Chicano English
Encyclopedia
Chicano English is a dialect
of American English
used by Chicano
s. One major variation of Chicano English is Tejano
English, used mainly in south Texas
. It is mistakenly referred to as Spanglish
, which is not a recognized dialect of English but rather a mixing of the Spanish
and English languages.
immigration
began in the 20th century with the exodus
of refugees from the Mexican Revolution
(1910) and the linkage of Mexican railroads to the U.S. (Santa Ana
, 1991). The Hispanic
population is one of the largest and fastest-growing ethnic groups in America
. In the Los Angeles
area alone, they form 40% of the population (roughly 1.4 out of 3.5 million, in the 1990 Census
). The result of this migration, and the segregated social conditions the immigrants found in California
, is an ethnic community that is only partly assimilated to the matrix Anglo
(that is, European American
) community. It retains symbolic links with Hispanic culture (as well as real links through continuing immigration), but linguistically is mostly an English-speaking rather than a Spanish-speaking community, though its members have a distinctive accent.
The phonological inventory appears to be identical to that of the local Anglo community. For example, the long and short vowels are clearly distinguished, as are the relatively rare English vowel classes æ. Speculatively, it seems that the main differences between the Chicano accent and the local Anglo accent are first, that the Chicanos are not participating in the ongoing phonetic changes in the Anglo communities (the raising of /æ/).
The contact of Chicanos with Anglos, who are somewhat influenced by the speech of (immigrating) Southerners (as are many Californians) who have a fronted, monophthongized y, might be responsible for the acquisition of a fronting rule for this phoneme, but this is mere speculation. Still, a phonetic fronting rule is necessary to reconcile the basic hypothesis that the nucleus of /y/ is phonologically identical with the nuclei of the other vowels.
, that show the influence of Spanish. Vocabulary includes words like simon meaning "yes", firme meaning "good", flika meaning "picture", vato meaning "guy", and feria meaning "money".
Most becomes [moʊs]; Felt becomes [fɛl], Start becomes [stɑr].
dialects do not distinguish the word classes NORTH and FORCE (though Southern dialects like that of Anniston
, Alabama
, do keep them separate). Like other American English
es, the Chicano accent is a flat-BATH dialect. That is, it classes the BATH set with the TRAP set rather than with the PALM set.
Because of phonetic similarity and complementary distribution, stressed and unstressed /e/ (NURSE, LETTER) are the same phonological class. Similarly, stressed and unstressed high-front-peripheral vowels (FLEECE, HAPPY) are classified together as /iː/ (unlike in older RP
(cultivated Southern British), where HAPPY ends with the vowel in KIT).
The non-high front vowels before intervocalic /r/ are presumably merged in this dialect (as in the local Anglo dialect and in Chicago
, but not in Philadelphia, and various Eastern dialects). That is, Mary, merry, marry are pronounced identically. This phonological collapse has two simplifying effects. First, it eliminates a rather tenuous distinction based on syllable structure rather than segmental features: Mary and merry are elsewhere distinguished phonologically as /meː.ri/ and /mer.i/.
Since /æ/ does not exist in Spanish
, the fall of /l/ cannot be attributed to Spanish influence. On the contrary, the fall of /l/ seems to be a purely English sound change that happens to occur in this particular ethnic group. /uː/ is somewhat front, as in most American and many British
dialects. Anglo speech in Southern California shows even greater fronting of /uː/, to such an extent that /uː/ and /ʊ/ overlap with /iː/ and /ɪ/ in formant space.
Some realizations of /iː/, /eː/, /oː/ and other long vowels were transcribed as monophthongs. This may be an effect of Spanish, though other American dialects (Minnesota
, and Wisconsin
, for example) also show monophthongization of these vowels, which are most commonly diphthongs in English. Also, these vowels are underlyingly long monophthongs, so the general effect here is to simplify the system of phonetic implementation, as compared with the /ij, ej, ow, uw/ of many other English dialects.
Dialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
of American English
American English
American English is a set of dialects of the English language used mostly in the United States. Approximately two-thirds of the world's native speakers of English live in the United States....
used by Chicano
Chicano
The terms "Chicano" and "Chicana" are used in reference to U.S. citizens of Mexican descent. However, those terms have a wide range of meanings in various parts of the world. The term began to be widely used during the Chicano Movement, mainly among Mexican Americans, especially in the movement's...
s. One major variation of Chicano English is Tejano
Tejano
Tejano or Texano is a term used to identify a Texan of Mexican heritage.Historically, the Spanish term Tejano has been used to identify different groups of people...
English, used mainly in south Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. It is mistakenly referred to as Spanglish
Spanglish
.Spanglish refers to the blend of Spanish and English, in the speech of people who speak parts of two languages, or whose normal language is different from that of the country where they live. The Hispanic population of the United States and the British population in Argentina use varieties of...
, which is not a recognized dialect of English but rather a mixing of the Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
and English languages.
Origins and history
A high level of MexicanMexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
immigration
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
began in the 20th century with the exodus
Emigration
Emigration is the act of leaving one's country or region to settle in another. It is the same as immigration but from the perspective of the country of origin. Human movement before the establishment of political boundaries or within one state is termed migration. There are many reasons why people...
of refugees from the Mexican Revolution
Mexican Revolution
The Mexican Revolution was a major armed struggle that started in 1910, with an uprising led by Francisco I. Madero against longtime autocrat Porfirio Díaz. The Revolution was characterized by several socialist, liberal, anarchist, populist, and agrarianist movements. Over time the Revolution...
(1910) and the linkage of Mexican railroads to the U.S. (Santa Ana
Santa Ana
-People:*Saint Anne, mother of the Virgin Mary*Santa Anna , Native American tribal leader*Antonio López de Santa Anna , Mexican general and President-United States:*Santa Ana, California...
, 1991). The Hispanic
Hispanic
Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...
population is one of the largest and fastest-growing ethnic groups in America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. In the Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
area alone, they form 40% of the population (roughly 1.4 out of 3.5 million, in the 1990 Census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
). The result of this migration, and the segregated social conditions the immigrants found in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, is an ethnic community that is only partly assimilated to the matrix Anglo
Anglo
Anglo is a prefix indicating a relation to the Angles, England or the English people, as in the terms Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-American, Anglo-Celtic, Anglo-African and Anglo-Indian. It is often used alone, somewhat loosely, to refer to people of British Isles descent in The Americas, Australia and...
(that is, European American
European American
A European American is a citizen or resident of the United States who has origins in any of the original peoples of Europe...
) community. It retains symbolic links with Hispanic culture (as well as real links through continuing immigration), but linguistically is mostly an English-speaking rather than a Spanish-speaking community, though its members have a distinctive accent.
The phonological inventory appears to be identical to that of the local Anglo community. For example, the long and short vowels are clearly distinguished, as are the relatively rare English vowel classes æ. Speculatively, it seems that the main differences between the Chicano accent and the local Anglo accent are first, that the Chicanos are not participating in the ongoing phonetic changes in the Anglo communities (the raising of /æ/).
The contact of Chicanos with Anglos, who are somewhat influenced by the speech of (immigrating) Southerners (as are many Californians) who have a fronted, monophthongized y, might be responsible for the acquisition of a fronting rule for this phoneme, but this is mere speculation. Still, a phonetic fronting rule is necessary to reconcile the basic hypothesis that the nucleus of /y/ is phonologically identical with the nuclei of the other vowels.
Phonological features
Chicano English has many features, especially in the phonologyPhonology
Phonology is, broadly speaking, the subdiscipline of linguistics concerned with the sounds of language. That is, it is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use...
, that show the influence of Spanish. Vocabulary includes words like simon meaning "yes", firme meaning "good", flika meaning "picture", vato meaning "guy", and feria meaning "money".
Consonants variations
- The devoicingDevoicingIn phonology, voicing and devoicing are sound changes, whereby a consonant changes its type of voicing from voiceless to voiced, or vice versa, due to the influence of a phonological element in its phonological environment...
of [z] in all environments: Examples: [isi] for easy and [wʌs] for was. - The devoicing of [v] in word-final position: Examples: [lʌf] for love, [hɛf] for have, and [waɪfs] for wives.
- Chicano speakers may pronounce /b/ instead of /v/: Examples: very [ˈbɛɹi], invite [imˈbaɪt].
- Absence of dental fricativeDental fricativeThe dental fricative or interdental fricative is a fricative consonant pronounced with the tip of the tongue against the teeth. There are two types, both written as th in English:*Voiced dental fricative *Voiceless dental fricative...
s so that think may be pronounced [ˈtiŋk], [ˈfiŋk] or [ˈsiŋk]. - Poor distinction between /j/ and /dʒ/ so that job may sound like yob and yes may sound like jes.
- Poor distinction of nasals in the syllable codaSyllable codaIn phonology, a syllable coda comprises the consonant sounds of a syllable that follow the nucleus, which is usually a vowel. The combination of a nucleus and a coda is called a rime. Some syllables consist only of a nucleus with no coda...
so that seen and seem are pronounced alike. merges with /ʃ/ so sheep and cheap are pronounced alike. A inversion may also happen, causing sheep to sound like /tʃip/ and cheap to sound like /ʃip/.
Vowels variations
- Chicano English speakers may merge [æ] and [ɛ], or invert those, causing bed to sound like bad and bad to sound like bed, or causing both to sound the same. sounds like /iŋ/: sink sounds like seenk and also sing sounds like seeng.
- The distinction between /ɪ/ and /iː/ before liquid consonants is frequently reduced, making feel and fill homophones.
Final consonant deletion
Only certain consonants occur at the end of words. All other single consonants in English would thus be unfamiliar to Chicano English speakers in this environment.Most becomes [moʊs]; Felt becomes [fɛl], Start becomes [stɑr].
Vowel Structure
Most AmericanUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
dialects do not distinguish the word classes NORTH and FORCE (though Southern dialects like that of Anniston
Anniston
Anniston may refer to:* Places:** Anniston, Alabama** Anniston, Missouri* Anniston Munitions Center* Anniston * USS Anniston, a.k.a. USS Montgomery See also:* Aniston...
, Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
, do keep them separate). Like other American English
American English
American English is a set of dialects of the English language used mostly in the United States. Approximately two-thirds of the world's native speakers of English live in the United States....
es, the Chicano accent is a flat-BATH dialect. That is, it classes the BATH set with the TRAP set rather than with the PALM set.
Because of phonetic similarity and complementary distribution, stressed and unstressed /e/ (NURSE, LETTER) are the same phonological class. Similarly, stressed and unstressed high-front-peripheral vowels (FLEECE, HAPPY) are classified together as /iː/ (unlike in older RP
Rp
- Science and technology :* Rapid prototyping, a manufacturing and engineering process* Rear projection, the projection of images from behind onto a translucent screen* Red Phosphorus, a phosphorus allotrope...
(cultivated Southern British), where HAPPY ends with the vowel in KIT).
The non-high front vowels before intervocalic /r/ are presumably merged in this dialect (as in the local Anglo dialect and in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, but not in Philadelphia, and various Eastern dialects). That is, Mary, merry, marry are pronounced identically. This phonological collapse has two simplifying effects. First, it eliminates a rather tenuous distinction based on syllable structure rather than segmental features: Mary and merry are elsewhere distinguished phonologically as /meː.ri/ and /mer.i/.
Since /æ/ does not exist in Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, the fall of /l/ cannot be attributed to Spanish influence. On the contrary, the fall of /l/ seems to be a purely English sound change that happens to occur in this particular ethnic group. /uː/ is somewhat front, as in most American and many British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
dialects. Anglo speech in Southern California shows even greater fronting of /uː/, to such an extent that /uː/ and /ʊ/ overlap with /iː/ and /ɪ/ in formant space.
Some realizations of /iː/, /eː/, /oː/ and other long vowels were transcribed as monophthongs. This may be an effect of Spanish, though other American dialects (Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
, and Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
, for example) also show monophthongization of these vowels, which are most commonly diphthongs in English. Also, these vowels are underlyingly long monophthongs, so the general effect here is to simplify the system of phonetic implementation, as compared with the /ij, ej, ow, uw/ of many other English dialects.
Well-known speakers of Chicano English
- George LopezGeorge LopezGeorge Lopez is an American comedian, actor, and talk show host. He is mostly known for starring in his self-produced ABC sitcom George Lopez. His stand-up comedy examines race and ethnic relations, including the Mexican American culture...
- Cheech MarinCheech MarinRichard Anthony "Cheech" Marin is an American comedian, actor and writer who gained recognition as part of the comedy act Cheech & Chong during the 1970s and early 1980s, and as Don Johnson's partner, Insp. Joe Dominguez on Nash Bridges...
- La CoachaLa CoachaLa Coacha is a Mexican-American comedienne, singer, blogger and internet personality. She became Perez Hilton's protege after 'stalking' him for a number of years. Her videos are often featured on his website. La Coacha's internet videos are popular, with her parody of Lady Gaga's Alejandro...
- Jason Castillo
- Bradley NowellBradley NowellBradley James Nowell was an American musician who served as lead singer and guitarist of the Californian band Sublime. He died at the age of 28 from a heroin overdose shortly before the release of Sublime's self-titled major label debut.Raised in Long Beach, California, Nowell developed an...
- Juan AldereteJuan AldereteJuan Alderete is an American bassist known for his work with the band The Mars Volta. Prior to his work with that band, he was known for playing in Racer X, where he received credit as John Alderete.-Biography:...
- Edward James OlmosEdward James OlmosEdward James Olmos is an American actor and director. Among his most memorable roles are William Adama in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, Lt...
- Danny TrejoDanny TrejoDan "Danny" Trejo is an American actor who has appeared in numerous Hollywood films, most notably in roles as an antagonist, or anti-hero.-Early life:...
See also
- Caló (Chicano)Caló (Chicano)Caló is an argot or slang of Mexican Spanish which originated during the first half of the 20th century in the Southwestern United States. It is the product of zoot-suit pachuco culture.-Origin:...
- Nuyorican English
External links
- "Spanish & Chicano English." Do You Speak American?Do You Speak American?Do You Speak American? is a documentary film and accompanying book about journalist Robert MacNeil's investigation into how different people throughout the United States of America speak. The book and documentary look at the evolution of America's way of speaking from the English language to...
- Hector Becerra, "East L.A. speaks from its heart", Los Angeles Times October 24, 2011