# Are there regional dialects of Spanish in Latin America?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-regional-dialects-of-spanish-in-latin-america/423101>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 17, 2007, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-regional-dialects-of-spanish-in-latin-america/423101 "2007-10-17T22:21:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 5

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**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\
**Post date:** [October 29, 2007, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-regional-dialects-of-spanish-in-latin-america/423101/81 "2007-10-29T04:41:38Z")

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[QUOTE=fetus]  
It’s getting more and more popular in American English, too. I happen to like adverbs quite a lot, but when I asked my last linguistics professor about it he said that we don’t really _need_ adverbs–adjectives do the same job just fine. He has a point: even if adverbs disappear completely, English won’t be much less clear and communicative.  
[/QUOTE]  
I suppose that’s right. Instead of saying:

_When they questioned my citizenship, I quickly pulled out my passport._  
You could say:

\*_When they questioned my citizenship, I quick pulled out my passport._

Everyone will understand the idea. The problem is that syntax weighs in its ugly head. Syntax prods us to put an adjective before a noun. If this were German, it wouldn’t matter. But syntax itself starts to define what is an adjective vs. an adverb, in many cases:

\*The **fast** car drove away.

The car drove away really **fast**.\*

These two sentences don’t have the same meaning; the adjective and the adverb have the same form, but the syntax is what makes the difference.

Do we really want to give up the adverb?

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**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\
**Post date:** [October 29, 2007, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-regional-dialects-of-spanish-in-latin-america/423101/82 "2007-10-29T04:57:21Z")

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> [@guizot](#):
>
> \*When they questioned my citizenship, I quick pulled out my passport.

How about “When they questioned my citizenship, I pulled out my passport real quick.”? Doesn’t mean exactly the same thing, but the difference is subtle.

> [@guizot](#):
>
> Do we really want to give up the adverb?

Hey, I _like_ adverbs. But they’re losing currency quick ( 😉 ), and it’s possible for English to do without them if its speakers deem it necessary.

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