Okee-dokee...as in the diminutive of OK, an affirmation.

I am from Miami...Spanglish is used LIBERALLY. It is used in advertisements, business language, everywhere. You cannot escape it. Hence, my comment of "you must be talking about me". It is second nature, a way of life here...that is why this discussion is funny to me.

I actually read right through the initial post and laughed in acknowledgement. In other words...I got it. Get it?

You got it, Grayhighlights!

I'm probably way too late to join this discussion and my opinion may fall on deaf ears but here I go anyway. Spanglish is here to stay and its elementry, especially in America.
French was at one time the english court language and about 45% of the english vocabulary is of french origin.
Language evolves and changes or else we would still be grunting and pointing at stuff. I think its great to speak perfect spanish and when I'm in Spain I attempt to speak spanish perfectly but the fact of the matter is, when there is a fusion of cultures, there are changes and the bright side is an evolution of ideas, thoughts, and yes even words. Spanglish isn't perfect but what is?

Here's a good sight for those who would like to see a fusion of cultures in America

Nyorican Poets cafe

Joe,

Yes, your post will fall on deaf ears.

Go back and look at the tone of this thread. I have tried to give examples of when Spanglish should be used, but alas, I have the appearance that many people on this thread ignore that languages evolve.

Thanks for a post free of prejudices.

Shawn

My only observation about Spanglish, and please I am not being facetious, but out of academic curiosity, is how the Spanglish lexicon of the language experience of each Spanish speaking group that settles in the U.S. differs.

For example, the lexicon used by the Mexican-Americans in Spanglish, is quite different from the Spanglish that Cuban-Americans use in South Florida. I have not heard the term marqueta, but I have heard South Floridian Spanish-speakers use "el groceri".

This to me is the fascinating part of Spanglish. That even though we are fusing two languages together, we are doing so with multiple lexicons and grammmars. And will the Spanglish speakers of the Southwest be able to comprehend the Spanglish speakers of the East coast, as the language develops, or will there be variant forms of Spanglish?

That's exactly what happened to Vulgar Latin. Variant forms of vulgar latin dialects became the romance languages. Vulgar latin had no real standards like classical latin, each region under the Latin-speaking empire developed their own dialect.

So perhaps a few hundred years from now, what we now know as Spanglish will become a series of languages.

"El spanglish es como un sofá-cama que no sirve ni para dormir ni para sentarse" :p
Frank

Booklady, you are absolutely right, and that's why I fight Spanglish! The variant languages developed in part because the conquering countries imposed their language on the countries they conquered and then moved on. The countries changed the new language because there was no constant model. In some cases, politics became the cause of language variation (Chinese dialects all sound different although the writing is virtually identical and speakers of one dialect claim they cannot understand speakers of another!)

In this age of instant communication and easy travel, it would seem logical to work towards improved communication among the peoples of the world. The speakers of Cuban Spanglish are isolating themselves linguistically from Puerto Rican Spanglish speakers and Mexican Spanglish speakers at a time when mutual understanding would be more beneficial...for political power, if for nothing else.

I still maintain that different Hispano cultures have little difficulty understanding each other. In spite of Spanglish, their lexicons are more similar than dissimilar. Whatever lack of understanding there is between the various Hispano cultures has little to do with language and more to do with politics and world views (a human condition, I suppose).

That “standard “ Spanish will ever take root here as long as people have opportunities for moving around in the world seems unlikely. If our borders were closed and there weren’t a constant influx of Hispanos from Mexico, Latin America, and the Caribe, there might be a better chance for one lexicon to emerge and solidify. It would be interesting to hear from some Canadians to see if they have similar problems with French or if the French that they speak stabilized once there were no new influxes of French people arriving from France and other French-speaking areas of the world.

It brings to mind a journal article I read years ago that had a particularly interesting take on the criteria by which lexical items (words) became dominant where there were several words for the same thing being used by different Hispano groups in NYC. It involved a study of the lexicons of Puerto Ricans, Dominican Republicans, Cubans, etc. If I recall correctly, the outcome of the study was interesting because the words that won this linguistic survival of the fittest contest ended up being based on the status of each of these groups—a status that quite often had to do with skin color.