A new language textbook in Mexico has caused a brouhaha
At the centre of the controversy is a single letter associated with a non-standard form of grammar
ONE LETTER does not normally cause controversy, yet a single squiggle has set the Spanish-speaking chattering classes to nattering. A new textbook issued in Mexico seemed to bless a non-standard ending on second-person singular verbs in the past tense: dijistes (you said), with an extra “s”, rather than the standard dijiste, and so on with other verbs. The squabble is instructive, and well beyond the Hispanophone world.
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This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “To the letter”
Culture April 15th 2023
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