Between 1880 and 1910, Argentina, and also Uruguay, received a large number of
Italian immigrants, mostly poor country folk who arrived with little or no schooling in the
Spanish language or
Italian, although they were speakers of their own
local languages of Italy. As those immigrants strove to communicate with the local
criollos, they produced a variable mixture of Spanish with Italian (
Florentine) and other
Italian languages, which was given the name
Cocoliche by the locals. Italian proper never developed in Argentina, especially because most immigrants used their local languages, and were not proficient in the standard language. This inhibited the development of an Italian-language culture. Since the children of the immigrants grew up speaking Spanish at school, work, and military service, Cocoliche remained confined mostly to the first and second generation of Italian immigrants, and slowly fell out of use.
Controversy Cocoliche has sparked controversy amongst Spanish language scholars since its inception in the 19th century. In 1960, the philologist
Américo Castro lamented the Italian influence on Spanish that it caused, stating that it "has contributed more than anything to tear apart the language of Buenos Aires." Argentine Author
Jorge Luis Borges directly argues with Castro's essay in a letter, stating mainly that his idea of a Spanish language of Buenos Aires having to be as pure as that of
Castile is folly. According to Borges, the Italian influences of Argentine Spanish do not take away from the dignity of the language. Furthermore, he references his travels throughout Spain, where he mentions that Spaniards do not speak better than Argentines even with a "purer" Spanish, meaning that if anything, Cocoliche's influence has only strengthened the language. Its status as a pidgin has been contested by linguists and philologists throughout the 20th century. Argentine linguist posits that the language never became a pidgin due to the clear attempts of the government to integrate immigrants, leading Cocoliche to quickly disappear as immigrants rapidly adopted the culture and Spanish language of Argentina. She states it didn't have the reason to remain and become a pidgin because it was not necessary to thrive in oppressive circumstances the way other pidgins have. ==Influence==