Spanglish

Spanglish (a portmanteau of the words "Spanish" and "English") is a name sometimes given to various contact dialects that result from interaction between Spanish and English used by people who speak both languages or parts of both languages. Spanglish is not usually considered a language itself, but instead a blend of Spanish and English lexical items and grammar. Spanglish is not a pidgin, because unlike pidgin languages, Spanglish can be the primary speech form for some individuals. Spanglish can be considered a variety of Spanish with heavy use of English or a variety of English with heavy use of Spanish. It can be more related either to Spanish or to English, depending on the circumstances. Since Spanglish arises independently in each region, it reflects the locally spoken varieties of English and Spanish.

The term was introduced by the Puerto Rican poet Salvador Tió in the late 1940s, when he called it Espanglish or Inglañol. (from Español + English, and Inglés + Español, respectively)

In the late 1940s, the Puerto Rican journalist, poet, and essayist Salvador Tió coined the terms Espanglish (later shortened to Spanglish) for Spanish spoken with some English terms, and the less commonly used Inglañol (for English spoken with some Spanish terms).

After Puerto Rico became a United States territory in 1898, Spanglish became progressively more common there as the United States Army and the early colonial administration tried to impose the English language on island residents. Between 1902 and 1948, the main language of instruction in public schools (used for all subjects except Spanish language courses) was English. Currently Puerto Rico is nearly unique in having both English and Spanish as its official languages (but see also New Mexico). Consequently, many American English words are now found in the vocabulary of Puerto Rican Spanish. Spanglish may also be known by different regional names.

Spanglish does not have one unified dialect—specifically, the varieties of Spanglish spoken in New York, Florida, Texas, and California differ. Spanglish is so popular in many Spanish-speaking communities in the United States, especially in the Miami Hispanic community, that monolingual speakers of standard Spanish may have difficulty in understanding it. It is common in Panama, where the 96-year (1903–1999) U.S. control of the Panama Canal influenced much of local society, especially among the former residents of the Panama Canal Zone, the Zonians.

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