Written language in some “cumanaqueño” documents by aragonese missionaries in the XVII and XVIII centuries’ Venezuela: graphic and lexical aspects
Abstract
In 1658, Aragonese Capuchinos were licensed as missionaries in Caracas and Cumana (Venezuela). It was an issue of insuffi cient amounts of missionaries who were needed to cover the extensive Spanish territories in Venezuela. Immigrants who settled in America, originating from Aragon, were never numerous, and soon after they looked to Andalucian Capuchinos for help in their evangelical missionary work in Venezuela. However, the differences between these two groups of Spanish missionaries tended to increase over time, fi nally leading to a split division of missionary work in both Caracas and Cumana. The presence of the Aragonese in Cumaná and their contact with Native Americans, creoles and immigrants from otherareas of Spain, is what leads us to carry out a descriptive study of their documents. This examination will study the graphic and lexical aspects and discover the differences and similarities between them.
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