In exploring the formation of Spanglish, award-winning essayist Ilan Stavans reflects on, andalso codifies, the most transforming linguisticphenomena in America in the last one hundredyears — one that may predict our future as a nation and that of our entire hemisphere.No tool is more useful in understanding the changes inculture than language. In today's America, communicationis built around inclusion and efficiency, and this is no more apparent than
In exploring the formation of Spanglish, award-winning essayist Ilan Stavans reflects on, andalso codifies, the most transforming linguisticphenomena in America in the last one hundredyears — one that may predict our future as a nation and that of our entire hemisphere.No tool is more useful in understanding the changes inculture than language. In today's America, communicationis built around inclusion and efficiency, and this is no more apparent than in the blending of the two most spoken languages in the United States: English and Spanish.Spanish, the nation's unofficial second language, isimmediately obvious and audible on airwaves and mediascreens, streets and classrooms, from one coast to the other. But el español has not spread on this side of the Atlantic in its unadulterated Iberian form. Instead it is metastasizing into something altogether new: an astonishingly creative code of communication known as Spanglish, which in large part is the result of sweeping demographic changes, globalization, and the newly emergent "Latin Fever" that is sweeping the country. It is used predominantly by people of Hispanic descent but is also embraced by others in the United States, the Americas as a whole, and even Spain.Naturally controversial, Spanglish outrages English-language-only proponents, who seek to ban all languages other than English north of the Rio Grande. Equal in their outrage are Spanish-language purists and the supporters of the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language in Madrid, as they deem Spanglish a cancer to their precious and centuries-old tongue. With elegance and erudition, Ilan Stavans reflects on the verbal rift that has given birth to Spanglish. He fascinatingly shows the historical tensions between the British and Spanish Empires, and how in 1588, with the sinking of the grand Spanish Armada, the rivalry between the two empires was solidified, and to this day, the differences in
Half the book reads like some kind of ranting reciprocal bigotry. The author jumps all over the linguisists at the RAE while revealing a lack of linguistic awareness on his own part. He actually puts forth the assertion that Basques and Catalunyians prefer to speek Euskera and Catalan over Spanish because they felt alienated by Felipe Gonzalez, the late President of Spain. ---Duuhhh! Why do you think they prefer what they do? Get a clue! Also, not relevant to so called "spanglish" anyway - just a politicall..
You see, I read a description of the book that described it as a serious look at the phenomenon of "Spanglish." It does have that (and it is quite good) - but 2/3 of the book is a Spanglish to English dictionary. While interesting, it was not what I had planned on reading when I had requested it from my local library. I just wanted you perspective buyers to know ahead of time.Also, if you don't have a decent command of Spanish, this book will be pretty hard for you to read. If you have a hard time following..
From its title and the author's academic background, I expected this book would be a more scholarly work. I wish that Prof. Stavan had paid more attention to defining and describing Spanglish and less attention to defending it against attack. After all, Spanish and English have been in contact for several centuries, and not even the most extreme purists deny that some cross-language influences are at least a linguistic reality, if not, as this author insists, a linguistic necessity. But just what is and ..
