Shall we speak Spanglish?
Find out how the expansion of the Spanish-speaking community and globalization have made English and Spanish combine to create an unprecedented pseudo-language.
Spanglish
A simple name for a complex reality.
Dos idiomas en contacto (2023) by Aina Arbona GelabertFundación Antonio de Nebrija
The name Spanglish (with its variants Espanglés, Inglespañol, Inglañol, or Espanglish) refers to a linguistic variety in which English collides with Spanish.
Hombre hispanohablante en EEUU (2023) by Aina Arbona GelabertFundación Antonio de Nebrija
Although there are many places in the world where English and Spanish coexist, the name Spanglish fundamentally alludes to the language used by the Hispanic population residing in the United States.
Mujer aprendiendo sobre el spanglish (2023) by Aina Arbona GelabertFundación Antonio de Nebrija
The term Spanglish is rejected by many scholars, who argue that Spanish spoken in the United States shares similarities with that spoken in other Spanish-speaking areas. These authors suggest referring to "popular Spanish of the United States."
What is the Spanish of the United States?
El español en EEUU (2023) by Aina Arbona GelabertFundación Antonio de Nebrija
The Spanish of the United States is fundamentally the language of migration, that is, it is spoken by groups that have moved from other places of origin to the United States.
In this position, Spanish becomes a heritage language, which is not always preserved by the second and third generations.
With Spanish spoken in the United States, examples of code-switching are present, as is commonly the case anywhere in the world where languages come into contact.
If someone starts a sentence in Spanish and ends it in English, or speaks Spanish with occasional English discursive markers (so, then), that is code-switching.
With Spanish spoken in the United States, there are words adapted from English to Spanish or vice versa, such as "dustear" (dust +ear, which refers to dusting) or "tichar" (teach +ar).
A curious case: the "llanito" of Gibraltar
In the British colony of Gibraltar (southern Spain), llanito is the name given to the Spanish used by Gibraltarians: with occasional English vocabulary and with code-switching from Spanish to English and vice versa. Llanito is also the colloquial name for Gibraltarians.
Is "Spanglish" something new?
Sometimes, speaking in Spanish which is marked with anglicisms is informally called "Spanglish." Spanish has adopted words from other languages, which can usually be differentiated by the time period.
Hombre aprendiendo sobre el spanglish (2023) by Aina Arbona GelabertFundación Antonio de Nebrija
Medieval Spanish adopted many Arabic and Occitan words; Renaissance Spanish welcomed Italianisms and the 18th century opened the door to numerous Gallicisms or French words. Anglicisms began to become prominent in Spanish from the 19th century.
Do we use Spanglish?
Currently, there are sectors heavily influenced by English, such as technology and computing, marketing and advertising, hospitality and tourism...
Expresiones en inglés (2023) by Aina Arbona GelabertFundación Antonio de Nebrija
In these sectors, English is used: big data, briefing, mailing, amenities... Even the word "marketing" is an anglicism used in Spanish, although there are Spanish-speaking places where it has been replaced by the word "mercadotecnia."
And in everyday life? The influence of social media
The use of email, the internet, and social media, as well as the tendency to abbreviate all words (with the excuse of efficiency), all encourage the use of English acronyms amongst young people.
Have you ever used these terms?
OK (okay)
LOL (laugh out loud)
BTW (by the way)
IDK (I don't know)
ASAP (as soon as possible)
FYI (for your information)
POV (point of view)
For proper use of the language, it is important not to overuse foreign terms if they are unnecessary. Although the introduction of foreign lexicon is historically a part of all languages, the overuse of anglicisms can make it difficult for many recipients to understand the message.
Música en spanglish (2023) by Aina Arbona GelabertFundación Antonio de Nebrija
Spanglish in music: the latest trend
At Eurovision 2022, Spain came third in the festival with the song 'SloMo,' which cleverly combines Spanish and English in its verses.
Mujer descubriendo sobre el spanglish (2023) by Aina Arbona GelabertFundación Antonio de Nebrija
How will Spanglish evolve?
How will it affect how we communicate?
Only time will tell.
This article was written based on the investigations of Ángel López García-Molins and the British Council.
Content curation: Aina Arbona
Graphic Editor: Carmen García
Consulting and review: Lola Pons (Universidad de Sevilla)
