Indianisms and lexical leveling of the American Spanish in the 16th and 17th centuries

Abstract

This article examines the Indianisms used in eight chronicles of Indies from the 16th and 17th centuries. The quantitative data have been obtained through documentary research and lexicographical history. These data allow us to acknowledge the existence of different words in Peninsular and American Spanish during the first centuries of this language in this new continent, which prove the leveling produced in the process of criollization of American varieties.