Domination and castration of the Kingdom of Galicia" by Galicianist authors such as Castelao). The Galician language lost its officiality during the era known as the Seculos Escuros (Dark Centuries), and it was no longer studied at schools, used by religious organizations or any administrative entity. It became a de-facto spoken language by the Galician people and its use was reduced to family situations and private life although it has always stayed the most commonly-spoken language in Galicia.
Some Galicianist intellectuals like Manuel María viewed Castrapo as a threat to the Galician language by Castilianization.
02Definition and usage
The standard Galician dictionary published by the Royal Galician Academy defines it as a "variation of the Castilian language, distinguished by the abundance of words and expressions taken from Galician language".
Some Galician reintegrationist groups, which advocate for the unity of Galician-Portuguese as a modern single language, may also use the word Castrapo to refer disapprovingly to the current standard form of Galician that is regulated by the Royal Galician Academy, which they consider to be too influenced by Castilian and artificially distanced from modern Portuguese.
03Examples
The phrase Close the window would be Pecha a ventana. In Standard Castilian, it would be Cierra la ventana; in Galician, it would be Pecha a fiestra/ventá/xanela; and in Portuguese, it would be Fecha a janela.
04Phonology
Final unstressed /e/ and /o/ are frequently raised to [i] and [u] in the Castilian that is spoken in rural Galicia.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Castrapo”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
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