Spanglish in the United States: a proper expressive strategy?
Authors
Silvia Betti
Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia, Dip. di Scienze del Linguaggio e della Cultura, Largo Sant’ Eufemia 19 I - 41100 Modena
This study presents some thoughts on the usage of the so called “Spanglish” language in the United States. Its aim is that of looking at the potential facilitative effect the usage of Spanglish has in helping Hispanic and non-Hispanic speakers, who do not share either English or Spanish, to achieve communicative goals in particular communicative contexts. The literature has acknowledged that Spanglish relies on code-switching and code-mixing, switches and mixtures which can also be described as characteristics of the hybrid identity of many Latinos in the United States. In this paper we propose to look at the phenomenon of Spanglish in its hybrid aspect, which, from our perspective, is what makes it complex and fascinating from the perspective of mixed identities in intercultural contexts.
Keywords:
Spanglish, code-switching, code-mixing, culture, identity, United States of America
Betti, S. (2011). Spanglish in the United States: a proper expressive strategy?. Lenguas Modernas, (37), Pág. 33–53. Retrieved from https://revistadematematicas.uchile.cl/index.php/LM/article/view/30687
