The vocabulary of the Peruvian population in Madrid

Abstract

In this work, the lexicon of the Peruvian population residing in the Community of Madrid is analyzed. Specifically, the semantic scope of food and beverages has been selected, considering that it is a topic directly related to the daily habits of the population, the survival of their customs and the adoption of new habits of the host country. To do this, we used a sample based on interviews conducted in person with Peruvian immigrants, supplemented with some data on family circumstances, way of life and linguistic attitudes obtained through an online questionnaire. This information is contrasted with a similar sample collected in the Italian city of Milan, which also hosts a large community of Peruvian immigrants. From all these materials we draw a general picture of the lexicon of the emigrated Peruvians: the vocabulary present in their day to day lives, the survival of Americanisms, the adoption of terms of the host country and the attitude to their lexical particularities.