Vocabulary Exploration for "How to Tame a Wild Tongue"

Instead of attempting to translate any of the Spanish in the work, I chose some words that the author used in relation to language and culture.

* intervocalic (ĭn'tər-vō-kāl'ĭk)
–adjective Phonetics.
1.(usually of a consonant) immediately following a vowel and preceding a vowel, as the v in cover or p in occupy, d in idea, etc.
[Origin: 1885–90; inter- + vocalic]

* archaisms (archaic) (är'kē-ĭz'əm, -kā-)
-noun
1. marked by the characteristics of an earlier period; antiquated: an archaic manner; an archaic notion.
2. (of a linguistic form) commonly used in an earlier time but rare in present-day usage except to suggest the older time, as in religious rituals or historical novels. Examples: thou; wast; methinks; forsooth.
[New Latin archaeismus, from Greek arkhaismos, from arkhaios, ancient]

* argot (är'gō, -gət)
-noun
1.a specialized idiomatic vocabulary peculiar to a particular class or group of people, esp. that of an underworld group, devised for private communication and identification: a Restoration play rich in thieves' argot.
2. the special vocabulary and idiom of a particular profession or social group: sociologists' argot.
[Origin: 1855–60; < F, n. deriv. of argoter to quarrel, deriv. L ergō ergo with v. suffix -oter]

* acculturating (acculturation) (ə-kŭl'chə-rā'shən)
1. The modification of the culture of a group or individual as a result of contact with a different culture.
2. The process by which the culture of a particular society is instilled in a human from infancy onward.

*synergy (sĭn'ər-jē)
-noun
1. The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.
2. Cooperative interaction among groups, especially among the acquired subsidiaries or merged parts of a corporation, that creates an enhanced combined effect.
[From Greek sunergiā, cooperation, from sunergos, working together]