Book Spanglish

Book Spanglish

Where there are certain correspondences between the English and the Span- ish verb systems, the English patterns are frequently followed. In the speech of young Chicanos, the progressive tenses are often the preferred form, where a simple present would do as well. Standard Spanish, of course, also has the progressive tense. The difference here is the absence of the present tense in speech to refer to an action in progress. Thus a question like ¿Por qué fumas? would typically be translated as ‘Why do you smoke?’ rather than as ‘Why are you smoking?’ In fact the second translation would sound odd to some Chicano Spanish speakers. Other cases pointing to English interference are the use of -ing verbals as nouns. Like many English speakers learning Spanish, Chicano students who are native speakers of Spanish often use these verbals as gerunds rather than simply as participles, as is common in Spanish. English gerunds have to be translated as infinitives in Spanish:

After leaving the office, he went to the drugstore. (Despues de salir de la oficina, se fue a la botica.)

In the following examples we will find several cases of Spanish gerundios func- tioning like gerunds rather than like participles:

3. Autorizando abortos es algo que exige mucho pensamiento.

4. Usándolas es una manera de afirmar su mexicanidad.

5. El ideal de la hombría consiste en nunca permitiendo que el mundo

exterior penetre en su intimidad.

6. El dinero que gana lo gasta en tomando.

English interference is more commonly seen in written texts than heard in oral speech. Here the interference arises from lack of practice in Spanish com- position as a result of English dominance. This type of interference is evident in the absence of an article before generic and mass nouns in Spanish, where an article is always required. Thus sentences like Man is mortal or Rice is good must be translated as El hombre es mortal and El arroz es bueno n Spansh. Ch- cano students, however, will often omit the article, as in English:

1. Capitalismo es un sistema económico

2. Religión es algo muy personal

3. Gente ya orita está despertando

Constant translation from one language to another, especially when deal- ing in Spanish with material that has been learned and rehearsed in English, often leads to the translation of prepositions, such as the preposition to before infinitives as we have already seen. Informal English also allows particular prepositions that follow certain verbs to appear in sentence final position with transposed object complements. Literal translations thus appear strange in Spanish, as in the following examples:

1. La muerte es un tema que todos piensan en a veces.

2. Quieren quedar vivos porque su vida es la única vida que están segu-

ros de.

3. . . . significa en realidad lo que nosotros tenemos fe en.

Prepositions are especially difficult to translate, but problems also arise when no preposition is required in Spanish, as in the following example:

No estamos pidiendo por mas caridad. (pidiendo más caridad) ‘We’re not ask- ing for more charity.’

The one distinguishing characteristic of Chicano Spanish is the presence of numerous loanwords from the English language. The phenomenon of borrowing is, of course, common throughout the world in areas where lan- guages are in contact. In fact the Spanish language itself has incorporated numerous loans from Arabic, Greek, French, Italian, Germanic languages,

Borrowing is actually quite logical given the dominance of English, and given the exclusion of Spanish from most formal functions, especially in academic and technological fields. Thus, information provided and stored in English is frequently converted into Borrowing is actually quite logical given the dominance of English, and given the exclusion of Spanish from most formal functions, especially in academic and technological fields. Thus, information provided and stored in English is frequently converted into Spanish through morphological and phonological adaptations. In most cases borrowing leads to the incorporation of new meanings into Spanish varieties in the Southwest. In most cases borrowing leads to the incorporation of new meanings into Spanish varieties in the Southwest

Often, equivalent terms exist in Spanish but with different connotations, so that particular meanings can be captured only through these loanwords. Often the whole borrowing process becomes a linguistic game that Chicanos delight in playing. Sometimes the equivalent term in Spanish is not part of the Chicano repertoire and borrowing is the only alternative. Various reasons exist, therefore, for the presence of these loanwords in Chicano Spanish; all provide the Spanish varieties with new meanings, but not all are the result of lexical gaps.

Spanish varieties include a number of verbs borrowed from English. These verbs are generally integrated into the -ar conjugation group, with -ear (pro- nounced -iar) combinations having a higher frequency, as in the following examples:

shine > chanear mop > mapear spell > espelear miss > mstear

lock > laquear quit > cutear catch > quechar type > tapear

dust > dostear watch > huachar match > mechear

Nouns borrowed from English are provided with number and gender, like all nouns in the Spanish language. A certain uniformity prevails throughout the Southwest in terms of the gender assigned to particular loans, but in some cases there are differences. Thus the term for plug may vary between plogue (masculine) and ploga (feminine). What is magasín (m.) for some is magasina (f.) for others. Yet for terms of high frequency, gender assignments are generally the same in Texas as in California. In some cases gender differences corre- spond to differences in meaning. For example, in some areas the term

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