Language in Contact: Spanglish

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the evolution of Spanglish; a combination of English and Spanish. Spanglish is also reflective of Anglo and Hispanic civilizations not only in the United States, but throughout the entire continent and possibly Spain. The paper shows that Spanglish is the way of communicating where a speaker starts in one language, then switches back and forth to another through code switching and loanwords. Author Ilan Stavans' opinions on Spanglish is discussed.

From the Paper:

"In contemporary society increased assimilation and multiculturalism have led to the creation of hybrids of English throughout North America. Some Americans are the first generation in their family born in the U.S.; thus, they have grown up speaking two languages -- English and their parents' mother tongue. According to some researchers, `Spanglish' defies any tight definition, has few rules, and is considered by some linguists to be a new dialect of English (Toribio 89). The southwestern United States borders Mexico; thus, the immigrants coming here over the years has led to the spread of Spanglish, a language that is a combination of Spanish and English."

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