This is how we speak in the north: Carlos Recio presents research on the language of the region

If we had to resort to a document that contains the meaning of all those words and expressions that our grandparents used and how it is that these sayings and words have evolved over the years, we would have to look for the book “He speaks in the North of Mexico, Voices and Expressions” of the research professor Carlos Recio Dávila.

Language is the manifestation of being and this publication is a portrait of the old jargon that has become part of the daily life of the inhabitants of northeastern Mexico, considers Gabriela de la Peña Astorga, doctor in Social and Cultural Anthropology, who commented on the publication in the presentation of the same that was carried out saturday 10 at the International Book Fair Coahuila 2022.

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“The contribution made in terms of language; within this there is a particular issue that is speech, which it’s the way a language stays alive and it is a kind of code that gives us identity, but also keeps us united because it provides a sense of complicity”, says the research professor.

Recio Davila explained that this project was born 20 years agowhen the curiosity to translate these studies was born.

Throughout that time he has dedicated himself to exploring the different forms of language, its expressions and manifestations, creating a catalog with 24 thousand 800 words compiled in two volumeswith 1,200 words.

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“Speech identifies us; the word identity comes from the Latin ‘idem’ which means ‘the same’, so we identify with what is the same as us and there are hundreds of definitions of many terms”, she explains.

To get to this reference document, the researcher consulted about 30 dictionaries and 180 other sources; Hundreds of interviews were conducted and all those terms that have similarities with expressions were located, even from countries such as Algeria, France, Spain, Cuba and among others.

Among some of the words are part of the daily life of the inhabitants of northeastern Mexico there is, for example, that of ‘chiva’;

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Its origin, says Carlos Recio Dávila, comes from hinduism since Shiva is one of the most important gods of the Hindu pantheon and is represented by sheep, which are known here as goats.

“The word goat, leads us to expressions like ‘we are goats from the same corral’, ‘he pulled with his goats’ or ‘the goat threw pal monte’; in Algeria they use very similar proverbs, but with sheep, and that tells us precisely about identity”, he points out.

Also in northwestern Mexico phrases are said such as “you have chincuales”, “go get fleas elsewhere”sayings that contain a certain sarcasm and that refer to some behavior that is replicated within the community.

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Idioms, adages, compound phrases, the grammatical category of each and the use of words are also included.

“I think the first person interested in learning was me.; Words come from Chichimeca, Nahuatl, Sonora, Sinaloa, practically from all over the north from the Zacatecas fringe; we had at least 70 collaborators who were involved in the production of this book,” he says.

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The coordination of Cultural Diffusion of the Autonomous University of Coahuila, the municipality of Saltillo and the Faculty of Communication Sciences, in addition to the Faculty of Architecturewill be promoting the printing of the textbook on paper, as mentioned in the presentation of the book that took place at the Saltillo Book Fair.

This work can be found at least temporarily on the web platform of the Autonomous University of Coahuila.