Spanglish

:For the Adam Sandler movie, see Spanglish (movie)

Related Topics:
Adam Sandler - Spanglish (movie)

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Spanglish, a portmanteau of the words Spanish and English, is a name used to refer to a range of language-contact phenomena, primarily in the speech of the Hispanic population of the USA, which is exposed to both Spanish and English. These phenomena are a product of close border contacts or large bilingual communities, such as along the United States–Mexico border and throughout Southern California, in Florida (especially Miami), and in New York City. It is also quite common in Panama, where the 96 year American control of the Panama Canal has influenced many aspects of society (especially among the former residents of the Panama Canal Zone, commonly referred to as "Zonians") "Spanglish" can also refer to the typical errors made by native speakers of one language learning the other. However, Spanglish can also exist in areas far from borders, where English phrases caught in movies, television or music become mingled in regular speech.

Related Topics:
Portmanteau - Hispanic - USA - Spanish - English - United States - Mexico - Southern California - Florida - Miami - New York City - Panama - Panama Canal - Zonian

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The word Spanglish is a popular name for these phenomena, but not a technical one. Linguists refer to the various phenomena involved in Spanglish by a variety of terms: code mixing, code switching, loanwords, language contact, and more generally, bilingualism. Linguists usually find the term Spanglish to be too juvenile to utilise as a technical term. The term is also inaccurate in describing code switching because the language usually changes between words and not between syllables.

Related Topics:
Linguists - Code mixing - Code switching - Loanword - Language contact - Bilingual

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Spanish and English have interpenetrated in any number of ways. For example, a bilingual fluent speaker speaking to another bilingual speaker may indulge in code switching and utter a sentence such as: "I'm sorry I cannot attend next week's meeting porque tengo una obligación de negocios en Boston, pero espero que (because I have a business obligation in Boston, but I hope that) I'll be back for the meeting the week after." Often, Spanglish phrases will use shorter words from both languages as in, "ya me voy a get up" (as opposed to "ya me voy a levantar" or "I'm just about to get up.")

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More common than that are word borrowings from English into Spanish, using false cognates with their English sense, or calquing idiomatic English expressions. Some examples:

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• The word carpeta exists in the Spanish language, meaning folder. In some Spanglish it has changed its original meaning from "folder" to carpet.
• Another example of word borrowing is chequear that indeed comes from the English verb "to check", and replaces the Spanish verbs "verificar" or "comprobar". Chequear is now an accepted Spanish word. It should be mentioned that this word, while retaining its meaning, has been reworked, in some areas, as checar.
• In Spanish aplicación means "use of" or "appliance" (as in "apply to", not as in hardware); the word has been now used for a job or a school application, where instead it should be used the word solicitud. --The Spanish word aplicación and English "application" are false cognates. Using false cognates with their English sense, like using Spanish aplicación in the sense of English "application", is another form of Spanglish.
• The expression llamar para atrás is calqued literally from English "call back"; compare standard Spanish devolver la llamada ("return the call"). This is an example of calquing an idiomatic English phrase into Spanish and very common in people from Puerto Rico.

Calques from Spanish to English also occur. The following examples are from northern New Mexico:

Related Topics:
Calque - New Mexico

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• Many verbs are given indirect objects that don't have them in standard English. A notable example is "put": "She puts him breakfast on the couch!" or "Put it the juice" (turn on the power). This corresponds to the use of Spanish poner and meter with the pronoun le(s).
• One can "get down" from a car instead of "getting out" of it. This translates Spanish bajarse, to descend, to dismount, to get out of a vehicle.
• In Mexico and the southwestern U.S., people who speak Spanglish are called pochos. "Broken" Spanish, heavily influenced by English, is called mocho, which literally means "mutilated" or "amputated".

A short Spanglish conversation:

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• Anita: "Hola, good morning, cómo estás?"
• Mark: "Good, y tú?"
• Anita: "Todo bien. Pero tuve problemas parqueando mi carro this morning."
• Mark: "Sí, I know. Siempre hay problemas parqueando in el area at this time".

Translation to English:

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• Anita: "Hello, good morning, how are you?"
• Mark: "Good, and you?"
• Anita: "Everything's fine, but I had problems parking my car this morning."
• Mark: "Yeah, I know. There are always problems parking in this area at this time".

Translation to Spanish:

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• Anita: "Hola, buenos días, ¿cómo estás?"
• Mark: "Bien, y tú?"
• Anita: "Todo bien. Pero tuve problemas estacionando mi carro esta mañana."
• Mark: "Sí, lo sé. Siempre hay problemas para estacionar en el area a esta hora".
 
Spanglish: See also ►