Amazonic Spanish
South American language
Amazonic Spanish (español amazónico), also known as Charapa Spanish, Loreto-Ucayali Spanish or informally known in Peru simply as Jungle Spanish (español de la selva), is a variety of Spanish spoken in the Amazon, especially in the Peruvian provinces of Loreto, San Martín and Ucayali. Amazonic Spanish is also spoken in areas of Brazil adjoining Loreto and Ucayali and in the Amazonas Department of Colombia.
Distinctive features
Morphosyntax
One of the distinguishing features of Amazonic Spanish is the method of constructing the possessive form: speakers say "de la X su Y" (of the X its Y), instead of standard Spanish "la Y de X" (the Y of X). Another distinctive grammatical feature is the use of possessive forms in place of certain genitive forms; compare standard Spanish "Le preguntó a la yaminahua delante de mí" (He asked the Yaminahua woman in front of me) with the Loreto-Ucayali "Le preguntó a la yaminahua en mi delante" (He asked the Yaminahua woman in my front).
Personal names are prefixed with a definite article (el or la, depending on the gender).
Phonology
/x/ and especially the sequence /xw/ are frequently realized as [f] (as in Juana [ˈfana]).
Amazonic Spanish also incorporates words and expressions borrowed from local indigenous languages.
Status
Amazonic Spanish is classified as a separate language from standard Spanish by Ethnologue, with its own ISO 639-3 code: spq.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Amazonic Spanish” is south American language. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Amazonic, Spanish and South, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “south American language” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q72256. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Amazonic Spanish” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.