Is the dropped /s/ in Argentina a class marker?

Question

I'm watching *La pelea de mi vida*, an Argentinean film, and in it the characters are dropping their esses all over the place. *E'ta*, *e'tuve*, even stuff like *E' muy e'traño* and *E'to tene'* The film is about a boxer and his milieu. What I want to know: Is this a class marker or is it pervasive in Argentina? *NB By "class marker" I mean is it used as part of an accent denoting a certain societal level. For example, in the U.S. it is common for members of the working class in some areas to say "dese" for *these* and "dem" for *them*, etc.

Answer 1

I've noticed this phenomenon in many hispanoparlante (spanish speaking) countries. In the whole of south of Spain, they would cut off the "es" for estás for example so "-tás aquí?" It seems to be most of the population - slang, working class and possibly most of the population might be how they would say "estás aquí?" It is so engrained, you'd have to probably train yourself to not talk that way. At one point I actually had a very strong andaluz accent when I arrived in Madrid. It's a light aspiration in the beginning of the part that is being cut. It's also common in the Caribbean where they also are renowned for chopping words - especially Cuba, Puerto Rico, Panama. I would say it may be more working class but there isn't really a concept so much of middle class in many of these countries where you are just rich or poor.

On a side note, in one part of Spain (Cadiz) they use the zeta (th) instead of the "s" in almost every word I would say. It results in the funny sentence, se casó mi primo (my cousin got married) which turns into se cazó mi primo (my cousin hunted himself).

Answer 2

Dropping of the" S" in Argentina could be used as part of Spanish Slang as Hannah had mentioned; however, it a mark for lower socio educational classes. If you listened to some soccer players talk, most of them drop their /s/ and most of them come from working class familes.

Hope this helps,

Luciana

Answer 3

In my experience with the Spanish language, the dropped "s" is a form of Spanish slang in many Spanish speaking countries, not just Argentina. I hope this helps.