Spanglish

Linguistic Characteristics

Although there is no universally agreed-upon definition of Spanglish, most people identify it as language mixing or the use of English and Spanish in a single utterance or text. Borrowing, code-mixing, and calquing are the linguistic processes most identified with Spanglish. These three processes are quite common in situations of language contact. Borrowed elements from other languages are incorporated in all languages, but this practice is more common when cultures and languages are in close contact.

In Spanglish, English words can be incorporated into a Spanish language utterance as is, or English language borrowings can be phonologically, morphologically and syntactically integrated into Spanish: biles (bills), mopear (to mop), troca (truck), watchear (to watch). Another process commonly associated with Spanglish is code-mixing, which consists of the use of two languages in a single utterance; mixing can occur at the word (No quiero problems contigo. / I don't want problems with you.), clause (El es un muchacho who really works. / He is a guy who really works.), or sentence level (He is a good friend. Lo quiero mucho. I think he is a good person. / He is a good friend. I love him very much. I think he is a good person).

Intrasentential code-mixing is the most complex process because it involves mixing at multiple sites in one utterance (Mi trabajo is really interesting porque puedo ir traveling a muchos lugares que are really cool. / My job is really interesting because I can travel to many really cool places.). Intrasentential code-mixing is a rule governed process that generally does not violate the syntactic rules of either Spanish or English. It is characteristic of Latinos with a solid fluency in both Spanish and English. In fact, some linguists have argued that the ability to code mix intrasenten-tially is a good predictor of excellent bilingual proficiency of speakers of English and Spanish.

Finally, calquing is a linguistic borrowing process whereby words and phrases that already exist in the borrowing language acquire new meanings in the lending language. These terms thus are used innovatively in ways that are not common in monolingual Spanish varieties. Calques can be single words; for example, the Spanglish word carpeta calques the English word carpet. In normative Spanish, the usual word for carpet is alfombra, and carpeta means folder. Therefore, the word carpeta acquires a new meaning in Spanglish that would be unfamiliar to monolingual Spanish speakers. Phrasal calques are also common; for example, the Spanglish phrase, coger retratos is a direct translation of the English phrase to take pictures but this idea is usually expressed as sacar fotos in normative Spanish. Although both coger and retratos exist in Spanish, the combination of these terms to express the idea of picture taking is what is innovative in Spanglish. Most Spanish monolingual speakers would be unfamiliar with the use of these words in this combination.

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