This paper examines the ongoing debate surrounding Spanglish, the hybrid blending of Spanish and English spoken widely among Latino communities in the United States. Drawing on perspectives from linguistics scholars, journalists, and children's literature researchers, the paper presents arguments both for and against Spanglish as a legitimate form of communication. Proponents such as Ilan Stavans celebrate Spanglish as a creative expression of Latino identity, while critics such as Ricardo Otheguy argue it is a term of disparagement that limits speakers' economic and cultural opportunities. The paper also considers how Spanglish appears in children's literature and educational settings.
Is the use of Spanglish seen as a term of "disparagement," as linguistics Professor Ricardo Otheguy asserts? Or is the mixing of English into Spanish "helpful" and "as normal as breathing and as natural as life itself" to the ethnic mix of Latinos and Anglos in Southern California and elsewhere, as journalist Kimberly Ortiz insists? This paper presents both sides of the issue. Some say that using Spanglish as a hybrid language is a bastardized version of English and Spanish; others believe that Spanglish, besides being here to stay, is perfectly legitimate as an alternative form of language. Spanglish has become an increasingly visible phenomenon in American cultural and academic life, making the debate over its legitimacy all the more pressing.
PBS NewsHour host Ray Suarez interviewed author Ilan Stavans about Stavans' book, Spanglish: The Making of a New American Language. Stavans, a professor of Latin American and Latino culture at Amherst College, steadfastly defends Spanglish as a "way of communication where one starts in one language, switches to the other" and goes back and forth, or "perhaps coins a few new words" along the way (PBS). Stavans adds that Spanglish is "a very creative, jazzy way of being Latino in the U.S. today" (PBS).
Host Suarez questions whether Spanglish is truly a language, and Stavans answers that Spanglish may be in the "process" of becoming one. Stavans adds that there is not one single version of Spanglish: Cuban Americans in Miami have their own particular version and Mexican Americans have theirs. He equates these different versions of Spanglish with the dramatic diversity within the Latino community itself — there are "a number of different Latinos," including those of Puerto Rican heritage, Mexican heritage, Cuban heritage, and Venezuelan heritage as well (PBS, p. 2).
Stavans makes a compelling point when he observes that every time an immigrant group arrives in the United States, that group eventually "wants to become part of the so-called melting pot," and hence there is a "period of transition" between the immigrants' native language and the acquisition of English — during which the two become blended in a fashion unique to those immigrants (PBS, p. 2).
In his book, Stavans acknowledges that "Yes, it is the tongue of the uneducated" and "Yes, it's a hodgepodge," but he goes on to argue that the evolution of Spanglish is legitimate, and he compares it to how jazz got started (Stavans, 2004, p. 3). African American musicians who had not necessarily attended music school and learned formal theory nonetheless began creating improvisations — and jazz evolved. Stavans references a remark by jazz legend Herbie Hancock, who, when asked to define jazz, replied: "It is something very hard to define, but very easy to recognize" (p. 5).
Kimberly Ortiz, writing in the Southwestern College publication The Sun, notes that some purists see Spanglish as "unprofessional" and claim it reflects "a loss of culture." But she explains that it is difficult to always transition from one language to another, and some words simply do not "translate well or at all in English and vice versa" (Ortiz, 2014). Rather than "ruining and disrespecting English and Spanish," Ortiz believes that Spanglish "honors both"; and besides, she notes, it is used "primarily in casual settings with friends and family" (p. 1).
Moreover, Ortiz does not accept that Spanglish is mere "slang." In fact, Spanglish is used in English courses at Southwestern College, including a class called "The Latino Reader," in which Latino writers use Spanglish to "further express their feelings in their poems and stories" (Ortiz, p. 1).
"Linguists argue Spanglish is harmful and disparaging"
"How children's books reflect Spanglish use and bilingualism"
Notwithstanding the negative responses to Spanglish and the assertion that it is only for uneducated and lower-class people, there are clearly positive applications and uses for this hybrid language. In any event, Spanglish is not going away any time soon, so the purists who attack it will have to either adjust to reality or find another way to make their points without sounding elitist.
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