[Linganth] Fwd: Attitudes toward Spanglish

Sat Apr 12 23:01:14 UTC 2025

Dear Sarah and Frank,
 I was upset, and frankly dismayed, by the negative comments about
Spanglish and Spanglish speakers. Outraged, in fact, since I have devoted
decades to research on this topic; some of my publications that prove the
grammatical, cognitive, and social benefits of Spanglish are listed in the
link below my name, and one is attached.

     I will reach out to the U of Florida faculty member [where is she
from? Spain?] whose work was published by the Spanish Royal Academy,
although their misinformed policies and positions have been disproved and
repudiated for decades [In 2014 many scholars forced the RAE to change
their insulting and incorrect definition of Spanglish as "
*deformando*/deforming"
in their* Diccionario de la Real Academia.] *

I would need to see a breakdown of the backgrounds [ages, gender
identities, ethnicities, birthplace, level of bilingualism,
education, occupations, etc] of her subjects to get a clearer picture of
those who claim Spanglish speakers are "intellectually lazy". She will hear
from many in her field whose research refutes that view, with data from
across the USA and the world. As Monika Heller from Canada explained
decades ago, the new bilingual elite is at fault:
   “…because of the nature of the new economy, the ability to cross
boundaries is important…. but what is valued is a multilingualism as a set
of parallel monolingualisms, not a hybrid system.... This [new bilingual]
elite builds a position which marginalizes both those bilinguals whose
linguistic resources do not conform to the new norms, and those who are,
simply, monolingual.”  (Heller 1999:5)

  In contrast, the elementary school children whom I observed and taped at
home and in the streets of  NY's Puerto Rican* barrio* made over 1600
switches at junctures that honored both Spanish and English grammars, to
accomplish more than a dozen communicative goals; the details are in *Growing
up Bilingual: Puerto Rican Children in NY*, the winner of national and
international awards.  "*Hablamos los dos,*we speak both"  dijo un niño con
orgullo.  Como explica su servidora:
  “Spanglish is a rule governed, in-group and informal style of speaking,
an act of ‘doing being bilingual’. It consists of adapted and unadapted
English loan words inserted in Spanish, calques, and switches between
Spanish and English that can be both intra- and inter sentential. It is a
graphic way of saying “we speak both because we are both””.
   Ojala' dejemos de insultar a los que hablan Spanglish, and value their
bilingual dexterity instead.

Cordialmente,
    Ana Celia Zentella  (hear name
<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://9ghd13g2.r.eu-west-1.awstrack.me/L0/https:*2F*2Fnamedrop.io*2Fanaceliazentella/1/010201894d178c07-d2a8b738-ee51-4d0f-883b-f59393c2c489-000000/OoTVk5w7dfLzWK5s97jIt9B3T78=330__;JSUl!!Mih3wA!FGAjyp55780P0Au5FEX99xDMVynsV3XDcWkUm3R6UKiWcFeT1qi6Y-jWga2yMwZaoOwlRm9vuWIj0PEd-UQ$>)
          *SAY HIS/HER/THEIR NAMES!!*
Professor Emerita
UCSD Department of Ethnic Studies
https://ethnicstudies.ucsd.edu/people/zentella.html

CELEBRATE International Mother Language Day
https://sites.google.com/view/imld2024/home
DOWNLOAD THE *free *BILINGUAL MANUAL:
HOW TO RAISE A BLINGUAL CHILD/CÓMO CRIAR A UN(A) NIÑO(A) BILINGÜE
https://tinyurl.com/aczentella-manual
<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://tinyurl.com/aczentella-manual__;!!Mih3wA!BgvajYneg48XXaG3dhn24T9_VhaOjk-oEDnZZipHaPaWxzs9Kf1sZ7-6b_TF60dC5DPLZDKsImtNRd6xfA$>
Retired UC San Diego prof. researches the power of language
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/lifestyle/people/story/2023-04-01/listen-closely-retired-uc-san-diego-prof-researches-the-power-of-language

*Inducted into American Academy of Arts & Sciences 2023Association of
Latina/o and Latinx Anthropologists :  Distinguished Career Award 2023 *

> *From:* "Frank D. Gomez" <fragobf at gmail.com>
> *Date:* March 21, 2025 at 10:49:34 PM EDT
> *Subject:* *Attitudes toward Spanglish*
>
> 
> Pleased to share this abstract in English and Spanish about a phenomenon
> that receives insufficient attention. It appears in Glosas, the scholarly
> newsletter of the North American Academy of the Spanish Language (Academia
> Norteamericana de la Lengua Española), of which I am a longtime member.
>
> For me, a key reference is to "pereza intelectual," or "intellectual
> laziness," to explain why some persons use "spanglish." It is key because
> for many years that is what I have said. On further reflection, however, I
> point out that I know many Spanish speakers who do not resort to
> "spanglish" to communicate, although they may employ words in English
> occasionally for a variety of reasons.
>
> Spanglish, in my view, is used by many persons who lack the formal
> education in one or both languages and who resort to it to communicate
> quickly. In speaking with some bilinguals in English I often say "andamios"
> instead of "scaffolding" — a NYC phenomenon — because of discussing
> "andamios" with relatives and friends.  Now, this is not "spanglish."
>
> I confess to not having read the entire treatise — for the "intellectually
> curious," it is attached. I hope to read it "in extenso."
>
>
> Frank Gómez
> www.latininsights.com
> C. 917.593.8764
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/linganth/attachments/20250412/8cfa7741/attachment-0001.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Las  actitudes y  los  estereotipos asociados al spanglish GLOSAS 3.2025.docx
Type: application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document
Size: 27022 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/linganth/attachments/20250412/8cfa7741/attachment-0002.docx>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Spnglish  Catedra UNESCO oct 18.docx
Type: application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document
Size: 28976 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/linganth/attachments/20250412/8cfa7741/attachment-0003.docx>