Spanglish
Is the use of Spanglish seen as a term of "disparagement," as linguistics Professor Ricardo Otheguy asserts? Or is the mixing of English into Spanish "helpful" and "…as normal as breathing and as natural as life itself" to the ethnic mix of Latinos and Anglos in Southern California and elsewhere, as journalist Kimberly Ortiz insists? This paper presents both sides of the issue; some say that using Spanglish as a hybrid language is a bastardized version of English and Spanish; others believe Spanglish, besides being here to stay, is perfectly legitimate as an alternative kind of language.
The Positives Relating to Spanglish
PBS NewsHour host Ray Suarez interviewed author Ilan Stavans about Stavans' book, Spanglish: The Making of a New American Language. Stavans is the president of Latin America and Latino culture at Amherst College and he steadfastly defends Spanglish as a "…way of communication where one starts in one language, switches to the other" and goes back and forth or "perhaps coins a few new words…" along the way (PBS). Stavans adds that Spanglish is "a very creative jazzy way of being Latino in the U.S. today" (PBS).
Host Suarez questions whether Spanglish is truly a language, and to that Stavans answers that Spanglish may be in the "process" of becoming a language. And Stavans adds that there is really not one single version of Spanglish because Cuban Americans in Miami have their own particular version and Mexican-Americans have theirs as well. He equates the different versions of Spanglish with the dramatic differences within the Latino community: there are "…a number of different Latinos" including those of Puerto Ricans heritage, of Mexican heritage, the Cubans and Venezuelans as well (PBS, p. 2).
Stavans makes a good point when he says that every time another immigrant group arrives in the U.S., that group in time "wants to become part of the so-called melting pot" and hence there is a "period of transition" between the immigrants' native language and the acquisition of English -- and the two become blended in some fashion unique...
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