Transcript U.S. Spanish: Myths and facts Kim Potowski The University of Illinois at Chicago Department of Hispanic & Italian Studies Association of Two-Way & Dual Language.

U.S. Spanish: Myths and facts
Kim Potowski
The University of Illinois at Chicago
Department of Hispanic & Italian Studies
Association of Two-Way &
Dual Language Education
Sacramento, CA, June 24, 2014
Thank you
Rosa Molina
Board Members
This talk focuses on Spanish in the U.S….
…but I hope that the general concepts are relevant to
teachers of other languages as well.
Languages other than English (2011)
Language
1. Spanish
2. Chinese
3. Tagalog
4. Vietnamese
5. French
6. Korean
7. German
8. Arabic
9. Russian
10. French Creole
# of
speakers
37,579,787
2,882,497
1,594, 413
1,419,539
1,301,443
1,141,277
1,083,637
951,699
905,843
753,990
Spanish in the U.S.:
True or false?
True or false, #1:
The United States is the 6th largest Spanish-speaking nation
in the world.
True or false, #2:
The Dictionary of the Spanish Royal Academy doesn’t have a
category for “U.S. Spanish”.
True or false, #3:
U.S. Spanish speakers really don’t know grammar.
True or false, #4:
“Spanglish” is a random mishmash of Spanish and English
and should be avoided in most situations.
True or false, #5:
The goal of Spanish teachers should be to eliminate
“Spanglish” and replace it with monolingual Spanish.
All five statements are…
FALSE
…and all have important implications for
working in classrooms with U.S.-raised
Spanish speakers.
* This estimate does not include the approximately 9.4 million undocumented
Latin Americans residing in the U.S. (Passel 2006).
36.9 million + 9.4 million = 46.3 million
What else do we know
about the U.S. Latino population?
It is very diverse:
What else do we know
about the U.S. Latino population?
 40% foreign born; 60% U.S. born
 17% of U.S. population overall; Hispanic children =
22% of population under 18.
 Growing at a substantial rate
Current concentration
Growth
Linguistic “imperialism”?
Hierarchies – what determines the status of different
varieties of a language?
English
Spanish
England
Spain
India
Argentina
Australia
Mexico
Jamaica
Puerto Rico
Ghana
Bolivia
If population size is a factor in language status….
The U.S. has the #3 largest Spanish-speaking
population in the world.
#3
#2
#1
If economic power is a factor in language status….
The U.S. has:
• The #1 largest Spanish-speaking market in the world
• The 9th largest market overall in the world (Business
Editors 2002).
Were those of us raised in the U.S. forced to abandon
the words elevator or trunk in order to be “better
understood in England”, where they say lift and
boot?
Is it valid to ask U.S. Spanish speakers to abandon
their ways of speaking in order to be “better
understood” elsewhere? At what point can we stop
worrying what “others” say about our Spanish in the
U.S., and demand linguistic status?
Statement #2:
The Dictionary of the Spanish Royal Academy doesn’t have a
category for “U.S. Spanish”. 
The Spanish spoken in the U.S. is less valid than the Spanish
from other countries.
September 30, 2012
“Con esta inclusión, queda
abierta la puerta a que se
acepten como correctas
palabras que en Estados
Unidos tienen un
significado diferente al que
se les da en otros países
hispanohablantes.
Por ejemplo, es el caso del
término parada (parade en
inglés) y que en el español
de Estados Unidos se utiliza
comúnmente para referirse
a un desfile.”
“Otros estadounidismos serían
"departamento" ("department")
para referirse a un ministerio o
secretaría, "aplicar" ("to apply")
en el sentido de presentar una
solicitud, o "elegible” ("elegible")
en el sentido de ser beneficiario.”
“El estadounidismo es una variante como puede ser el chilenismo o el
mexicanismo”.
La académica explicó que a lo largo de sus 30 años como traductora ha
tenido que enfrentarse al dilema de que "si me aferraba a lo que dice el
diccionario general, mi traducción no comunicaba correctamente en
Estados Unidos".
“Hay que aceptar lo que es una avalancha de uso.”
P.S. The Association of Spanish Language Academies
#3: U.S. Spanish speakers don’t “know grammar”
What does “grammar” mean?
At least three definitions of “grammar”
1) Internal, automatic system
2) Explicit knowledge of terminology and rules
3) What is to be preferred and avoided
Definition #1 “grammar” =
Internal, automatic system
 Everyone who acquires a spoken or signed language – and that is
nearly every single person in the world – naturally and subconsciously
develops an internal grammar, or blueprint, of how their language
works.
“Cats fast eats”
 This is not possible in English. It doesn’t matter if we can’t state why
it is not possible. Our internal grammar, as English speakers, simply
tells us that it is not a possible English sentence.
 Under this definition, it is not accurate to say that a person who speaks
(or only understands) a certain language “doesn’t have grammar.”
They obviously do, otherwise they would not be able to
understand it at all.
The “taxicab maxim”
Linguist Steven Pinker calls this definition the “taxicab maxim”:
If you are driving a taxi, it is impossible to violate the laws of physics.
If you are speaking a language in a way that you acquired naturally in a
community of speakers, it is impossible to violate the laws of
grammar.
Definition #2 “grammar” =
Explicit knowledge of terminology and rules
Has to be formally learned.
If they answered questions 3 and 4 correctly but not
questions 1 and 2, is it accurate to say that they
“don’t know grammar”?
Is there value to teaching grammatical terminology
to students who already speak Spanish?
 Correa (2011): Spanish-speakers increased in confidence
through studying metalinguistic terminology.
 However, having them:



Endlessly practice conjugating verbs – I am, you are, she is, we are, they
are
Produce definite and indefinite articles
Identify the preterite vs. the imperfect
…as goals in and of themselves, without leading to any larger
goal, does not appear to be the best use of instructional time.
 Focus instead on improving our students’ communicative
competence, both in writing and orally.
Definition #3 “grammar” =
What is to be preferred (and avoided)
This is often referred to as prescriptive grammar, because it
seeks to prescribe what is “correct” and what is not.
In the “taxicab” analogy…
Laws of physics vs.
Laws of a particular region
 People can have different internal grammar systems of the same
language, depending on their geographic location, ethnic group, etc.
 In some countries we agree to drive on the left, while in others we agree
to drive on the right. But we are all, by force, obeying the laws of
physics.
All of these sentences are grammatical:
U.K. English
U.S. mainstream English
I’ll be here December.
I’ll be here in December.
He’s in hospital.
He’s in the hospital.
U.S. mainstream English
African American English
She’s working.
She working.
I don’t want any.
I don’t want none.
Turn right on red?
Zipper merge?
Important to keep in mind:
• There is nothing inherently “incorrect” about driving on
the left or refusing to zipper merge. You are still obeying
the laws of physics.
• The rules of the road change over time.
Are these sentences grammatically “correct”?
To boldly go where no man has gone before.
I don’t know what Potowski is talking about.
Prescriptivist grammars typically consider these sentences “incorrect”
and insist on: “To go boldly” and “…about what Potowski is talking.”
But these sentences are NOT “violating grammar” – just like a taxicab
never violates the laws of physics.
Are these prescriptive rules useful anymore? Or have people largely
abandoned them?
Prescriptive grammar
Conclusions about “grammar”
 Let’s be clear about what we mean!
 U.S. Spanish-speakers absolutely do
“know grammar” because they have a grammatical
system, one that is just as valid as any other.
 Teachers must decide:


What constitutes valid “traffic violations” vs. that rules are
basically irrelevant.
Which explicit metalinguistic skills we think they should
develop.
#4: “Spanglish” is a random mishmash of Spanish and
English and should be avoided in most situations
Like all naturalistic language behavior, “Spanglish” is
RULE GOVERNED.
Remember the “taxicab maxim.”
¿Suenan naturales?
Ejemplos
1) Nos vemos a las diez, right?
2) I love your shoes. ¿Dónde los compraste?
3) Juan está bailanding con su mamá.
4) No estudiaron so they failed the test.
5) Andrea was mad so she salió.
Most U.S. Spanish-English bilinguals agree
because ALL linguistic behavior is rulegoverned.
What exactly is “Spanglish”?
“Spanglish” =
Language contact
#1
Code
switching
#2
Borrowings
#3
Extensions
#4
Calques
#1: Code switching
Alternation from one language to another within a
single communicative act.
Quería salir a bailar but I was too tired.
He told me to wait a que saliera.
¡Cállate, menso! I’m not playing with you.
¿Por qué suenan mal estos ejemplos?
*Juan está bailanding con su mamá.
*Andrea was mad so she salió.
Violan las restricciones sintácticas del cambio de códigos:
• No puedes separar morfemas ligados (that is, you can’t
switch in the middle of a word).
• No puedes cambiar done las estructuras de las dos
lenguas es desigual.
• Normalmente no cambiamos entre el sujeto y el verbo
(“Ella went”) ni entre un artículo y un sustantivo (“the
tenedor”).
These are not rules that our parents teach
us!
We develop these ‘rules’ implicitly through input and
interaction – just like all natural linguistic systems.
Most bilinguals develop at least THREE rule systems:
Language 1
Language 1 + 2
Language 2
P.S. Code switching in “high culture”
- Ábrela tú.
- ¿Por qué yo? Tú tienes las keys. Yo te las entregué. Además, I left mine
adentro.
- ¿Por qué las dejaste adentro?
- Porque I knew you had yours.
- ¿Por qué dependes de mí?
- Just open it, and make it fast.
#2: Borrowings
Words “imported” from English and integrated into
Spanish.
El lonche está en el fríser.
Trabaja partaim pero tomó un daiof.
#3: Extensions
Words that already existed in Spanish but take on
new meanings, influenced by English
.
#4: Calques
Direct translations of 2+ word phrases.
“Ese señor está corriendo para alcalde.”
running for = postulándose para
“Te llamo para atrás”
te regreso la llamada
Identifiquen los cuatro fenómenos subrayados
1. Mañana van a inspectar la casa que compré.
2. Me voy a mover to a new neighborhood.
3. No creo que llegue en tiempo.
4. Muchos estudiantes no toman ventaja de las scholarships.
5. Cuando lo realizan, es demasiado tarde para aplicar y tienen
problemas pagando los biles.
6. Muchos mexicanos en Chicago trabajan de busboys.
7. Muchos mexicanos en Chicago trabajan de bosboi.
a) Un cambio de códigos: se oye el inglés.
b) El préstamo: se oye como español
c) Una extensión semántica es una palabra que ya existía en español.
d) El calco es una traducción directa de una frase.
Studying the rule-governed nature of U.S. Spanish
…and the formal linguistic terms  RESPECT
Only people with strong proficiency in Spanish can
code switch large chunks within a sentence.
The terms“Spanglish,” Arabish, Chinglish…
Positive, neutral, or harmful?
The term“Spanglish”
Ana Celia Zentella
“Usar el término ‘spanglish’ es una
forma de desafiar el rechazo de los
jóvenes. [Vamos a] rescatar esa
palabra, darle un sentido más
positivo y echársela ante la cara a
la gente y decir “No, this is what it
really means. [Además,] decirle al
pueblo que no use esta palabra no
va a eliminar el uso de la palabra.”
Ricardo Otheguy
“Es inevitable que el término
‘spanglish’ conlleva la idea de que
no es español. Me parece que es
importante poder decirles a los
jóvenes, ‘Tú hablas español, pero
necesitas adquirir…otras maneras
de hablar[lo],’ eso me parece más
positivo a que una persona diga, ‘I
don’t speak Spanish, I speak
Spanglish’.”
WHY do people use these 4 phenomena?
1. Mañana van a inspectar la casa que compré.
2. Me voy a mover to a new neighborhood.
3. Ese restaurante busca contratar a cinco busboys.
“Because they don’t know how to say it in Spanish.”
In a corpus of thousands of
codes switches produced by
5 girls during a 10-year
period….
…they knew how to say 75%
of their code switches in
both languages.
Another explanation
 Otheugy & García: interviewed 25 adults who were
raised in Latin America (their Spanish was “complete”),
immigrated to NYC, and then raised their own children
in NYC.
 2 interviews, in Spanish, about the same topics:
vecindad, familia, escuela, trabajo
 Interview #1: “Su experiencia en Latinoamérica.”
 Interview #2: Two months later, with the same
interviewer. “Las experiencias de sus hijos aquí en
NYC.”
Cuando hablaban
sobre Latinoamérica
Cuando hablaban
sobre Nueva York
El comedor escolar
El lunchroom
El edificio
El bildin
El director de escuela
El principal
Pascua
Easter
Conclusion: Sometimes we use an Anglicism not because we
don’t know the word, but because the concept is different.
vs.
vs.
vs.
Why do people use these 4 phenomena?
 The concept is different.
 Emotional content: “m’ijo”
 To cite someone.
 To emphasize something.
 To change the subject.
 To respect someone’s language preference.
 First thing to come to mind
 Don’t know how to say it in Language X.
 Marker of identity.
#5: The goal of Spanish teachers should be to eliminate “Spanglish” and
replace it with monolingual Spanish
Not only quixotic, but actually
damaging: Many youth decide to
abandon Spanish altogether rather
than suffer criticisms for it.
Spanish in the US is a resource that
can be used in the classroom for
increasing linguistic development and
academic abilities.
Beach vs. wedding
Question the concept of “incorrect.”
Formal vs. informal
Use examples from English: most students know
not to write “ain’t” or “cuz” in a school essay.
Use their Spanish as a bridge. We do not want
them to burn their bathing suits!
Español
Inglés
Q: WHY does he have only bathing suits in Spanish, but a
full range of clothing in English?
A: Prior language experiences. He’s been to beaches AND
weddings in English. In Spanish, he’s only been to the
beach. That is, all formal communication activities that
he’s participated in have been in English.
One of the many challenges of the job of Spanish
teachers working with heritage speakers:
Deciding what is “ok” at the wedding. It’s very
hard to keep up with changing norms – and even
harder to buck them.
Such decisions should be locally grounded and
based on the question: Who are the audiences?
Bilinguals are NOT two monolinguals joined at the neck
….whose linguistic systems should be kept separate and “pure”.
 Whenever there are languages in contact 
Contact varieties of language.
 50% of the world’s population is bi/multilingual  These
linguistic phenomena are the norm.
 Keep in mind the value of the Spanish our students bring to
the classroom. We can build on what they have.
Conclusion: Respect the language and culture of U.S.
Latino communities, and use them as a bridge to
wider study.
Have students sometimes work with language,
literature, movies, art, etc. from their own
families & neighborhoods.
 Ofelia García: “translanguaging”
 Beeman & Urow: “bridging”
We must become students of our students’ linguistic
communities  Keep our ears and eyes focused on
U.S. Spanish norms.
Thank you
Resources for teaching Spanish to heritage speakers:
potowski.org/SNSresources
Kim Potowski
[email protected]
“Profesora Potowski”