A Linguistic Analysis Of Spanglish

LHS (print) issn 1742–2906
LHS (online) issn 1743–1662

Linguistics and
the Human
Sciences

Article

A linguistic analysis of Spanglish:
relating language to identity
Jason Rothman and Amy Beth Rell
Abstract
According to the 2000 census, 35.3 million Hispanics live in the United States. This
number comprises 12.5% of the overall population rendering the Latino community
the largestminority in the United States. The Mexican community is not only the
largest Hispanic group but also the fastest growing: from 1990 to 2000, the Mexican
population grew 52.9% increasing from 13.5 million to 20.6 million (U.S. Department
of Commerce News, 2001). The influx of Mexican immigrants coupled with the expansion of their community within the United States has created an unparalleledsituation
of language contact. Language is synonymous with identity (cf. Granger, 2004, and
works cited within). To the extent that this is true, Spanish is synonymous with being
Mexican and by extension, Chicano. With the advent of amnesty programs such as
Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), which naturalized millions of Mexican
migrants, what was once a temporal migratory populationhas become increasingly
permanent (Durand et al., 1999). In an effort to conserve Mexican traditions and
identity, the struggle to preserve the mother tongue while at the same time acculturate
to mainstream Americana has resulted in a variant of Spanglish that has received
little attention. This paper will examine the variant of Spanglish seen in the greater
Los Angeles area and liken it to thebi-national identity under which these Mexican
Americans thrive.
Keywords: spanglish, latino, immigration, ethnic minority, language contact,
identity

Affiliations
Jason Rothman, The University of Iowa, USA
Amy Beth Rell, San Jose State University, California, USA
Corresponding author: Jason Rothman, Assistant Professor, The University of Iowa, Department of Spanish and
Portuguese, 111Phillips Hall, Iowa City, IA 52242 USA
email: jason-rothman@uiowa.edu

LHS vol 1.3 2005 515–536
©2005, equinox publishing

doi : 10.1558/lhs.2005.1.3.515
LONDON

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linguistics and the human sciences

Introduction
Who could have imagined that mundane phrases known to all through mass
commercialization of the Hispanic culture such as Yo quiero Taco Bell and
Livin’la vida loca,would in and of themselves embody a highly contentious
academic, artistic and political debate between immigrants and natives alike.
These phrases made famous by the Taco Bell Chihuahua and Ricky Martin
have implications far beyond the mere television ad campaign and the music
industry. They have come to represent an amalgamation of two languages, and
by consequence that of two cultures,traditionally viewed as separate: Spanish
and English. For many, this separation is passé; it is quite simply non-existent.
The result: Spanglish.
What exactly is Spanglish? Where does it come from? Who speaks it?
Moreover, since, as we will argue, it has come to define a sense of unique
identity, we should also put forth the question: Who lives it? Indeed, while
the aforementioned questions havesomewhat indexical answers, the question of whether Spanglish is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ is as an emotionally charged
issue as it is impossible to offer an adequate answer. Of course, linguistically
speaking, Spanglish is no better or worse than its constituent parts: Spanish
and English. That is, if it serves the function of communication and is rule
governed, it is, quite simply, a language.Judgments pertaining to its status,
however tangible and defendable, are merely opinions1. Nevertheless, recent
newspaper articles such as ‘Spanish in America has a new threat: Spanglish’
underscore the popular opinion that the mere presence of Spanglish and
its proliferation endangers monolingual Spanish and, as a consequence,
encroaches on the collective Hispanic identity. Even prolific Mexican...