[ What is the difference between Chicano English and Spanglish? ]

Well, to start with, 'Chicano English' is probably more PC. Probably not many linguists would use the term 'Spanglish'. Both would normally be used to refer to a variety of English spoken by people who also know Spanish, or who come from a culture where Spanish used to be widely spoken, even though they themselves may not speak Spanish. Thus it would have a distinctive 'accent' and would use many borrowings into English from Spanish. Most linguists (but not necessarily everyone who might use the terms) would try to distinguish the situation I just described from heavy code-switching, that is, changing from English to Spanish and vice-versa, sometimes within the same sentence, according to the particular context, the topic, the interlocutors, etc.

Jim James L. Fidelholtz,
Posgrado en Ciencias del Lenguaje,
Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, MÈXICO

[Latino Literature]

The literature produced by Latinos residing in the US is especially interesting in terms of the ways in which it tries to reflect the complex modes of speech behavior among members of this community. Hispanics are different from other ethnic groups in the US in that they have maintained the use of the minority language to a large extent. Bilingualism and code switching are widespread among them. This creates special problems for the cultural products dealing with the Latino community.

[Spanglish?]

One man trying to make sense of all this confusion is Ilan Stavans, professor of Spanish and creative writing at Amherst College, who has devoted the past years to compiling the world’s first Spanglish-English dictionary. A prolific commentator on Hispanic lifestyles and the editor of Hopscotch magazine, which concentrates on the relationships between Hispanic and other Western cultures, Ilan is a Mexican Jew whose first language was Yiddish followed by Spanish and then English.

"We’re at a point in history where we have not yet come to see Spanglish as a solid, fully-recognisable language," he says. "It’s still evolving and it’s a rapid transition but I’d define it now as a proper dialect that results from the clash of Spanish and English in a variety of possibilities. Words and verbal codes are being reinvented and reorganised to add up to something new. Many people in the US would still not even accept Spanglish as a description and prefer to call it something like Mexican-American.“

[Ethnicity of Quebec]

The English-speaking community of Quebec is also diverse in its ethnic composition. Some can trace their roots back to the United Empire Loyalists and before, others to the waves of Irish and British immigration. Still others have arrived from many lands, and from many religious and cultural backgrounds. This diversity can be seen in microcosm within the English-speaking Black community of Quebec. Some trace their roots to having come here with the United Empire Loyalists. Others came here to escape American slavery. Still others have immigrated from the West Indies, the United States and a variety of other countries to create a richly diverse cultural expression within the larger English-speaking community.

[Montreal Speaker Speech Sample]

Subject is white male, born 1951, Montreal, Canada, where he lived for the first twenty years of his life. He later lived for twenty years in Quebec City, although was rarely at home due to his life as a seaman. He also lived in Gabon, and Zambia, and had been living in Cairo, Egypt when recorded there 6/26/99 by Krista Scott, where he was working as a mathematics professor. Definite French-Canadian sound, though muted by years of cosmopolitan life. Interview edited 11/03/99 by Paul Meier. Running time: 00:03:54.