Spanglish
Over the last couple of decades, as the native Spanish speaking population has
grown exponentially, Spanglish has become increasingly widespread. As the
name suggests, Spanglish is a combination of Spanish and English. It is not
quite the same thing as “code-switching,” which is discussed in the next sec-
tion. Spanglish is a hybrid dialect ofSpanish, not English,that typically is used
by immigrants from Mexico who have resided in the United States for some
time but who have acquired only a smattering of English. Equivalent Spanish
words are dropped from the lexicon and replaced by the hybrid terms, such as
“wachar” for “watch,” “parquear” for “park,” and “pushar” for “push.” A native
English speaker who does not know Spanish would have a hard time even rec-
ognizing Spanglish, and it is the case that many native Spanish speakers who
are not immigrants disparage those who use Spanglish.
We can get a sense of the differences between Spanish and Spanglish by com-
paring the sentences below, which translate into “I’m going to park my car”:
- Voy a estacionar mi auto. (Standard Spanish)
- Voy a parquear mi caro. (Spanglish)
Neither “parquear” (“park”) nor “caro” (“car”) exist in Standard Spanish;
the equivalent words areestacionarandauto.
It is entirely possible that Spanglish represents a kind of contact vernacular
or pidgin that native Spanish speakers are developing to cope with their new
English-language environment. At this point, however, we just don’t have
enough data to make any concrete conclusions. Because Spanglish is spoken
by those who essentially have no English, the problems it presents in our
schools are addressed as ELL issues, not dialectical ones.
Code Switching
Different dialects often have differences in grammar, as in the case of Black
English Vernacular and Standard English. They also have different usage con-
ventions. Because our society is highly mobile, large numbers of people are
bidialectical, which has the benefit of allowing them to shift between different
language situations. We frequently find that speakers of Standard English use
nonstandard grammar and/or usage and that speakers of nonstandard English
use Standard grammar and/or usage.
When people shift from one form of language to another, they are engaged in
what is calledcode switching. In its broadest sense, code switching refers to the
act of using different language varieties.
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