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The Power and Beauty of Spanglish: Celebrating Our Linguistic Heritage
18 Plays1 month ago
This is the linguistic celebration that reclaims the power and beauty of how we actually speak. The moment when you realize that Spanglish isn't "broken" language - it's a sophisticated cultural dialect that deserves respect and celebration.
Here's what we're diving into for Latine Heritage Month:
- Defining Spanglish: the linguistic phenomenon of mixing English and Spanish to create its own legitimate dialect
- Code-switching as a superpower: expertly navigating between two cultural and linguistic identities
- Chicano identity: decentering the Anglo-American worldview through language and culture
- How immigrant communities create language: why Spanglish comes from us, the children of immigrants
- The complexity beyond substitution: how words convey better meaning and nuance in different languages
- Chicano English as a fully formed dialect: "barely" meaning "just now" and other linguistic features
- The power dynamics of language: who decides what's "proper" versus what's a "dialect"
- Why linguistic shame is about control, not correctness
From growing up speaking three languages simultaneously (Spanglish, Chicano English, and English) to understanding that being told your natural speech is "wrong" is actually about power dynamics, this episode celebrates the sophisticated linguistic abilities of bilingual communities.
Because here's what I need you to know: Spanglish is beautiful. Chicano English is beautiful. Code-switching makes you a fucking badass. Don't ever let anyone talk down to you for how you naturally express yourself.
We created this dialect because we navigate two worlds, and our language reflects the complexity and richness of that experience. It's not a lack of proficiency - it's cultural artistry.
Sources:
- PBS: Chicano English
- Mitu: Chicano English Dialect
- UC Davis: Spanglish Research
- LA Times: Chicano Identity
- YouTube: Language Analysis
Subscribe. Share. Remember that your linguistic heritage is something to celebrate, not hide.
Small steps, big healing. Keep growing! ✨
Join the conversation! What's your favorite Spanglish phrase or code-switching moment? DM me your linguistic pride stories on Instagram @YourCoachMari.
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Transcript
Introduction to Growing with Sol Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
um Hello beautiful souls and welcome to another installment of the Growing with Sol podcast. This is where I explore the moments and stories that shape who we're becoming.
00:00:11
Speaker
i am Marisol I love having real conversations on this platform about growth, self-discovery and learning to put yourself first. Whether you're diving into books that change our perspective or unpacking personal experiences that teach us something new, this podcast is for women who are done playing small and ready to embrace their own journey.
00:00:36
Speaker
If you've struggled with putting yourself first or battled self-doubt, you're in the right place. This isn't about perfection. It's about the messy, beautiful process of growing into yourself.
00:00:46
Speaker
Come grow with me.
Latina Heritage Month Discussion
00:00:48
Speaker
So this episode is I believe, I believe being published on the very first day of Hispanic Heritage Month, which if you've been ah follower of this podcast for a while, i did a whole like segment, I think a year or two ago about how much I hate the name Hispanic Heritage Month.
00:01:08
Speaker
So I like to call it Latina Heritage Month because I feel like that's just the appropriate name and what we're actually all... celebrating during this time ah between um September 15th and October So so Yeah, I'm going to see if I can link that episode in the show notes if you want a little bit more information about why I don't like the name and the history of it and stuff.
00:01:33
Speaker
um But essentially, that's I'm going to be focusing on more Latina-type things. um I also do want to preface that I am Mexican-American,
00:01:46
Speaker
so I tend to come to this month through that lens. It is the lens that I am most familiar with. um So that is what shapes how I view things, how I express myself.
00:02:03
Speaker
um And naturally, when I do talk about like other parts of like Latina culture and cultures, you know I do my research and stuff. But in terms of being the most knowledgeable about a given topic, it's going to be my Mexican-American heritage.
Understanding Spanglish and Code Switching
00:02:18
Speaker
But also because of that, I do want to talk about something that is near and dear to my heart, which Spanglish. Spanglish something that is ah part of who I am.
00:02:33
Speaker
it is...
00:02:36
Speaker
how How I express myself, it's how I express myself when I'm most comfortable as well. And not even just most comfortable. I mean, that's one aspect, um definitely, which I'm going to get into.
00:02:50
Speaker
um But it's also a thing that...
00:02:55
Speaker
i I feel like it's a little bit more complex because originally I kind of figured that speaking Spanish was something that like everybody did. And then I remember seeing a TikTok of... um somebody who is on the East Coast and they're not Mexican, they're Latino. I don't, I think, I think maybe, i can't recall that creator's name.
00:03:15
Speaker
I'm thinking he's, he's Central American, but I can't recall from which country. um And he was saying that like, it's not an East Coast thing. Like people on the East Coast don't speak Spanglish the way like Mexicans speak Spanglish on the West Coast.
00:03:27
Speaker
And I was like, hmm, I didn't know that was a thing. i didn't know there was like a ah difference. But because of that, I thought it was really interesting. And my sister actually now lives on the East Coast. So I was like, hey, is that is that that your experience too out there?
00:03:41
Speaker
And that's her experience as well where – People don't really speak Spanglish the way we speak it on the West Coast. And like usually like they speak Spanish and English. But like if you speak to them in English, you're going to get a response in English or you speak to them in Spanish. You get response in Spanish and you don't really get much of a mix of the two.
00:03:59
Speaker
But I did see some stuff in my research that kind of negates that or opposes that as well. But like I always joke that Spanglish is my first language.
00:04:11
Speaker
It's where I feel the most at home, I would say, is when I speak Spanglish. But let's go ahead and get into this episode. Let's define our terms. I'm all about defining terms. So first and foremost, Spanglish.
00:04:29
Speaker
Essentially, it is the linguistic phenomenon of mixing both English and Spanish, effectively creating its own dialect. So that's something that came up a lot in the research that I'm going to get into, that Spanglish isn't just replacing necessarily a word when you forget it.
00:04:44
Speaker
That's an aspect of it. Like, let's be real. But there's also much more complexity to it as well. Another really important thing to keep in mind during this conversation is code switching.
00:04:57
Speaker
So code switching is the ability to effectively navigate and alternate between two or more linguistic and cultural modalities. So in this regard, we are talking about it linguistically.
00:05:09
Speaker
But like we're going to get into it's so much deeper than that. it It has cultural significance and and code switching allows us to expertly navigate between two cultural identities, two cultural identities.
00:05:27
Speaker
situations even, environments. You know, i first started talking about and learning about code switching a lot in college. And you start looking at code switching between, you know, how you are with your friends, how you are with your family, how you've been your community at home.
00:05:44
Speaker
And then you contrast that with the culture that's expected and the culture that expected. in an academic institution, predominantly white institution. And you're like, okay, let me, you know, let me switch it up here. And then, you know, you hang out with your friends or you hang out with the, um,
00:06:01
Speaker
We had um the Latino Student Union, and you kind switch it up. You know, kind of go back to you like your your comfort yeah and who you you are in that regard as well. That's the code switching aspect.
Exploration of Chicano Identity
00:06:11
Speaker
um Another thing that I do want to highlight as well, um and that I did talk about in other episodes, like I mentioned a couple of years ago, and did a deep dive on some of these things. and But I do want to talk about the identity of Chicano.
00:06:27
Speaker
um So Chicano, Chicana, Chicane. There's also like, I think the, like the Latinx, Chicanex as well. I've seen that. um But essentially it is a type of Mexican American identity that de-centers the Anglo American worldview.
00:06:41
Speaker
That is a very broad sort of like wide strokes definition of what Chicano is. But I do think that it succinctly encapsulates what it is to be Chicano or Chicane.
00:06:55
Speaker
Um, Identifying as Chicana is something that I have done most of my life. um I still do, to be honest. I feel like I i like ah identify as Chicana and not just as Mexican-American.
00:07:11
Speaker
and there are people who don't. There are people who are Mexican-American who do not identify as Chicano or Chicana. So that is also something just to keep in mind. But let's get into what exactly Spanglish is.
00:07:23
Speaker
So Spanglish is the utilization of ah both languages simultaneously. Okay, you are navigating and utilizing both languages at the same time.
00:07:34
Speaker
This can be in the form of substitution. Like I mentioned before, you kind of forget a word or a phrase. So you switch it out for the other language, whether that is the word, the phrase, or even a whole sentence.
00:07:46
Speaker
But the thing is that there is a rhyme or reason for why you do it. Okay. um It's not this like arbitrary insertion of one word here or there. Like I'm sure we all have seen like a Latino TV show or like a Latino movie.
00:08:05
Speaker
And like they put in Spanish words in the most awkward part of a conversation. And it it like it doesn't flow. And it's like, who talks like that? Nobody. It's like somebody who doesn't somebody who doesn't actually speak Spanglish wrote this script.
00:08:20
Speaker
Like that's what it feels like. And that's how you know that there actually is more complexity to this dialect, essentially. So there is rhyme or reason to how phrases and sentences and words are interchanged or intermixed or what have you.
00:08:36
Speaker
So basically, like you can tell when somebody is forcing it. And where exactly does Spanglish come from? Communities who speak both languages. like It comes from us, okay? It comes from immigrant communities.
00:08:50
Speaker
It comes from the children of immigrants, okay? That's me, baby. That's us. It comes from us. We create this culture. We create this dialect. And be we do that because we are navigating both worlds, especially if you're first gen,
00:09:05
Speaker
Like you are navigating those two different worlds. You are speaking Spanish at home and speaking English at school and the rest of the world. Like you are constantly moving through these two different cultural settings, essentially.
00:09:22
Speaker
So that's also the reason why there is that complexity that I was talking about earlier, where it's not just on the West Coast as much anymore. And it can be seen in other immigrant populations, even if it maybe it's not as common. But one of the locations that came up a lot was like Miami, even like New York a little bit where Spanglish does come up because you do have, you know, immigrant communities there as well from Latin America.
00:09:47
Speaker
So why does somebody speak Spanglish? It can come from a lack of proficiency in one language. But like I said, it's so much deeper than that.
00:09:58
Speaker
um Often a word or a phrase in one language can be better and can better convey what you're trying to say. so in and so In the research that I did, um in the article, Spanglish, the language of Chicanos, Rosa Maria Jimenez writes, Spanglish is culturally significant because it reflects our identity.
00:10:22
Speaker
Culture consists of customs, traditions, food, clothing, music, art, and language. In the same way that Spanglish unites the strengths of the English and Spanish languages, so too are Chicanos a union of the American and Mexican cultures.
00:10:37
Speaker
Code switching not only reflects our identity, but also provides a means for us to strengthen each other. By speaking Spanglish, we restore pride in our language and in ourselves. like let's Let's talk about this for a second, because it's like when I mentioned it's so much deeper than that, like this is what I'm talking about.
00:10:55
Speaker
Because speaking Spanglish is, it's almost like it's it's a cultural reflection, a cultural marker of, I would say, like us, like us children of immigrants.
00:11:10
Speaker
Um, yeah. It, and like I mentioned earlier, it's almost like it's my home because it's it's basically what I know best. I know how to navigate the two languages well. I know how to navigate and intertwine them because I've been doing it my whole life. It's something that I've done with my friends since childhood, with my cousins since childhood. Like, it came naturally to us because sometimes you are speaking and what you want to say just...
00:11:39
Speaker
like the The meaning is better conveyed in Spanish or the meaning is better conveyed in English because it has like the um the nuance. It might have the... Oh my God, what's the word?
00:11:53
Speaker
I'm forgetting the word. i can't believe it It has the... connotation. It has the connotation that you want that maybe English or Spanish doesn't have, but the other one does in that moment.
00:12:05
Speaker
So that is also part of why it is so much deeper than that. But given that being the child of an immigrant, being first generation is such a
00:12:18
Speaker
I don't know, like almost like unique experience. Like it's wild being the child of a dream game for so many of us. We've had so many hardships and so many um experiences that maybe be just have always been excluded from the mainstream that to have something that we created that so beautifully encapsulates in a way who we are through the speech that we have, i think is so poetic. um
00:12:51
Speaker
But yeah, essentially with code switching as well, it you see how it is incorporated there because English has its own cultural context and Spanish has its own cultural context.
00:13:04
Speaker
So as you navigate the two, there is a little bit of a code switch there as well.
00:13:09
Speaker
Now, one of the things that I do want to highlight a little bit as well, because I did mention Chicano earlier.
Language Dynamics and Chicano English
00:13:18
Speaker
So I remember I took a um I didn't finish taking the course, unfortunately. I was taking too many classes and I didn't need the class to graduate, so I ended up dropping the class.
00:13:29
Speaker
But for the the while that I was in this course, it was um a oh it it was an anthropology course and essentially it was like the power of the power of language, like the power of speech.
00:13:41
Speaker
um And essentially talking about the power dynamics and the politics behind language and um how languages are categorized was part of that as well. And one of the things that, one, I think that was really important in showing like how, who gets to decide what the language is versus who gets to decide what the dialect is and what to differentiates the two.
00:14:03
Speaker
And I remember that aspect. And then through also another, I did audit a Chicano literature class. And in that class, we did also talk about a little bit, we touched on it, Chicano English.
00:14:16
Speaker
Chicano English. And if you are Mexican American, if you are Chicano, Chicana, Chicane, like you, you might not know but you're familiar with this. You are you are familiar with this language, okay? So essentially, the definition of Chicano English.
00:14:32
Speaker
As described by Carmen Faut, professor of linguistics at Pitzer College, Chicano English is a stable and fully formed dialect linguistically and structurally equivalent to other dialects of English.
00:14:44
Speaker
So what are some key characteristics? One that is highlighted, which, like, um which like i I never really thought about it until like it was pointed out to me when I was younger, but like the use of the word barely to mean just now.
00:15:04
Speaker
So that's something that I feel like a lot of, like but not Latinos, but lot of Chicanos do here in LA. And it's like, we say, oh, I barely made it. When it's like, I just made it. You know what i mean? Like, that's what we say instead of, oh, I just made it. Or because barely means that like, you almost like didn't, like you almost did not.
00:15:24
Speaker
Instead of like, I just arrived, you know? So that's the key difference. But we say, oh, I barely made it. Like, I just made it Um, which for me, personal, personal thing. um and this is where the, like the power dynamics come into play when it comes to language versus dialect and what have you and code switching.
00:15:43
Speaker
So growing up and then later on as an adult as well, um, It was always pointed out to me and told essentially to me that saying something like I barely made it is wrong and that it's incorrect and that it's not proper English and that it's not to be utilized in academic spaces or when you're actually speaking properly.
00:16:12
Speaker
when that is essentially the whole power dynamic thing that I've been hinting at. Because first of all, it's Chicano English. Okay, like I'm not even speaking English right now. Like get it together.
00:16:23
Speaker
But of course, like at the time, especially when I was much younger, I didn't have that. But again, that shows the importance and the power of code switching because maybe I'm not writing a dissertation in Chicano English, but I still have the capacity and the knowledge of the English language to write that dissertation. Okay.
00:16:43
Speaker
and Another key characteristic is pronunciation of ing ending with the long e sound. So that is also something that I do. And of course, like, not like always, always, but, but yes, that is also something that I do. And also just like inflection, which if you actually go back a few seconds, I kind of like, whoop.
00:17:07
Speaker
into like the the accent, essentially the inflection. And it happens a bit naturally. And the thing about Chicano English and why I wanted to bring it up is because as a Chicana and like Mexican American person growing up in Los Angeles in the United States,
00:17:26
Speaker
I grew up with the experience of Chicano English and Spanglish being the same thing. Like growing up with it, I didn't differentiate the two. It was just how everybody spoke.
00:17:39
Speaker
Like it was just how everybody spoke. And like obviously at school, like you speak differently with your teachers and like you write differently and all of that. But like That's just how it was. So like for me, Spanglish and Chicano English, and I guess then as well, English, were the three different languages and dialects all sort of blended together as a little chicanita running around i playing hide and seek with my cousins.
00:18:07
Speaker
Um, So, yeah, I think that was just really interesting and beautiful. And I, as I do also want to clarify that, like, for me, i think this is one extremely important because language is powerful.
00:18:22
Speaker
And also, i just geek out on all this stuff because Again, I'm me hinting at my college years. um i I studied anthropology. I minored in cultural anthropology.
00:18:33
Speaker
And I just, I'm fascinated by these types of things. I'm fascinated by language and the cultural implications of everything.
Celebrating Linguistic Identity and Conclusion
00:18:41
Speaker
So given that it is a Latina Heritage Month, I wanted to talk about something that was ah part of my experience and a part of my lived experience and my culture and highlight it And celebrate it because don't you ever let anybody talk down to you because you speak Spanglish, okay?
00:19:00
Speaker
And if you speak Chicano English, don't let anybody ever talk down to you because you speak Chicano English and make you feel like you are less than for speaking that way, okay? They're freaking jerks if they do that and screw them.
00:19:12
Speaker
So Spanglish is beautiful. Chicano English is beautiful. Being able to code switch makes you a fucking badass. So If you do that on the daily, mad respect.
00:19:24
Speaker
Anyway, um i do i do have the references to everything that I talked about today. I'll be linking those in the show notes. So if you're interested in learning more, reading more about all these things, everything that I looked at to create this episode will be there in the show notes.
00:19:38
Speaker
And if you made it this far, I so appreciate you. Thank you for sticking around. If this episode resonated with you, ahead and give a little like. Also, leave a rating as well because it helps get the episode out to more people who need to hear about Spanglish, okay?
00:19:55
Speaker
And also, don't forget to subscribe to the podcast. Until next time, keep growing.