SpanglishUS

Language In Contact: Spanglish in The United States Soraya Binesh

**Background Information**

//SPANGLISH// refers to the combination of Spanish and English in the ability to express of people who converse parts of two languages, or whose association of the place they were born in just a bit different from where they used to live. They perform and use the two languages to communicate and converse with on and another. Though, media, local and regional and national stories have just recently moved up higher of the misunderstanding that native Spanish speakers are only now commencing to popular areas of the United States, such as California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. The United States’ Hispanic Population has been experiencing an upsurge since the early 1990’s. The communities that acquire a huge Hispanic population and a range of things of the Spanish language have been enabled  to continue in the United States for well more than four centuries. The Hispanic population of the United States is growing rapidly thus the spread and influence of Spanglish is growing tremendously (Stavans) Spanglish is not seen as a pidgin language. Pidgin is defined as a simplified language that develops as a means of communication between two or more groups that do not have a language in common (lexical itemas), in situations such as trade.

Stavans, Illan. //Spanglish: The making of a new American Language//. 1st ed. New York : Harpercollins, 2004. Web. 10 Nov. 2011.

**Language in Contact**

Language in contact happens when two or more languages or varietes interact. Though in the United States, there are a significant number of different Spanish dialects which come into contact with English on a daily basis. With an increasing number of speakers of Spanish coming into the United States with different cultural backgrounds, the United States expect to see that there is a particular sector of the population and the linguistic profiles of the Hispanic population. Though because of the upsurge, this also could lead that the dominant language of the United States could also be Spanish because of the ever-increasing number of speakers. The history of this becoming relevant is back in 1848, America associated an extra space of California and that led into an overflowing po pulation of Anglos arriving into this new territory trying to find gold and land. English and Spanish were the two dominant languages at the time. Spanish was seen as being more acceptable in public as English but then slowly it became more apparent that English is becoming more predominant. (Pütz) There was research that was published making it portrayed that Spanish was notarized and certified without translation into English which means Spanish was comprehended. This all shows that in the early days, Spanish and English DID coexist and was a major influence of society and as a huge number of Anglos still continue to migrate to this new land making a huge upsurge of the Hispanic population.

Pütz, Martin. //Language contact and language conflict//. 1st. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Co., 1995. Web. 14 Nov.

**Code-Switching and Borrowing**

Code-Switching is [|defined]as the practice of alternating between two or more languages in a given communicative event. This context may connect to local practices such as turn selection of a range of number forms of exchanging including the knowledge of society and diverse identities. Speakers of more than one language or known for their ability to code-switch or mix their languages during communication. This phenomenon occurs when bilinguals substitute a word or phrase from one language with a phrase or word from another language. Traditionally, code-switching has been viewed as a plan to override for diminished language proficiency. Thus, behind this theory, bilinguals that code-switch because they do not know the language very well. It is just a natural tendency of the interaction of conversing be tween two bilingualists. Examples of Dialogue:

“Yo no estoy de acuerdo con eso. But anyhow, I think I will try again to get it” <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">//I do not agree with this. But anyhow, I think I will try again to get it//

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">“I have lived in Miami for a long time, pero soy cubano” <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">//I have lived in Miami for a long time but I am Cuban//

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">Nilep, Chad. "“Code Switching” in Sociocultural Linguistics ." //University of Colorado, Boulder// 19 (2006): Web. 13 Nov. <http://nhlrc.ucla.edu/events/institute/2011/readings/He%20-%20Nilep.pdf>.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">**Bilingualism**

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">There are a number of languages that are spoken throughout the world. Many people have the capacity to learn a second language. It may be another language in the same country or totally different language from another country. Today, there are several schools or institutes that offer foreign language immersian programs for people to learn and progress their bilingual skills. This opens the door to other cultures because of the knowledge of acquiring a second language increases the career opportunites and offering several job options. This is also beneficial because it improves the understanding the person’s own native language. Because Spanish is the most spoken language in the United States, it is portrayed as a benefit to learn and become fluent in the language because you are easily to converse with others in the field if you are working or helping out in society. There are things that we can learn about language best when we see the distortions that occur as systems come together, interact, converge, enter into code-switching and borrowing relationships, and ultimately, affect each other in a permanent way. In essence, we must ask ourselves over and over again: What happens when two or more languages come into contact?

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10px;">Baker, Colin. //Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism//. 5th ed. British Library, Web. 14 Nov.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">**Interview With Claudia Holguín**

media type="youtube" key="8-MofOXzZjM" height="360" width="640" <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Claudia Holguín, professor at the University of Oregon, talks about how Spanglish plays an affect in her life and how its in an impact in society today. She explains in depth talking about how her beliefs of how society today deals with the upsurge of the Hispanic population with the influence of Spanglish around the United States and what the future of Spanish in the United States will be after generation after generation. Interview: November 30th, 2011