Spanglish Totally Explained

Everything about Spanglish totally explained

Spanglish — espanglish, espaninglish, el Spanish broken, ingléspañol, ingleñol, espan'glés, espanolo, (blends of the language names "English" and "Spanish") or jerga fronteriza — refers to the range of language-contact phenomena, primarily in the speech of the Hispanic and Anglo population of the United States and the population of Mexico living near the Mexican-American border, who are exposed to both Spanish and English.
   These phenomena are produced by close border contact and large bilingual communities along the United States-Mexico border and California, Oregon, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Florida, Puerto Rico, The City of New York, and Chicago. It is common in Panama, where the 96-year (1903-1999) U.S. control of the Panama Canal influenced much of local society, especially among the former residents of the Panama Canal Zone, the Zonians. Spanglish also is known by a regional name, for example "Tex-Mex" in Texas, (cf. "Tex-Mex cuisine").
   In Mexico, the term pochismo applies to Spanglish words and expressions. Spanglish is a prime example of a pidgin language. In the late 1940s, the Puerto Rican linguist Salvador Tió coined the terms Spanglish and inglañol, a converse phenomenon wherein Spanish admixes with English; the latter term isn't as popular as the former.
   In the vernacular, Spanglish is a jocular mix-up of Spanish and English wherein the speaker renders an English word to sound Spanish in a jokingly demeaning way: "Oh, here comes El Tubbo" (a fat man, known to the speaker, who would be unoffended), expressing action or excitement: "I want some snackolas!!", "Let's party-ola!", or "Here's the pizza-mundo", and innocuous such as "Take los kitties to the vet, okay?" The examples tend to not gender match in Spanish, but is considered neither error or offense, for example "No problem-o" (should be "problema"). Another use is in a pun or joke: "I speak Spanglish." which is followed by either "sí?" or "see?", both pronounced alike.
   There is another dialect, known as Llanito, that arose in British-controlled Gibraltar and isn't a part of the "Spanglish" phenomenon.

Linguistic critique of the term "Spanglish"

Spanglish is a popular, but not technical, term for these linguistic phenomena. Linguists refer to them with several terms: code mixing, code switching, loanword, language contact, and generally, bilingualism. Linguists don't consider Spanglish a term useful in discussing these phenomena, because it groups linguistic phenonema that don't necessarily belong together; many things labelled Spanglish are very different from each other. The novel Yo-Yo Boing!, by Puerto Rican writer Giannina Braschi, is an example of a fully bilingual literary exercise incorporating code-switching, bilingualism, and Spanish.
For example, the speech of a fully bilingual Spanish and English speaker in the U.S. who spontaneously switches between Spanish and English usages in mid-sentence, linguistically is someone very different from a monolingual Puerto Rican Spanish speaker whose native vocabulary contains many English words and expressions.

Examples of Spanglish

Spanish and English have mixed a great deal. For example, a fluent bilingual speaker addressing another, like bilingual speaker might indulge in code switching with the sentence: I'm sorry I can't attend next week's meeting porque tengo una obligación de negocios en Boston, pero espero que I'll be back for the meeting the week after. (Spanish translation: "… because I've a business obligation in Boston, but I hope that …")
Spanglish phrases often use shorter words from both languages as in: Yo me voy a get up. (rather than: "Yo me voy a levantar" or "I'm just about to get up.") A common code switch in Puerto Rican Spanglish is using the English word "so" (therefore): Tengo clase, so me voy ("I have [a] class, therefore, I'm leaving").
Word borrowings from English to Spanish are more common, using false cognates in their English senses, or calquing idiomatic English expressions. Some examples:

The word carpeta is "folder" in standard Spanish. In some Spanglishes it means "carpet" (room rug).
The word rentar ("to rent") is used in Spanglish, Mexico, and parts of Central America instead of alquilar, the standard Spanish for "to rent".
The word clutch (pronounced: "cloch") is Spanglish, Mexican Spanish and Latin American Spanishes for the gear-shifting device of an automotive transmission. The standard Spanish word is embrague.
In Spanglish, yonque denotes "junkyard", not the standard Spanish desguace.
Trailer denotes "lorry" in the U.K. and "semi-trailer truck" in the U.S. In Spanglish, trailer denotes the entire tractor-trailer vehicle, not just the trailer. The correct standard Spanish term for a lorry and a semi-tractor truck is camión, and remolque is "trailer". Thus, in Spanglish, "truck drivers" and "lorry drivers" are traileros (trailer haulers); the standard Spanish is camioneros. These Spanglish words frequently are used by Mexican and American Spanglish speakers.
In Spanglish, the word boiler denotes both a "water heater " and a "boiler". The standard Spanish words are calentador de agua (water heater) and hervidor (boiler).
The Spanish verb "atender", "to wait upon" or "to give service to", for example wait upon a table of diners; however, second-generation Spanish speakers in the Anglo-sphere use the verb as "to attend", instead of "to assist".
The Spanish verb asistir, in Spanglish denotes "to assist" rather than "to attend".
Rin (the metal wheel mount for a tire and inner tube assembly) in Spanglish and some Latin American Spanglishes denotes the assembly of all three elements. The standard Spanish word is llanta, "tire".
The Spanglish verb chequear derives from the English verb "to check", replacing the Spanish verbs verificar "verify" and comprobar "ascertain". Chequear now is an accepted standard Spanish word; its variant cheque denotes "the transaction went well", as in receiving small change in Honduras. This word also is used as checar.
Closet denoting a "wardrobe cabinet" is used instead of the the standard Spanish ropero.
The Spanish aplicación denotes "usage application", in Spanglish, it denotes a "paper form" (school admission application, job application, etc.) used instead of the standard Spanish solicitud, "request"; by extension, the verb aplicar, "to apply", also is so used. The Spanish aplicación and the English "application" are false friends; importing the meaning of a false friend is Spanglish. Suceso, "event", is used to denote "success", leading to expressions such as fue todo un suceso, "it was a complete success", however, Spanish is a rich language and suceso also denotes "an event" and "a happening", hence, the phrase fue todo un suceso might translate to "it was a great happening". The English "success" is the Spanish éxito; Spanglish speakers mistake it for "EXIT", salida (the way out).
Accesar derives from the computer usage "to access", instead of acceder, the accepted standard Spanish form. Spanish speakers denounce this redundant anglicism as Spanglish.
Lonchera is Spanglish for "lunch box" instead of the standard Spanish fiambrera.
"Push" and empujar are true cognates. In Spanglish, "puchar" is used to the same effect.
The expression llamar para atrás is calqued literally from the English "to call back"; cf. standard Spanish devolver la llamada, "to return the call". This example of calquing an English idiomatic phrase to Spanish is common Puertorrican usage.
Van (la van) is Spanglish for the American English word Van, instead of the standard Spanish la furgoneta.
The English word "footing", as in hacer footing, in Spain denotes "jogging".
Bye bye (pronounced bu-bye or bye) is both a Spanglish usage and a Mexican usage, instead of the standard Spanish adiós (go to God or go with God).
The verbs bulear, janguear, parisear and vacunar derive from the English verbs "to bully", "to hang out", "to party", and "to vacuum"; however, vacunar is standard Spanish for to vaccinate.
The verbs platicar and charlar mean "to chat small-talk", however, an on-line conversation by IRC is chatear (originally denoting "to drink a glass of wine").
Carro denotes "automobile", instead of the Spanish automóvil; like-wise, troca is "truck" instead of the standard camión.
Computadora derived from "computer" is now accepted standard Spanish, despite the original Spanish the term ordenador.
Hasta you later is a corruption of hasta luego, "until later".
The noun presión, "pressure" in English, changes from "pressure" to pression on adding a prefix, but in Spanglish presura replaces presión. Similarly, the Spanish verb presionar changes to the Spanglish presurar.
The adjectives serioso | seriosa denote the English serious instead of the proper serio | seria.

Other borrowings include emailiar or emiliar, "to email", nerdio, "nerd", and laptopa, "laptop computer". Calques from Spanish to English also occur; these are northern New Mexico examples:

Many verbs are given indirect objects they don't have in standard English; notably, "put": "She puts him breakfast on the couch!" or "Put it the juice" (turn on the power), these correspond to the Spanish poner and meter with the indirect object pronouns le and les, indicating the action was done in behalf of someone else.

One can "get down" from a car, instead of "getting out" of a car; this translates to the Spanish bajarse, "to dismount" or "to descend" from a motor vehicle.

In Mexico and the southwestern U.S., Spanglish speakers are called pochos (tailless). English-influenced broken Spanish is called mocho, "mutilated", "amputated". U.S. and Latin American Spanglish speakers use the verb fiestar, "to party", which corresponds with fiesta, "a party", these derive from the standard Spanish verb festejarse, "to celebrate oneself", while divertirse denotes "to have fun", "to party" in slang American English. This is a code switching dialogue from the Spanglish novel Yo-Yo Boing!, by Giannina Braschi:
� Ábrela tú.

   ¿Por qué yo? Tú tienes las keys. Yo te las entregué a ti. Además, I left mine adentro.
� ¿Por qué las dejaste adentro?

   Porque I knew you'd yours.
� ¿Por qué dependes de mí?

   Just open it, and make it fast.
(External Link

). Additional Spanglish words can be found at http://www.courtinterpreter.net/node/29

Further Information

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