Abogados

Speaking by telephone with EFE, the Mexican-born author and university professor said that despite its enormous visibility, it is very difficult to estimate the number of people who speak Spanglish in the United States. "Spanglish is a cultural as well as a linguistic phenomenon at the same time," Stavans indicated.

"There are some 38.9 million Latinos in the United States and many of them speak Spanglish, but there are also many people who without being Hispanic use Spanglish for work, professional or other reasons," the writer noted.

Stavans, 42, offered several definitions of Spanglish, including the switching from English to Spanish or conversely, inserting linguistic inventions derived from one language into the other tongue, and using English grammatical forms even when only Spanish is spoken.

Some widespread examples of this last type of Spanglish are "que tenga buen dia" or "llamar para atras," which are literal un-grammatical translations of "have a nice day" and "call back."

"Use of this type of expression indicates that the speaker has lived in a country where the other language predominates," the expert explained.

Though some linguists contend that Spanglish is an intermediate point between speaking Spanish and fully learning English, Stavans does not fully concur.

"In the United States with its population explosion, and aware that there is or was bilingual education and that multiculturalism allows us to reclaim our own heritage and language, we Latinos are learning English, but we're not abandoning Spanish or Spanglish, either," Stavans noted.

Stavans pointed out that the continual migratory flow between Spanish-speaking countries and the United States is a factor that encourages the emergence of Spanglish, and at the same time differentiates it historically from the linguistic experiences of other immigrant groups.

"We Latinos have been continuously coming to this country and there are no first, second or third generations."

"When the Nicaraguans began to lose their Spanish, the Salvadorans and Guatemalans arrived," Stavans added as an example.

He also noted that the large number of Spanish television, radio and newspaper outlets have made the survival of Spanish in the United States possible, which is something that has not occurred with the languages of other immigrant groups.

Besides the existence of a strong Spanish media, Stavans underscored the geographic proximity of Mexico, Cuba and Puerto Rico to the United States, for example, as another element in helping to preserve Hispanics' native language. Other immigrant groups have not had this advantage, either.

Additionally, Hispanic children and adolescents share a playful urge to mix the languages they are exposed to and defy authority by erasing the linguistic borders that serve to maintain the purity of each language.

"Spanglish is an incredibly creative, even artistic expression of communication. It's also a demonstration of an enterprising business spirit that uses whatever language it can to communicate, even if this angers academics and experts," he said.

Spanglish arose in response to the needs of the working classes, but eventually the upper classes and the cultural elite began to pay attention.

Stavans compares Spanglish to jazz, which originated among people who did not read music and so had to improvise, and eventually this art form spread throughout the world.

"In Miami, academics, members of the media, doctors, etc. speak Spanglish," said the author to prove how this linguistic phenomenon has broken educational and social barriers.

"In the end, people, not scholars, are the real owners of a language," he concluded. EFE

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