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| Chicano English | |
|---|---|
| Mexican-American English | |
| Native to | United States |
| Region | Southwestern United States |
| Ethnicity | Latino Americans,Hispanic Americans |
| Latin (English alphabet) American Braille | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
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Chicano English, orMexican-American English, is a dialect ofAmerican English spoken primarily byMexican Americans (sometimes known asChicanos), particularly in theSouthwestern United States ranging fromTexas toCalifornia,[1][2] as well as inChicago.[3] Chicano English is sometimes mistakenly conflated withSpanglish, which is a mixing ofSpanish andEnglish; however, Chicano English is a fully formed and native dialect of English, not a "learner English" orinterlanguage. It is even the native dialect of some speakers who know little to no Spanish, or have no Mexican heritage.
Many people who speak Chicano English do not themselves identify with the term "Chicano." For example, none ofBrumbaugh (2017)'s eight Hispanic participants identified with the term. Despite this, Chicano English remains the most widely used and recognized term for this language variety. Some studies on Chicano English have used terms such as "Mexican-American English", "Latino English", and "Mexican Heritage English".[4]
Communities of Spanish-speakingTejanos,Nuevomexicanos,Californios, andMission Indians have existed in the American Southwest since the area was part ofNew Spain'sProvincias Internas. Most of the historically Hispanophone populations eventuallyadopted English as their first language, as part of their overallAmericanization.
A high level ofMexicanimmigration began in the 20th century, with theexodus ofrefugees from theMexican Revolution (1910) and the linkage of Mexican railroads to the US (Santa Ana, 1991). TheHispanic population is one of the largest and fastest-growingethnic groups in the United States. In theLos Angeles metropolitan area alone, they form 45% of the population (roughly 6 million out of 13.3 million in 2014). The result of the migration and the segregated social conditions of the immigrants in California made an ethnic community that is only partly assimilated to the matrixAnglo (European American) community. It retains symbolic links with Hispanic culture (as well as real links from continuing immigration), but linguistically, it is mostly an English-speaking, not a Spanish-speaking, community. However, its members have a distinctive accent.[5]
The phonological inventory of Chicano English speakers appears to be identical to that of the local Anglo community. For example, long and short vowels are clearly distinguished, as is the English vowel/æ/. Speculatively, it seems that the main differences between the Chicano accent and the local Anglo accent are that the Chicanos are not always participating in ongoingphonetic changes in Anglo communities, such as the raising of/æ/ that characterizes AngloInland Northern speakers but not necessarily Hispanic ones.[6]
Because Spanish-speaking people migrated from other parts of the Hispanophone world to the Southwest, Chicano English is now the customary dialect of many Hispanic Americans of diverse national heritages in the Southwest. As Hispanics are of diverse racial origins, Chicano English serves as the distinction from non-Hispanic and non-Latino Americans in the Southwest.
A common stereotype about Chicano English speakers, similar to stereotypes about other racial/ethnic minorities in the United States, is that Chicano English speakers are not proficient in English and are generally uneducated. Thislanguage ideology is linked to negative perceptions about Chicano Americans and Hispanics in general.[7]
The rhythm of Chicano English tends to have an intermediateprosody between a Spanish-likesyllable timing, with syllables taking up roughly the same amount of time with roughly the same amount of stress, andGeneral American English'sstress timing, with only stressed syllables being evenly timed.[8]
Chicano English also has a complex set of nonstandard English intonation patterns, such as pitch rises on significant words in the middle and at the end of sentences as well as initial-sentence high pitches, which are often accompanied by the lengthening of the affected syllables.[9] When needing extra emphasis to certain words, there is the use of rising glides. Rising glides can be used multiple times in one sentence. On compound nouns and verbs, major stress is on the second word. Rising glides can occur at any time and at either monosyllabic or polysyllabic words.[10]
Certain Chicano English consonant pronunciations are similar toAfrican-American Vernacular English.
Certain consonants show Spanish-language influence:
Mexican-Americans show variable participation in local sound shifts, like theNorthern Cities Shift of the Great Lakes or theCalifornia Shift in the American West.[6]
Reduction of unstressed vowels is less common in Chicano English than in Anglo varieties.[11]
While a lack of pre-nasal/æ/ raising is often characteristic of Chicano English, inEl Paso, /æ/ raising is found among both Anglos and Hispanics.[12]
Thecot–caught merger is complete, approximately to[ɑ̈].[13][14] For younger speakers, however, the vowel is retracted to[ɑ] by the Californian Vowel Shift.
Thesalary–celery merger occurs, with/æ/ and/ɛ/ merging before/l/.[15][16] This is found in Los Angeles, northern New Mexico and Albuquerque, and in El Paso.[17][16][18]
/ɪŋ/ is pronounced as[in], makingshowing sound likeshow-een.[11] This feature has since spread to other varieties of California English.[19]
The distinction between/ɪ/ and/i/ beforeliquid consonants is often reduced in some Chicano accents, makingfill andfeelhomophones. That is also a feature of general California English.[20]
/u/ is slightly fronted, as in most American and manyBritish dialects, but less fronted than in mainstream California English.[21]
Some realizations of/i/,/eɪ/,/oʊ/, and other long vowels aremonophthongal. That may be an effect of Spanish, but other American English dialects (Minnesota, for example) also can show monophthongization of such vowels, which are more commonlydiphthongs in English. Also, such vowels are underlyingly long monophthongs so the general effect thus is to simplify the system of phonetic implementation, compared to the/ɪi,eɪ,oʊ,ʊu/ of many other English dialects.[22]
A fair to strong degree of variation exists in thephonology of Chicano English. Its precise boundaries are difficult to delineate, perhaps because of its separate origins of the dialect in the Southwest and the Midwest.[23]
One subvariety, referenced asTejano English,[24] is used mainly in southernTexas. California subvarieties are also widely studied, especially that of theLos Angeles metropolitan area,[23] such asEast Los Angeles Chicano English, which includes elements ofAfrican American Vernacular English andCalifornia English.[15]
One type of Hispanic English, a sub-type under Chicano English of the American West, is specific to north-centralNew Mexico. A recent study found that native English–Spanish bilinguals in New Mexico have a lower/shorter/weakervoice-onset time than that typical of native monolingual English speakers.[25]Northern New Mexico Hispanic English, transcending age, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status, has been reported as having its own vowel shift as follows:/i/ is[ɪ] before a final/l/ (sofeel merges to the sound offill),/u/ is[ʊ] before any consonant (sosuit merges to the sound ofsoot),/ɛ/ is[æ] before a final/l/ (soshellmerges to the sound ofshall), and/ʌ/ is[ɑ̈] before any consonant (socup merges to the sound of something likecop).[26]That said, a later study examining the speech of college students in Albuquerque failed to find evidence of/u/ being laxed to[ʊ] or of/ʌ/ becoming lowered to[ɑ̈].[27]
This form of Chicano English is predominantly spoken in East Los Angeles and has been influenced by theCalifornia English of coastal European-Americans andAfrican-American Vernacular English.
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